Speaker 1: My League Books has how the knowledge you want? My
Speaker 1: League books has how the knowledge you need? My League Books,
Speaker 1: Yet they have out of books that the whole wild
Speaker 1: world want to read My League Books. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome
Speaker 1: to Malik's Bookshelf, bringing a world together with books, culture
Speaker 1: and community. Hi, my name was Malik, your host of
Speaker 1: Malik's Bookshelf. WHOA, we got a new episode and a
Speaker 1: new message, change Gonna Come. That's right, change Gonna Come.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed this new episode. I talked to April,
Speaker 1: you know, April secret weapon wife. Well, it's a birthday,
Speaker 1: so you know, I had to have a little conversation
Speaker 1: like it happened between forty eight and forty nine, three
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty five days in a year. So hey,
Speaker 1: I had a great conversation talking with her about the
Speaker 1: transition between that year. Also, I did a book review,
Speaker 1: How We Can Win Race History and Changing the Money Game.
Speaker 1: That's rid by Kimberly Jones. So I did that book review.
Speaker 1: I'll say what I got to say about that. On
Speaker 1: this episode. I also did an inspirational piece called Small Steps,
Speaker 1: Big Game. So hey, enjoy this new episode. Change Gonna Come.
Speaker 1: I have a special guest that I'm going to bring
Speaker 1: on my podcast. You nor as wife, April, co owner
Speaker 1: of the League Books, Nerves and Confident companion, helped me
Speaker 1: secret weapon all above. Well, hey, she turning forty nine,
Speaker 1: so you know I got a feature her on the
Speaker 1: podcast this week. April, How you doing fine? How are
Speaker 1: you doing marvelous again? Why not? You? Right, it's been
Speaker 1: a while since that interviewed you, and you're turning forty
Speaker 1: nine and it's your birthday, ghost shady, it's your birthday.
Speaker 1: Now talk to me about this special forty ninth birthday.
Speaker 1: What would you like to know? What am I doing? No?
Speaker 1: I mean a whole year in review. It just went
Speaker 1: by you forty nine. You went from forty eight to
Speaker 1: forty nine. You find your fabrilit you go just you
Speaker 1: got a banging body. Well, hey, you know, talk to
Speaker 1: me about a year and they went by. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: a lot of things has changed too within that year,
Speaker 1: as ladies would know. I hope that. No. I know
Speaker 1: a lot of ladies listen to your your podcast, But
Speaker 1: this forty nine, No, this forty eight to forty nine,
Speaker 1: A lot of things has changed, especially my hormones. The
Speaker 1: hormones is different. This menopause is not no joke. It
Speaker 1: knocked at my door and said good morning. A lot
Speaker 1: of things about my body has changed. A lot of
Speaker 1: things about the way I think has changed. But it's
Speaker 1: a it's a good thing. I never think didn't think
Speaker 1: about menopause being this different. But how I was taught
Speaker 1: about menopause, it's like it's a drastic thing, but I don't.
Speaker 1: I didn't receive it as a drastic thing. I received
Speaker 1: it as a change, but nothing like, oh this is
Speaker 1: death or something sad to say, Oh, it's just menopause.
Speaker 1: Menopause is just it's changing. If you don't change, there's
Speaker 1: a problem. So so be specific about the changes. Since
Speaker 1: you said menopause, yes, well, the most common thing in menopause, um,
Speaker 1: it's you know, you don't get your girly friend every month,
Speaker 1: and that's a beautiful thing, but because you get some
Speaker 1: pain for ones. I watched you month the month, the month,
Speaker 1: the month in pain that took me down every time.
Speaker 1: And I don't think I've had some bad ones that
Speaker 1: it would take me down for days and then I'll
Speaker 1: be back. But this last year of me not having
Speaker 1: my girly friend, UM was good. Um, it only replaced well,
Speaker 1: me not having a girly friend. I will replace that
Speaker 1: with hot flashes and brain farts. Oh but hey, you
Speaker 1: got you gotta take the good with the good. It's
Speaker 1: good and good. I mean, I didn't have a girly friend,
Speaker 1: but I had half flashes and brain farts and oh
Speaker 1: I got a new friend to some glasses, my my
Speaker 1: blur revision. My daughter always claim me on my blue vision.
Speaker 1: But that's okay, I got cute glasses. I'm still fine,
Speaker 1: fine at forty nine. You are fine at forty nine,
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna keep pushing one for fifty fifty year.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna always claim the next year. If people say
Speaker 1: you're not fifty, are you not forty nine? You know,
Speaker 1: I claim the next year on purpose. I put that
Speaker 1: next year into fuition. I claim it. I'm going to
Speaker 1: make it, and I'm going to make it beautifully. Oh boy,
Speaker 1: what one year can make a huge difference? Boy, I
Speaker 1: tell you, boy, that's a drafting change, you know, and
Speaker 1: and and you know I recognize the mood and I
Speaker 1: recognize the changes. Um, you know, but that's part of life.
Speaker 1: You know. One thing I know for certain, we all
Speaker 1: gonna change, you know, so the hormones and change. Um
Speaker 1: sold with some of the other changes that have taken.
Speaker 1: What about weight? What about your side? Yes? Yes, um,
Speaker 1: my weight has changed. My thighs are much bigger. The
Speaker 1: colicious they're spreading out their colicious, which I don't mind. Hey,
Speaker 1: it is what it is. Um, what else is? Girl?
Speaker 1: You look good and I'm jeans. Yeah, my thighs and
Speaker 1: my butt has has has grown. Hello. Hey, I ain't complaining.
Speaker 1: I'm not either. Only only complaint I have it's my
Speaker 1: jeans is super tight, but my waist is still small.
Speaker 1: Yes it is. My waist is still small every minute.
Speaker 1: But it also has a lot to do with my rituals.
Speaker 1: I get up every morning, yes you do, and make
Speaker 1: intentions to go work out. I'm intention, Yes, my intention
Speaker 1: every morning. I m my lorm goes off for five
Speaker 1: thirty five forty five every morning and I'm out the
Speaker 1: house when it's dark outside going to get it and
Speaker 1: it helps me through the day. It changed my mood.
Speaker 1: That's a mood booster too. It changes my mood. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you lead it out the goal work out most definitely
Speaker 1: it changes my move and I mean work out. She
Speaker 1: do the hid training high intensity training. Well, hey, you
Speaker 1: know she paid a price to look this fine and
Speaker 1: I'm loving it. And before I was diagnosed, I guess
Speaker 1: you could say diagnosed with this menopause, I would do
Speaker 1: my regular workouts and nothing would change. I'm like, what
Speaker 1: the heck is going on? I go to the doctor.
Speaker 1: The doctor told me, girl, you need to stop you
Speaker 1: like a rat owner on the what's those things called?
Speaker 1: I was like, you're just doing our same thing over
Speaker 1: and over. It's not you. It's your your ain't going
Speaker 1: to serg and getting no results. Yes, it's your hormones.
Speaker 1: And when I was like, oh it is my hormones,
Speaker 1: I had to reprogram and I just switched up my
Speaker 1: program to what helped me come back menopause. And they
Speaker 1: say that UM, lifting weights help you with menopause, and
Speaker 1: I believe that is scientific truth because it has helped
Speaker 1: me greatly with this. Um with this menopause. Or your
Speaker 1: body's really firm, you got muscles, you think and fit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it's uh, it's paying off and it's I mean,
Speaker 1: for what I know about you, work out as a
Speaker 1: form of therapy. I do. I do most definitely, and
Speaker 1: I call it that my morning therapy sessions. Instead of
Speaker 1: me sitting on someone's couch, I go to the gym
Speaker 1: and it works. I mean, yeah, you've been you know,
Speaker 1: ever since I met you. You know, you've been working
Speaker 1: out and staying fit and making transitions throughout the years.
Speaker 1: But one thing's remained the same and one inconsistent. And
Speaker 1: as you're working out, Um, even during a pandemic, you
Speaker 1: you know, you worked out early in the morning, you know,
Speaker 1: couldn't go to the gym, but did street training. Street
Speaker 1: training that is, you know, and um, you had a
Speaker 1: trainer and you can stay fit. And you did a
Speaker 1: bodybuilding or a fitness contest, Yeah, fitness contest. So um,
Speaker 1: is there anything else that And from forty eight to
Speaker 1: forty nine, in this you know year that you like
Speaker 1: to share, there was there was transformative. That was the
Speaker 1: change in your life because you're not the same and
Speaker 1: no one's the same. That well, if you still the same,
Speaker 1: there there is a problem. Change is beautiful. I don't
Speaker 1: have anything that I can pinpoint that's really really drastically
Speaker 1: changed from forty eight to forty nine. Only thing that
Speaker 1: I can give you is the menopause and the way
Speaker 1: I think I've always UM had the grateful spirit UM
Speaker 1: on me. But I know it now. I can see
Speaker 1: it now, like I'm grateful for everything. I'm grateful even
Speaker 1: for the challenges. I'm grateful for my laughter. I'm grateful
Speaker 1: for my peace, I'm grateful for my ton just I'm
Speaker 1: just grateful because you know, time is valuable to everybody. Well,
Speaker 1: it should be valuable to everybody, even if it's just
Speaker 1: something that you just sitting, just sitting be still. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: I know that you have some plans here on your birthday,
Speaker 1: which is Monday, April third, and her name is April
Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, as well, you plan on
Speaker 1: feeding the homeless. You did it last year, I believe,
Speaker 1: and uh, and you're going to continue that this year. UM,
Speaker 1: tell us a few thoughts about that. Well, I've decided
Speaker 1: to do that going forward only because because I know
Speaker 1: I'm blessed. I am truly, truly blessed beyond measure, and
Speaker 1: for me to bless others it does something different to me.
Speaker 1: So I am going to go feed the homeless. After
Speaker 1: I do my workout, I'm going to go see my
Speaker 1: mom and then I'm going to hit hit the pavement. Um.
Speaker 1: I catered tacos. I give them something that I would
Speaker 1: want to be given. Um, they're going to have a
Speaker 1: nice lunch on me. And when I did it last year, oh,
Speaker 1: the people were so grateful. They were singing Happy birthday
Speaker 1: to me. And you know, they gave me something as
Speaker 1: well as I'm giving them something. That was so it
Speaker 1: was a give give, It was no take take this
Speaker 1: type of thing. You know, I received something as well
Speaker 1: as they received something. So I want to bless others
Speaker 1: as well as I've been blessed. Giving is receiving. So um, audience,
Speaker 1: let's let's sing Happy birthday, Happy birthday to you, Happy
Speaker 1: birthday to you, hippy birthday. Now hopefully y'all singing along
Speaker 1: with me on that thank you. Small steps, big game.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you make the biggest gains by doing the fewest
Speaker 1: things or the littlest things, small steps, big gains. The
Speaker 1: kid is to focus on what you can do now
Speaker 1: and find the littlest in the least thing to do,
Speaker 1: but do it consistent. That way you develop and happen.
Speaker 1: If you start trying to do something and the task
Speaker 1: is too difficult and too big and too consuming, what
Speaker 1: happens is you won't stay consistent. And in your mind,
Speaker 1: all you're gonna think about is the difficulty and the hardship.
Speaker 1: And so this is why you want to make small steps.
Speaker 1: The key is to get gone, is to set something
Speaker 1: in motion to begin the process of the change. Things
Speaker 1: happen over time, and you could build each day as
Speaker 1: long as you consistent. So if you want to make
Speaker 1: big gains, start small. Don't think about the whole picture,
Speaker 1: think about what you can do now, and begin to
Speaker 1: do that. Small steps big gains. I know personally, one
Speaker 1: of the things that caused me to procrastinate or to
Speaker 1: be stagnant sometimes when I know I have a task
Speaker 1: or something in front of me to do, and I
Speaker 1: know it's a normous and it's big, is that I
Speaker 1: have to zone in and start it and let it
Speaker 1: cascade as I begin the process of making a small step,
Speaker 1: which is just to get started. Because if I zone
Speaker 1: in and focus on the whole task, job, or project,
Speaker 1: then I become overwhelmed and I start to procrastinate. And
Speaker 1: so I identified that and what I try to develop
Speaker 1: is a technique where I focus on the small thing
Speaker 1: I could do right now to begin the process of
Speaker 1: getting that project started, that task started, that job started.
Speaker 1: So therefore I'm able then to continue to be consistently
Speaker 1: and then in a short while or whatever long it takes,
Speaker 1: the project is then completed, you know, or to have
Speaker 1: it is formed, or the change occurs because I got
Speaker 1: started and I became consistent, but I took a small
Speaker 1: step to make a big game. You know, don't look
Speaker 1: at the big project on job of tasks. Look at
Speaker 1: where you can start. Now. So whatever it is that
Speaker 1: you're trying to do, even the fact that it might
Speaker 1: be difficult or overwhelm me, you have to just zone
Speaker 1: in on where you can start. Make a small step
Speaker 1: to make a big game. My book review for this
Speaker 1: episode is How We Can Win, Race History and Changing
Speaker 1: the Money Game. That's read by Kimberly Jones. Now that's
Speaker 1: a long title, well a short title, long subtitle Race
Speaker 1: History and Changing the Money Game. That's read, you know,
Speaker 1: that's the subtitle. The main title, How we Can Win.
Speaker 1: That's short. But Kimberly Jones book, I think what's pretty
Speaker 1: illuminating and very insightful. Kimberly Jones secured this book deal
Speaker 1: because of a video that went viral about George Floyd Matter.
Speaker 1: Kimberly Jones wrote a question in her book that I
Speaker 1: want to read. So if I played four hundred years
Speaker 1: of Monopoly with you and had to play and give
Speaker 1: you every dime that I made, and then for fifty
Speaker 1: years every time that I played, if you didn't like
Speaker 1: what I did, you got to burn it down like
Speaker 1: they did in Tulsa and like they did in Rosewood,
Speaker 1: How can you win? How can you win? I had
Speaker 1: to sit back and meditate on that question, because I
Speaker 1: think that's why so many black people have trauma and
Speaker 1: give given up and don't believe they can win. A
Speaker 1: lot has happened, and this book is addressing those things
Speaker 1: that have happened, but more importantly, it focus on how
Speaker 1: we can win. Because even though we can describe the netrocities,
Speaker 1: the chaos to systemic racism, did all the different things
Speaker 1: that have kept us divided, confused, and uncertain, we can
Speaker 1: still win. And I concur with Kimny Jones. I definite
Speaker 1: agree on many concepts in points of view that she
Speaker 1: offers in this book in an attempt to teach strategies
Speaker 1: and techniques to reinforce change and elevate and implement a
Speaker 1: procedure and protocol that would allow you to take a
Speaker 1: defeatist mentality and win. Now, the number one thing she
Speaker 1: points out in the book is self improvement. Look at
Speaker 1: the person in the mirror self improvement. There ain't gonna
Speaker 1: be much change unless self improvement can change. And it's
Speaker 1: just making better choices. I mean to me, it was
Speaker 1: a common sense book. It's an easy read. It allows
Speaker 1: you to expand outside of the way you probably usually think,
Speaker 1: and it just offers solutions in order to, you know,
Speaker 1: navigate through all the issues in America. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, collectively, we that's what that we mean. We
Speaker 1: can win. And eyes have won. We got a lot
Speaker 1: of a lot of different eyes in the Vision troops
Speaker 1: who have achieved the normal success of America. But you
Speaker 1: don't live on an island by yourself, and the I
Speaker 1: can't sustain itself without the we. And what we need
Speaker 1: to do collectively is how we can overcome these financial issues,
Speaker 1: these locker resources issues, the health issues, the educational issues,
Speaker 1: you name it. We can solve the problem, but we
Speaker 1: have to do it as we and not I. And
Speaker 1: so you know, it was a great read. It was
Speaker 1: a fun read, and it's a book that I recommend
Speaker 1: you to read how we can win race history and
Speaker 1: change the money game that's rigged by Kimberly Jones. We
Speaker 1: have it at Malik Books. Come through Malik books dot com.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Malik's Bookshelf, where topics on the
Speaker 1: shelf are books, culture, and communities. Be sure to subscribe
Speaker 1: and leave me a review. Check out my Instagram at
Speaker 1: Malik Books. See you next time.