A message from Lindsay WhiteHey pals, it's Lindsay White - writer, musician, mama, medium, and founder of this journal line, here to answer your burning questions about Qulyn.
Q: What's the name about? I started Qulyn (pronounced quillin') Journals in January 2022 in honor of my late estranged mother Jacqulyn White, who died in February 2017 of brain cancer. As the pandemic spread throughout the world in 2020, I was meditating and journaling for my life. The residual grief from losing my mother and other close friends/family, coupled with a global healthcare crisis, mixed with some pretty heavy infertility issues, not to mention an absolutely bonkers political landscape made me feel like the walls were closing in on my already anxiety-ridden mind. The only thing that helped was taking the time to be still with my thoughts and feel my feelings. In doing so, I actually connected with my mom in a spiritual sense and was able to process a lot of lingering pain and move closer to a place of peace and resolve. I obviously didn't invent journaling, but I believe there are so many issues we are expected to sweep under the rug as a society. I wanted to make journals that speak to those kinds of topics - grief, postpartum struggles, breakups, mental health, etc. I thought of the name Qulyn almost as soon as I had the idea to create this line - like a quill for writing and also like my mama's beautiful and uniquely spelled name. The tagline "for folks with feels" pretty much encompasses the kind of people who I believe respond to my work, whether it's music, writing, and now journaling. I feel stuff out loud and all over the place, and I hope by sharing that vulnerability, others feel compelled to articulate their feelings too, at the very least in the privacy of these journal pages if not with the world. Q: If you had this idea in 2020, what took you so long to create them? I kept putting the idea on the backburner, as my music, writing work for clients, and other creative projects took precedence. I was also determined to write a book about my spiritual encounter with my mother before I dug into the whole journal thing (Dead Mom Talking coming soon!). And then a little bebe named River Jean came along and shook up all my plans. Since she came screaming into our lives in November 2021, I found myself setting aside many pieces of my creative identity to make space for her needs and to develop this new, HUGE, part of my identity as a mama. My guitars are collecting dust and my book still has a few chapters to go, but I realized during late night pumping and nursing sessions that this journal series was a perfect project because I could work on it two minutes at a time, and one-handed if necessary. Once again, but in a different way, journaling saved me during a time where it's easy to get sucked into the woes and throes of identity loss and postpartum mental health issues. It all comes full circle - thanks to experiences that came as a result of my mama's death and my daughter's birth, Qulyn lives. I hope, like the grief and joy we experience in this human form, these journals help you feel your feelings and give you daily reminders of what life is all about: loving and being loved. lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu |