Me – A Blog, A Magazine. It's JustsumInspiration!

Letting It ALL Hang Out – Part 1

Published on May 23, 2019May 31, 2019 by Roshonda B13 Comments

Featured Photo by Susanne Jutzeler from Pexels

Just in case you were wondering about the title, this blog post and the part 2 (yes, there’s a part 2…haha) coming next week will be ALL about MOI! a.k.a “Yours Truly – Me!” Maybe you know me already and want to skip this post as well as next weeks and I’d totally understand ORRRRR, maybe you’re just a little curious about me (weather you’re new to the blog or not, it’s just a guess) However, maybe you’d like to know some quirks as well as a little background information about me so here it is! I know you been waiting all your life for this…haha, don’t mind me – I always imagine things TOTALLY different in my head space =)

So, because you asked for it (In my head space again) I’m going to answer about 12 questions, some today and the rest next week in regards to things I get asked all the time or have just been getting asked about as of late. These are just a few questions but if you have questions of your own that you’d like to know – just ask. I’m pretty much, somewhat, okay, ALOT of an open book so you can ask me anything – except about politics. I’m not a political person, Yes – I do vote as that’s my right but I don’t like political talk of any kind. I have my opinions but I’d rather keep those to myself and my head space ; )

I have to admit I wanted to do a video answering these questions and be all different and unique…lol…but in my Kevin Hart voice:

I promise you!! It’s like I have to delete everything on my phone in order for it to run smoothly and do cool things….UGH!!!….My storage prompt is on right now because this silly phone wants me to delete pics! I know, I know….Yes, I need another phone but honestly I can’t afford to get one right now (the one that I want that is!) so I’m subject to taking commands from it. At the moment, it’s my boss so I have to do what it tells me to do…..

Any-who, here’s getting to know me a little better. I hope you enjoy and for those that know a word of prayer?, while you’re throwing up your timber (as the seasoned elders would say a.k.a “request”) to the big man upstairs?, put my phone needs in there as well. I really appreciate ya and Thanks in Advance!!! =)

I PUT THESE QUESTIONS IN AN ENVELOPE AND JUST PULLED THEM OUT RANDOMLY, SO HERE GOES…

1. What’s your background? (Any sisters, brothers, mom, dad OR KIDS)

Yes, my background is a little interesting and it would take me writing a novel to tell you all the in’s and out’s of it…lol, but seriously it would. However, I am the oldest of two girls. We never was blessed to have any brothers but I have an awesome brother-in-law in whom I love dearly and is like a brother to me. Me and my middle sister are two years apart, my baby sister and I are five years apart. People used to tell my mom that it didn’t look like she had girls as old as she did, but she literally grew up with us, which brings me to my next question – My MOM

My mother was 16 yrs old when she became pregnant with me. She was a young girl looking for love in all the wrong places after her mother sent her away at 12 yrs old, citing the fact that her “husband” didn’t want her living there anymore. So my mom went to live with her cousins in Arkansas, people she hadn’t even met before. There was a lot of things that happened to her during that time. My mom although having me out of wedlock, counted it as a blessing because she finally had someone growing inside of her that she felt was going to love her and that I did, now – My DAD

Didn’t know him, seen him twice in my now 40 yrs of life. He paid child support a couple of times when I was in high school and that was about it. I did talk about him more in depth on my “My Favorite Childhood Memory“ video

I have two kids a daughter and a son (ones a full blown teen and the other a tween, both are running me a little crazy). Know anyone that would like two kids?…..lol (their my babies though and I love them dearly) and NO, I don’t want anymore…but thanks!! =)

2. Does anything ever bother you? Pet Peeves?

Oh gosh yes!! I have a few pet peeves such as I can’t stand a person that creates confusion…oh my that gets under my skin or when someone is a compulsive liar…phew! honey, can’t take it. However, there is one pet peeve that raises the hair on my neck and that’s when I’m in the grocery store, especially the self-checkout and someone is standing so close behind me until I literally feel their breathe on my neck. That bugs the heck out of me. Now when I go thru the self checkout I make sure I’m standing in front of my basket and I leave it there until I get all my groceries out, check them and then I move my basket…lol. I just can’t take it….it works my nerves over….lol

3. How old are you?

Well, I just celebrated a birthday last month. I officially turned the BIG 4-0! I don’t know what it is but it’s something about turning those ages such as 20, 30, 40, 50 and so forth and it’s another thing when you get to the top of the mountain as I say of all of those ages such as 25, 35, 45 and 55. I can’t explain it but it’s like a light bulb or something awakens on the inside of you. You begin to think and see life completely different or as a friend once told me “The things that once mattered, don’t matter and the things that do matter, do.” And that’s the truth – now at 40 I notice that I’m more “conscious” about what I say, do and what I put in my body as everything plays an affect on you somehow.

4. What’s your Daytime Job – What do you do in real life.

In reality – I work in administration at a University. I’m a singles ministry leader for my church and I just started my own small biz entitled “Roshonda-BCreative” in which is a writing and creative design publication company. It just started and as of right now I’ve only had one client but I’m praying to God that it grows and grows. It may not make me rich and that’s okay, I’m just excited to get it up and going. I’m putting all fear & doubt aside and making it happen. Pray for me!

5. What’s your biggest embarrassment

I almost took this question out of the list. Let me see, I have a couple of things I’m embarrassed about – one is the fact that I didn’t allow myself time to get to know me, my goals and really search for what it was that I really wanted to do in life. For the better part of my 20’s and 30’s I found myself becoming more engulfed in finding love, getting married and settling down with one man only and that could have happened, however, I wasn’t patient enough to wait on God for it. Therefore I married someone whom, well that’s one of my questions for next week…I’ll tell you then. The other embarrassment is the fact that I never got a college degree, before you unsubscribe….because that’s always been my fear of telling people that. Not so much because people will unsubscribe to the blog, I mean you do you boo. Every audience isn’t for everyone and I’ve learned to accept that. However, I don’t tell people for fear they’d find me less interesting or think I’m “less than” because I don’t.

Photo Credit: Bing/Discouragement/ibelieve

I’m the one that always puts “some college” on applications or whenever that question comes up. It’s just that when I got out of school, I had “no clue” about what I wanted to do. I thought it was going to be nursing, but I quickly realized I hated needles – especially sticking people with them. Then I wanted to go for business administration but didn’t know what area I wanted to specialize in. On top of all that – being the oldest and having a mom on disability, I felt obligated to work to help supplement the income that was coming in the house – so that’s what I did, I worked. I went to training’s, took small classes and googled what I didn’t know. I worked my “tush” off to get where I am today, it was a much longer road around but I learned from the best (good and bad).

I had some tough teachers in the office administration field who at the time, got this egotiscal, twenty something girl in shape! I learned and became pruned by some not so good bosses and/or people as well. I learned a lot, more than I probably would have learned in a traditional school but I won’t lie, I think about having a degree all the time. I know it’s never too late to do anything and one day I just may surprise myself and do it!

6. Who Are You?

I’ve been “deemed” as the encourager in my what I like to call “short lifetime” it’s something that comes very natural to me and I love inspiring people, I’m always looking for the positive lining in everything and/or looking for ways to turn things around into one. This job is not easy and I have to watch what I say. Sometimes you can boost people up and maybe it’s not what needs to happen or they have other underlying issues that need to be worked out, so instead of sugar-coating. I try to be honest (especially when my opinion is being asked) and tell a person like it is.

I’m just a woman with a little girl inside of her whose trying to live out the dreams she never thought she was either good enough or ever could do. I have issues just like the next person, I cry (another question asked – next week!) and have had many low points too. For some reason people tend to think I don’t get mad or cry or have bad days! I experience not so good days and go through ups and downs just like the next person. I’m not perfect, I make many mistakes as a matter of fact so many, if you look in the dictionary you might just see my pic next to the word. It’s not about who you are really, it’s about how you handle situations – including life, which is different for us all. All in all I’m HUMAN – that’s who I am first.

Well, Did you get to know me a little better? I hope you did! Maybe next week I’ll be able to do a video (fingers crossed if my phone and it’s storage will cooperate ; )

Q&A: Okay, So How “MAY” I Help You…

Published on May 3, 2018 by 10 Comments

OMGosh!!! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, where has the TIME GONE! First there was January, then there was MAY! I can’t say I even remember too much about the months in between. Anywho, I hope you’re having a great day and hopefully the weather is sunny and warm where you are because it’s definitely been a LONGGGGGGGGG Winter, so long until it overlapped into Spring!

While I feel as though Spring is just beginning, usually the spring season brings on new ideas, it’s a time in which we can clean up the cobwebs of winter and make everything airy and decluttered and while I still have that on my to-do list to complete in my own house – I have to say, that I’m suffering from a big brain cobweb. Yep! the ideas of what to post about for this month, seemed to skip past me like the mailman does when I’m looking for a check, instead of a nagging bill.

You know?, I’ve been blogging for 3yrs now and I have to say – when I first started, I had no idea as to what I was going to talk about, it was like this blank canvas was in front of me and I had to find some way of coloring it. I was so nervous, “What have I just done?” I asked myself, right after I got the message “Your Blog JustsumInspiration is up and ready! “Oh No!!….what seemed like a good idea, now had my mouth filled with cotton balls. But, Thank God – topics, situations and life events all flooded my mind within that first month and has never stopped until NOW. Sooo, you might be wondering…Okay, Ro – so what are getting at……

I NEED TOPICSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

Do you have any??? – I know Mother’s Day week is next week and I believe I have about two rabbits in my hat that I can pull off a couple of tricks with, but after that – I DON’T KNOW, YIKESSSS!

McCauley Culkin1 — *McCauley Culkin/Home Alone – Gif*

So, that’s where you come in at – I know for the past three years, I’ve been doing a lot of talking and kind of testing the waters with life experiences and certain topics and that’s been great, but now I have to ask you – Is there a Particular topic you would like for me to talk about? (Anything but Politics, because I’m just not that clever or knowledgeable on the subject) however; everything else is up for grabs.

I want to know what you would like to see featured on the Blog – Do you have a burning question or are you puzzled about something and need some advice? Is there a subject matter you hadn’t seen me talk about and you want me to talk about it? Just let me know!!….I’m here to serve you. It can be topics about me, about you, life, God or whatever. I’m not claiming to know EVERYTHING in the world, but I’ve been through quite a bit of things and can maybe offer some insight. Would you like more short stories?, I had a blogger (Driftyness) to state that she liked the short story posts and would like to see more of those and because of that request, I decided at the end of each month – I would post an original short story that was written by me!

So, this month – the ball is in your court. Let me me know what you’d like to talk about and I’ll see what I can “cook up” in this brain of mine.

State your topic of interest in the comments! I’ll be patiently waiting….

If you submit a topic, I’ll be sure to give you a shout out at the beginning of the post. If you’re not a blogger but a visitor – then please send your email address to justsuminspiration@gmail.com and I’ll email you when your post is about to be featured. If you’re a blogger, I’ll also give you a shout out with a link to your blog so people can visit your site or social media site. (Hey, we’re helpers one to another – right? =)

Roshonda N. Blackmon – Creator of A Blog, A Magazine. It’s JustsumInspiration, Author, Speaker & Encourager

Monthly Series: An Attitude Of Gratitude -Challenge #1

Published on November 6, 2017November 6, 2017 by Roshonda B2 Comments

photo credit above can be found at mahindraraj

So, as promised today is the first day of our Monthly series – Attitude of Gratitude. Just in case you missed the November Vibes post, Every Monday and Wednesday for the month of November, I will be posting questions in regards to being grateful. I will answer these questions myself but my hope is that you will answer them too and leave those answers in the comment section.

Some questions may have us digging a little deeper within ourselves to answer them, but in the end – my hope is that you will feel more empowered and begin to see yourself and even your life differently and not just for the month of November – but for every month of the year. You can choose to start a journal if you want but this challenge as you may say, is not just about us writing things out and leaving it in a little book to store it away and go back to it when we’re reflecting on our life but the challenge is to show it, so as an extra bonus after every question regarding yourself will be a question in which will relate to the world around you, it’ll be called “Our End of the Day Question” – you don’t have to write about it here, but it’ll be something that you’ll just ask yourself everyday at the end of your day. While writing out what we’re “grateful” for is half the battle, showing gratitude for and towards others is the KEY!

So, let’s do both – reflecting and showing….(by the way, the passage above will be in every challenge post to start off, however; a new question will be at the bottom of each post).

What are you grateful for today (My response):

Today, I am grateful for life – health and strength. Life to be able to see another day and start over with a clean slate, no matter what yesterday looked like. I’m grateful for having a new day to do things things over. A new day to squash goals, be a better mom and co-worker, a new day to continue to walk and work in my purpose. I’m grateful for my health, it could be a whole lot worse as I was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic – I’m grateful for having a mind to want to take care of my health and do the right things to make sure I’m in the best shape possible. I’m grateful for strength, to be be able to move past hurts, disappointments and failed relationships. It’s not always easy – but I’m grateful to God for not allowing me to succumb to my issues but for giving me the power and strength to bull-dozer through them.

– Comment Below –

Your End of the Day Question:

How did you make others feel today, did you display your best attitude?

Roshonda N. Blackmon – Creator of A Blog, A Magazine. It’s JustsumInspiration, Author, Speaker & Encourager

Let’s Live Well, Laugh Loud, Inspire Often & Love Hard!

Let’s Face It, Everyone’s Not Going to Like You…

Published on August 18, 2017August 18, 2017 by Roshonda B11 Comments

test

I used to be a very shy child, who was always deemed as “The Quiet One” – now this had good points and bad points. One of the good points was that, everyone thought I was nice and easy to get along with – they seemed to know this without even talking with me first. The bad point of being labeled as quiet was that people (a.k.a extended family) thought I was sneaky, or that I would be the one that would “Wild Out in Promiscuity” and be super naive’ to the point of where I would run off with any guy and get pregnant at a young age; I might have been quiet, but I wasn’t stupid.

Being a person that suffered badly from low self-esteem and self-image, I didn’t think to much of myself on the outside; but my insides were bursting with colors. I just didn’t know how to bring that party on the outside. When I turned 30 (I know, late bloomer), it was then that I began to see “ME” for whom I really was – Beautiful, Bold, Lovely and Amazing. I realized at that moment, that I did have something to offer the world and that it was okay to be different; in mind and opinion. I not only began to beat to my own drum but noticed that instead of thriving to follow others, I had others wanting to be as confident as I was and followed me.

When the inner party came to the outside, I noticed that I not only had a good personality but had the look to match it. The girl that wanted everyone to focus on her personality and bypass her appearance of frumpy clothes, tied back hair and no make-up had suddenly found her own fashion and rocked it. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m an around the way girl, so when I started to care about what clothes I was putting on my body, it was salvation army and Roses’ all the way honey. You’ll be surprised at what you’ll find. I love the S.A! ALL DAY!

With this new found confidence you would think that I would have a host of friends – BUT! the lie detector test determined THAT WAS A LIE! I quickly realized that my new found self-discovery didn’t register with everyone as everybody didn’t like the new inspirational, loving, self-motivated, sees the good in everything, confident of who she is, loves her body, mind and soul ME!. I thought that just because I had a wonderful personality and could get along with a variety of people that everyone would generally flock to me, but that also was determined to not be a true fact. It didn’t take long for me to realize that my infectious good spirit and nature would not resonate with everyone. I had developed a complex of wanting everyone to like me and when one or two people didn’t, I ran myself crazy trying to figure out why? WHAT WAS WRONG WITH ME!!

Sadness3 — Sadness from Disney Pixar’s movie “Inside Out” (2015)

People’s negativity towards me, literally almost made me change my outlook on being the so-called wonderful, smiley person that I had become outwardly. I found myself hiding my smile, shielding my personality and adopting the “if you can’t beat’em, join’em motto.” But why join the crowd, when I was obviously born to STAND OUT! It was then that I realized, everyone’s not going to like nor accept you – so what are you going to do…

A MOMENT OF TRUTH?!?: Not everyone liked or loved Jesus Christ, but regardless of what people thought, said or felt about him or his presence; he was on a mission. If he had gotten all caught in people’s emotions towards him, he would have never completed the mission or fulfilled his purpose. He would have left us all in the balances to fend for ourselves. So, if they didn’t love or like Jesus; savior of the world? Who are you to get offended because you’re not being liked or accepted.

We live in a society that feeds off of acceptance and likes – you can see that all over social media. In this life, if you’re never liked or accepted by someone then that shouldn’t dull your shine on the magnificent person you are. Not only that, you have to do like I did and think; that’s only a few people – I bet if you look in your circle or around you, there are lives that you’ve changed and a host of people that think you’re AWESOME! so it doesn’t matter what the crumbs think. When people make a sandwich, they make it with two slices of bread and they eat it – can you imagine someone making a sandwich with just the crumbs? It wouldn’t be a very good sandwich, now would it. You may say, what does bread have to do with.

I want you to focus on the fullness of your life – there will be crumbs scattered along the way, but they hold no substance and are not fulfilling and therefore will not bring greatness to your life or your belly.

While everyone may not like you and WHO CARES! The only person you should be concerned about pleasing and being pleased with you is God; he says in Psalms 139:14 that you are fearfully and wonderfully made and the next person whose opinions should matter is YOURS! I no longer worry if people like me or not, want to hang with me or not, call me or not or say crazy things about me because of my personality or self-confidence and my ability to say NO to foolishness. I think I’m great and as long as I’m in good spirits about whose I am and who I am – I’ll continue to be happy and beat to my own DRUM!