The #LunchBreak – What Are You Afraid Of?

Happy Hump Day friends!

First and foremost *clears throat* HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY TO MY SISSY POO IMANIE! I cannot believe you’re twenty-one man. ??

We are officially half way through January, isn’t that crazy? What have you all accomplished so far? How are those resolutions coming along? I can already tell that 2018 is ready to fly by! We’re going to look up and it’ll be Thanksgiving again. Hubby and I sat down over the weekend and put our goals into the universe. We decided exactly what we want our year to look like and put a plan in motion. One thing I really admire about my husband is his thought processes. He really enjoys making plans and blueprints to how he’s going to accomplish his goals. I appreciate that about him because that mindset helps balance out my scatter “brain-ness.” I have a very go with the flow attitude about life and Geesh is like “Nah, but how is that going to happen?” So, God knew what he was doing when he put us together.

Yes, I turned myself into a gif. HA! I got the new iPhone 8 Plus and I’ve quickly become obsessed with the Live Photo’s option. Assss you can tell. ?

Today I am wearing black and white plaid patterned dress pants from H&M, $29.99. Now, I know we’re protesting, (well I am), H&M right now so I won’t link them, but here are some similar pants I found online. Here also. Anyhow, these pants are one of my favorite pair of slacks, but I hate ironing them. They came with a serious crease down the center and every time I want to wear them, they have to be ironed the night before. I hate fighting with that damn crease. Ain’t no starch in this crease hunny! That may be the damn problem.

Let’s get into the first reader submission. I won’t lie, when this email came through I was super excited. I didn’t expect anyone to submit anything at all, but the support is always appreciated!

What’s your goals, inspirations, and expectations for this new platform?

Honestly, when I started this platform the only expectation I had at the time was to publish quality content. In the early days of this blog, the content was focused on food and recipes. I quickly learned that that wasn’t the realm I wanted to go into because I could not produce at the level I wanted to. Not because the imagery wasn’t good, but because I was suffering a lot from imposter syndrome. I spoke about that in this post. Blogging was something I’d been interested in since MySpace (remember that?), but I never took the real steps of starting something of my own. Many times I started “blogs” through sites like Wix, Tumblr, Blogger and Xanga (way back in the day) and I abandoned all of them. It wasn’t until I started to follow people like Necole Kane, founder of XoNecole.com, Ashley Chea, @Watermeloneggrolls on Instagram, and Courtney B., founder of TheBWerd.com, that I knew I could take the leap and start something of my own and completely be myself, unapologetically. It wasn’t/hasn’t been an easy process though.

How has social media given you a platform to express yourself and why is that important in today’s society?

I am a direct product of the social media era. I proudly claim the “millennial” title because I have lived through the inception and expansion of the internet, more specifically, social media. I love what social media has become. For me, and I’m sure for many others, it has helped nurture individuality, creativity, and inspiration. How did generations before us foster communication, share ideas, and showcase creativity without these platforms? Sarcasm. But seriously, platforms like Instagram has given me a different feeling of freedom and responsibility . Freedom in the sense that I am allowed to express myself in many forms, through my own personal creativity outlets like photography and words, but also through others words or photos, “reposts.” The responsibility, for me, kicks in when I need to make my immediate circle aware (sharing and reposting), correcting falsehoods, and holding people accountable for their raggedy opinions. This is important in today’s society because we need to take advantage of our connectivity with others. Learn from each other, teach each other, and inspire one another.

What are you afraid of?

Are you asking regarding this platform or my fears in general? If we’re talking about in general, I’m not really afraid of much except heights, deep water, and big ass roaches. Lousiana takes the cake for the biggest bugs I’ve ever seen. Fear regarding this platform always circles back to not being my authentic self. And like I’ve said before, this blog was started through my passion for photography, but quickly overwhelmed me with unrealistic expectations I placed on myself. For example, constant comparison and inconsistancy. I thought for a long time,  in order for my blog to be successful it needed to look like or feel like someone else’s. We all want to be the best at something, but when it comes with constant self-scrutiny maybe that’s a clue to take a step back and reevaluate why you started in the first place.

“We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them.” -Christian Nevell Bovee

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If you’d like to submit questions or to be featured as an #OOTD, please send me an email at [email protected]. I will reply with details on the deadline for your submission. If you’re just wanting a question answered, check back every week and you may see your question answered. As always, thanks for reading and leave your comments down below.

Peace + Love.