Life

Hands Off The Brakes, Part 2

Good Morning☀️

I’m just going to jump right into this ramble. I have a lot to unpack. Today, I’m more focused on the release than the structure of how it flows. Please bear with me.

First, when I saw Tyler Perry’s post about this being one of his most powerful films, I already knew it was going to be deep. So I intentionally waited until the end of the day to watch it. I needed to be able to sit in whatever he was bringing. Yeah… he can get deep like that.

Anyhoo… yesterday was already emotional for me. I saw that a magazine article I interviewed for had been published. According to the date, it was actually published two days earlier, but I had just received the link. I had so many mixed emotions about the article. I second-guessed everything I had said. I kept thinking, maybe I had overshared or didn’t share enough. But the biggest thing was what my siblings would think about what I shared. It was nothing bad, just my take on our reality growing up. I wish that I could’ve shone a better light on my mom in the article. It doesn’t mention that she graduated early from high school and went to college. It doesn’t mention her surviving abuse and paving the way for me and my siblings to have better lives than she did. There was so much I wish I’d mentioned, but didn’t. So yesterday, when I received the link to the article, I hesitated to share it with them. I shared it with my daughter first, and she said it was a great article. She couldn’t understand why I didn’t want to share it. But I know my siblings…

I finally got the courage to share it with them and let them know I was going to post it on Facebook. It was my homage to my mom. The sacrifices she made were so that we could be who we are. So that I could be who I am. Here’s the link to the article if you’d like to read it— Conversations with LaShaundrea Bradford

Back to Tyler Perry’s movie, Doing Life, without giving too much away. The story isn’t only a love story but also centers around a sick mother and her three adult daughters and their dynamics. Unlike the mom in the movie, my mother was never harsh or cold. Now, she wasn’t the hugging type and did yell a lot, but she never cussed at us or called us out of our name. Not even when she was frustrated with us and in pain. In all honesty, she was a people pleaser, and she got her heart broken so many times, but it never stopped her from doing for others or giving. That was my mom.

So when I said I was feeling so many mixed emotions, that’s what I meant. The next is about the main storyline itself. I ended my last post with, “Every woman deserves a Carousel.” Well, Carousel was the main male character, and Anika was his love and one of the sick mother’s daughters. Again, not going to give anything about the movie away. I just loved the way Carousel cared for Anika. He kept telling her that he had her, and y’all, he did!

I don’t know about you, but that’s what I’ve always longed for in a relationship. For a man to have my back. For him to be someone I can truly count on. Not someone who talks the talk but can’t walk the walk. Carousel was that man. Whatever he said, he backed it up with action! Now, I know this was just a fictional story, but I truly believe men like Carousel exist. I always have. Hence the reason I want to get married again. I want my Carousel!😂 So, yeah, that was the other part of my mixed emotions.


Y’all, life is something else! It definitely be lifeing. You never know what people are going through unless they decide to share. Like I just did. Smile

Welcome to my world!


This is all for now. It’s Self-Love Saturday. Be sure to do something extra special for yourself. You deserve it!♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration

Ummm… why didn’t nobody mention that I was misspelling BRAKES!!! I just caught this!🥴

empowerment, Life

God Placed Me Where I Could Grow

Happy Friday!☀️

Wasn’t it just Monday?! Smile


Since it’s Friday, here are two flashbacks from this day six years ago. Both resonated with me this morning.

October 2, 2026 – Facebook Memories

God placed me where He could grow me.

I feel this.

I understand this.

Fannie Lou Hamer—an American icon and leader from the Mississippi Delta. (She was born and lived not even an hour from where I was born.)

Mrs. Hamer’s statement reflects where I currently am in life.

“When I liberate myself, I liberate others.”

Even though this week has been all about me, I know this journey isn’t only about me. I’ve spent most of my life putting everyone’s needs before my own. Not intentionally. It just happened that way. However, this week, I realized I could no longer effectively help anyone until I helped myself first—until I liberated myself.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Mrs. Hamer had breast cancer when she died. She suffered in silence while putting others’ needs before her own. Let that sink in…🩷🕊️

If you’d like to read more about Fannie Lou Hamer and her work as a Civil Rights grassroots leader, here’s a good source from Women’s History.org: Fannie Lou Hamer.

Yes, I was placed here to grow.🪴


This is all I have for now. I pray you have a beautifully blessed day.♥️

I love you,

Shaun

By the way… Tyler Perry’s latest movie, Doing Life, is streaming on Netflix. He said it’s his most powerful movie yet. So y’all already know I can’t wait to see it!😁

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration.

empowerment, Life

The New

Happy Thursday☀️ And Happy October!

Today is reserved for all things new.

It’s Time For The New

New month.

New things to do.

Last night I decided to start reposting on Substack (Shaun Inspires). Thought I’d give it another try. Hadn’t realized I made so many posts before I abandoned it. I was struggling with figuring out how to connect. Today, I’m not too much concerned about connecting. I’m at a point in life where I just want future generations to know I existed and that I held a space in this point in time.

Yes.

I’m here.

I exist.

Feeling like Miss Celie from The Color Purple— “Dear God, I’m here!”

Blessed to be in this space in time. Taking nothing for granted. Purposefully and intentionally setting out to do something new for ME.🥰


I pray you have a wonderful month. May it be filled with lots of love, joy, peace, and happiness.♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration.

Life

I Had To Rest My Mind

Good Morning☀️ and Happy Wednesday!

Y’all, I have gotten more rest in one day than I have this entire year! No joke. On Monday, I accepted that I must put myself first—not second or third, but FIRST! I am my only priority. Then, yesterday, I rested. And not like I had been resting before. Nothing like what I’ve done previously. I’m laughing because I actually cleaned my house and did laundry. The rest I needed wasn’t physical; it was mental. I needed to rest my mind. I didn’t listen to any podcasts, or watch any spiritual or motivational videos. I put on a random show, downloaded a random game on my phone, and did housework in between playing the game and watching the show. I also responded to a few emails. But I didn’t even check my email until sometime yesterday afternoon. Oh! And I also said a few no’s. No’s without the guilt—the guilt I would typically place on myself.

Yesterday, I broke free from the box I’d put myself in. Sometimes, we create our own stress—lol, and I was definitely creating some of mine.

Yesss… yesterday, I set myself FREE!

Here’s to me doing better and being better, because I matter to ME!🎉

By the way, I retired my “Quote of the Day” posts. There’s still a quote, but it’s now part of my daily inspiration message.


This is all for now. I pray you have a wonderful Wednesday. May it be filled with lots of love and peace.♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration.

empowerment, self love

My Journey With God, No. 150

YOU are your priority. Not another task. Not another goal. Not another mission. Not another person. YOU, my friend, are your only priority. Everything else is secondary.

Your Priority

My kids have been telling me for the longest that I am my only priority. The last time my daughter was here, she kindly told me that although she’s glad I still consider her and my son when making decisions, they should no longer be a factor in whatever I choose to do. She said that I need to reimagine my life not centered around them.

So what did I do? I started taking on tasks and putting other people’s needs, goals, and interests before my own. Not like I hadn’t been doing it before. Smile. But yesterday was my breaking point.

Yesterday, by noon, I had become so overwhelmed by everything I had taken on that I could literally feel my blood pressure rising—plus I was having hot flashes like CRAZY! Y’all, hot flashes are no joke!! Then, yesterday evening, I saw a post about one of my step-cousins passing from an apparent stroke. He was only a year younger than me.

After finally taking time to sit and breathe, I remembered what my daughter said, I am my only priority.

Today, I need to focus only on myself and what I want to achieve. I live to help and be there for others, but who’s here for me? Who’s helping me? Umm… no one besides ME! So I need to make sure I put myself first and do it daily, not just today. I’m not being selfish. I just want to live a long, healthy life. I have at least 50 more years of life to live.😊


This is all I have for now. Thanks for allowing me to share/ramble. I pray you have a beautifully blessed day!♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration.

gratitude

Hello Sunday (295)

Happy Sunday!☀️

Singing— “I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Amen

God, thank You for allowing me to see another day and experience Your grace and blessings. I never want a day or moment to go by without acknowledging Your presence in my life.

Feeling thankful…


I pray your weekend has been lovely thus far. Wishing you a beautiful rest of the day. May it be filled with lots of love, laughter, and joy.♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration. 

empowerment, Life

Perfection Is An Illusion

Good Morning☀️ And Happy Friday!🌸

Decided to check my Facebook memories this morning. Something that I rarely do nowadays. And this memory/quote hit me like a ton of bricks!

“You’re not a perfectionist, you’re just scared.” –Gary Vaynerchuk

When I tell you I felt called out! THIS is how God usually gets my attention.

You see, perfectionism is what I’ve been dealing with lately. It’s the real culprit in me feeling drained this past week. It’s not the amount of projects I’m working on or me overcommitting. It’s me overthinking and constantly revising things to make them perfect, when perfect was never possible. Smiling because my daughter said this very thing after I submitted something I was working on.

I just love her!🥰


Here’s a sneak peek at today’s post under Shaun’s Daily Inspiration:

I believe Gary Vee is right. Perfectionism is more about fear than being perfect. Gotta overcome that fear.

Anyhoo… I’m going to take a quick nap before I start my day. Today I’m releasing perfectionism. No more reviews and revisions. Only submissions, publishes, and sends.

Happy Friday to me!☺️


This is all for now. Wishing you a beautiful day and lovely weekend. Be sure to do things that make your heart smile.♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration. 

hope

A Week Of Inspiration

Good Morning☀️ And Happy Thursday! I promise it feels like Friday, but it’s not. Perhaps this is my sign to treat today as Friday. We shall see!😊


As many of you know (those who have been following me for a while), several months ago I decided to separate my daily inspirations from my personal posts. It was time. So, if you’ve been wondering what happened to my “Quote of the Day” and personal inspirational quotes, know that they’re still here! You can find them under ShaunsDailyInspiration.com. If you’re not already following me there, here’s a week’s worth of quotes for you. When I share them on other platforms, I usually share them in pairs.

Note: The following screenshots only show the caption I shared when reposting to social media. Visit ShaunsDailyInspiration.com to see the actual post.

Today – September 24, 2026


September 23, 2026


September 22, 2026


September 21, 2026


September 20, 2026


September 19, 2026


September 18, 2026


September 17, 2026


Shaun’s Daily Inspiration is on several platforms:

Facebook: ShaunsDailyInspiration

Instagram: @ShaunsDailyInspiration

X (Formerly Twitter): @SDInspirations

YouTube: @ShaunsDailyInspiration

I’m also on Substack, but I haven’t posted there in a while. Maybe I’ll restart posting soon.

Feel free to Follow me on one or all platforms. Smile. And please share the inspiration.🌺


This is all for now. I pray that you’ve been encouraged, motivated, and/or inspired. Wishing you a beautiful day!♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration. 

Life

12 Years Ago

Good Morning☀️

Here’s what I shared four years ago—

September 22, 2014 written on September 22, 2022

Eight years ago, I wrote my first “purse note.” It’s the first of several notes I have kept in my purse to refer back to whenever I need encouragement or to be reminded of my dreams, goals and purpose. Yes.. I have eight year old pieces of paper in my purse.

So, I wrote this particular note during a pretty weird time in my life. I say weird, but truthfully, it was almost like an awakening. It was like my spiritual awareness was on 100. No lie! It was like I was connected to the universe and everything I could possibly think of or imagining was coming my way. I felt like a magnet. All I had to do was think of something and it was drawn to me. Y’all, I had never experienced anything like that before. It was pretty surreal!

Here’s a tiny snippet of what I wrote on that day–

“Out of my reach, but nothing is too hard for God.”

I ended the note with this:

Philippians 4:7 (Living Bible version)

If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.

It’s taken me a good seven to eight years to finally understand what it truly means to reside in God’s peace. No matter what I had to endure, God’s peace and love always kept my mind and heart stable and safe from harm. 

As for the snippet… Baby, I’ve learned that there’s nothing out of my reach. If I truly want it, I can have it. The catch is, I actually have to work for it. Yep.. gotta put in that work! Smiling 

I truly love my life. Y’all, God is so good. 

Grateful & Blessed


The military has a saying “Hurry up, and wait.”

One second everything’s moving a mile a minute. Then, the next second, nothing is happening at all.

For a few weeks now, everything’s been moving at such a fast pace that I haven’t had a real moment to take a good breather. Yesterday, I was both wired and tired. Had only slept a good 4-5 hours (not consecutive) in 24-36 hours. Nothing bad was happening. I just overcommitted. By yesterday evening, I was definitely operating on autopilot. Today, I have not one once of motivation in me. This engine has run out of steam…

I needed to see that post shared four years ago. I love my enthusiasm and optimism. At the moment, I really want to write about myself in the third person because that Shaun and the Shaun from 12 years ago are so different from today’s Shaun (at least, at the moment—maybe I’m just drained). They were younger and so eager to take on the world. All they talked about were pursuing their dreams and purpose (okay… I guess I haven’t changed much—Lol). They make me smile.

Truth be told, 12 years ago seems like such a distant memory. Four years ago, I could still feel the excitement. Today, it feels like someone else’s story than my own memory. I retired that particular purse note several years ago, probably after I made that post. I said it had fulfilled its purpose for that time and deserved to be placed in my box of memories. However, today I’m thinking I may need to go retrieve it and reread it because I want to feel that energy again.

Nah… I think I’ll find and read it later because this Shaun is a little too drained to get excited about pursuing dreams, goals, and purpose. Smile


This is all I have for today. Let’s chalk this up as a random ramble. I’m pretty sure none of it makes much sense and I have absolutely no energy or desire to go back and proof it. And if you’re wondering why I even stopped to write… Well, I’m 114 days into my new writing streak. I don’t care how much I try not to care about me not missing a day of writing, I care about not missing a day. Ugh…

My life.

Okay… I’m done.

I pray you have a wonderful day!♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration. 

empowerment, Life

My Journey With God, No. 149

Good Morning☀️ And Happy Self Love Saturday!

Here’s a quote from Fave #4.

“Just try new things. Don’t be afraid. Step out of your comfort zones and soar.” –Michelle Obama

Quote of the Day – 9.19.2026

Comfort zone…

I believe these last three years have pushed me outside my comfort zone more than any other period in my life. I’ve already done more on this side of 50 (at 53) than I’ve done in decades at a time. I asked for my years beyond 50 to be far different from the last, and I’m so in awe of how God is bringing my ask to fruition.

While scrolling through my photos, I came across this text between my daughter and me. Y’all, all I could do was smile. It’s a testament of me asking and God answering.

This was October 2023.

I just love my baby girl!!💗

I was at home that day, reading tweets from colleagues attending our national food and nutrition conference (FNCE). For years, I lived for attending those conferences. They gave me the annual boost I needed to stay motivated, as well as sparked new ideas. You see, after I took my big leap of faith and resigned from my job, I could no longer afford to attend the conferences. I could barely afford to attend our state conferences.

Then, a year later…

Less than six months after my daughter texted, “You are preparing for the next level!!!!”, I said yes to serving as the president-elect of our state’s dietetics association. This didn’t take me outside my comfort zone (I had served years before), but I was at a stage in my life (or so I thought) where I just wanted to live the “retired” life. Smile

Here are more pictures from that day. Y’all, I really love our conferences.

Okay… So maybe I go for the food.😂 Always a good time!

I also attended last year’s conference in Nashville. This year, I’m planning our state’s conference, so it’s my main focus right now.

A few posts ago, I asked the question— “What do you want most [from life]?” And in another post, I wrote—

“Listen, if you want to truly live, sit and stay in God’s presence. He will give you experiences that will satisfy your soul. Yeah…His experiences are soul deep!”

I know what I truly want, and so does God. Attending the conferences may seem like a small experience, but for me, it’s one of those soul-deep ones. Yes, I love the food (I really think food is my love language☺️), but I love being around the people most. When I’m at those conferences—and that’s any conference or event—I talk to EVERYBODY! I even talk to the janitors cleaning the restrooms. I want everyone to feel seen, valued, and appreciated. Plus, it’s how you make connections. So yeah… it’s soul deep for me.

Listen, there are so many soul-deep experiences outside of your comfort zone. Be open to saying yes to new opportunities and doing something new.


This is all for today. Have a wonderful self-love Saturday. Celebrate it by doing something new!♥️

I love you,

Shaun

**Be sure to stop by Shaun’s Daily Inspiration and get your daily dose of inspiration.