This particular year, this particular season, this particular time of year is proving to be rough on many of us for many reasons. Life is wearing us down. It can be excruciating, trying to balance the weight between your work, your personal life and what’s happening in the world. You can only shoulder the weight so…
life lessons
The Christmas Conflict
Can I just lay down the beauty/hair/lifestyle blogger mantle for a minute and speak what’s on my mind? Quite frankly, I’m struggling to do what I’m “supposed” to do right now. I’m struggling to find the right words, and as someone whose livelihood is in words, it doesn’t feel good. It’s Christmas and there’s this…
5 Fabulous Ways Solange Reinvented Traditional Wedding Rules
There was a wedding in my family this summer, and one of the things that I had forgotten about weddings and being a bride was the number of RULES. My husband and I tied the knot twelve years ago and we were babes in the woods when we did it. The rules that we broke…
What Maya Angelou Taught Me About Beauty With Just One Poem
On May 28th I got up early, made tea and toast, puttered around my apartment unloading the dishwasher and throwing clothes in the washing machine. Regular, routine life stuff. I’d planned to blog about an amazing new chicken recipe I discovered before heading to a dentist’s appointment. It was going to be the most mundane…
I’ve Kind Of Become My Mom – 5 Things I Inherited From My Mother
There were times in my teens and even early twenties when the title of this post would’ve seemed like the worst thing ever. As I grow older I realize how hard my mom worked to raise us kids and how much of herself she poured into us. Things that flew over my head, decisions I…
My Mammogram Diary. What I Learned From My Breast Cancer Scare
Normally I like to keep things positive and uplifting, light and fluffy over here on Afrobella. I see my blog as a respite, an oasis, a safe space. And it is in this safe space that I’m going to share my story even if some of this is TMI. My TMI could help someone else….
Last Week’s Lesson – Find Your Own Happiness (& Stop Looking to Others For It)
From time to time, I share my personal revelations and life lessons on Instagram or Facebook. Recently when I shared one, a friend encouraged me to blog about it and share my truth here on Afrobella.com. That inspired this new series, Last Week’s Lesson. I hope others can learn from my experiences! I used to…
The Dumbest Excuses We Make To Avoid Exercising
For years, I had such awful, stupid ideas about taking care of myself. For a long time my goals were in weight loss, and I was caught up in limiting ideas about dress sizes instead of considering health and wellness. As a teenager, I was bulimic and that began as a deliberate choice. Dumb. I…
10 Things I Learned Last Year to Make 2014 Awesome
2013 was a year of new experiences and opportunities I couldn’t have anticipated before. I found myself going to places I’ve never been, dealing with issues from my past that I hadn’t dealt with in years, and having to rise to the occasion to represent on levels that I never dreamed of. I did a…
What Beyoncé’s New Album Release Taught Me
In case you took a social media break over the weekend and missed the explosion, Beyoncé released a new album when absolutely nobody was expecting it. 17 songs. 14 videos. And all she did was post a sneak preview video on Instagram and say “surprise!” She sold 450,000+ in the first day. Her latest release…