Hey everybody, how y’all doing?? Everybody good?? I hope so!! So I know it’s been a few months since I’ve blogged and even before then I had been skipping weeks. I could give y’all a million and 1 reasons why but let me just be honest, my heart wasn’t in it as it should have been. I wasn’t devoting 100% of myself to you guys. And as loyal followers and readers, you deserve 100% of me at all times.

When I started Young, Black and Beautiful last year, it was because I needed an outlet. I had just turned 29,  my relationship was on a downward spiral, and I honestly felt like I wasn’t contributing anything to the universe. I was complacent with life, all I did was work and go home and occasionally travel. I needed to do something else with my life and fast. After throwing around ideas in my head and talking to a good friend of mine (s/o to Corey lol) I decided to do something that I had been wanting to do for awhile but didn’t quite know how to do it. I’ve always wanted to be a voice to the voiceless, to give hope to others who may not have any hope for themselves, to speak on issues that affect my other sisters but they may be too shy or afraid to speak on them themselves. I wanted to do these things because I was that voiceless, hopeless, shy sister at some point in my life and all I wanted was to know that there was someone out there who could relate to me with no judgment.

Young, Black and Beautiful is my baby. It’s my dream and when I do blog and contribute, I try to give it my all. Let me be really transparent for a moment. At 1st I fell back because of the numbers. I have a few followers and they are extremely loyal and I will forever be grateful to them and appreciative for that because most of them don’t even know me, they read YBB because of word of mouth from some of my very good friends. But selfish me didn’t see the bigger picture that having a few loyal followers and really helping them was better than not doing anything at all. I wanted ALL the followers. I wanted YBB and my name out there lol. I wanted YBB to be THAT blog that EVERYONE just had to know about. And yes, I still want all of that and more for my baby BUT I also want YBB to help inspire, encourage, and enlighten someone. So because I was in my feelings and unhappy with the numbers, I couldn’t be truly passionate about what I was doing and I stopped. Sometimes we get in out own way. Sometimes we can’t reach our goals because we want everyone else to cheer for us but yet we aren’t cheering for ourselves.

So I apologize. I apologize to my loyal followers who have been there since post 1. Without you all, YBB wouldn’t even exist. Thank you for believing in me when I haven’t even had the knowledge and strength to believe in myself. I apologize to those who have encouraged and believed in my dream, who nurtured me and fed me wisdom when I was too stubborn and hard headed to keep going. Thank you for seeing something in me that I could not even see in myself.  And finally, I apologize to myself. So many times I have fought against my destiny, fought against my hopes and dreams for myself,  treated myself like I didn’t deserve the best of everything. I thank God everyday for waking me up and not only opening my eyes to see another day, but for opening my eyes to see my worth in this world and the knowledge to know that I can have anything I want as long as I believe in myself.

My vow to you now is that I can’t stop, won’t stop. Not only is YBB for you all, my followers, it’s for me too. There is an old belief that a new baby comes into your life to replace a family member who has passed on and to restore joy back to the family. YBB and you all came into my life to replace the hopelessness and complicity that I has feeling, the feeling of loneliness and of being lost. My baby has bought me the feeling of joy and fulfilled the need to do something great in this world. Never again will I stand in my own way and I hope that someone out there reads this and gets out of their own way also. The world needs to hear my voice, but they need to hear yours also. Whatever dream you feel like you can’t do….DO IT. Whatever goal you have set for yourself and feel like you can’t accomplish it….REACH IT. You got this, you got me to help you. I got this and I have you all to help me. Young, Black and Beautiful is back and we ain’t going nowhere. 2019 will be our year to reach higher heights and accomplish greater things together. I will not let US fail.

Woooo chillay, that 1 took a lot out of me!! Y’all don’t know how hard I have been beating myself up for being selfish towards you guys. I’ve missed blogging, I’ve missed reading your comments and most of all, I’ve missed the feeling of knowing that I may be helping someone. I can’t promise y’all every week because sometimes life does happen but I can promise you all that I am here, I am active and you will be hearing from me a lot more.

Happy Black History Month!! Yes we are black and proud 365 days a year but for these 28 days, we are SUPER black and proud lol. Black Boy Joy and Black Girl Magic are EVERYTHING!! So be true to yourself, be true to our culture, be true to who we are. We truly are our ancestors wildest dreams.  Also, February is National Heart Health Month. Ladies, heart disease is 1 of the leading causes of death among women, especially us sisters. We all know diet and exercise can decrease your risk for heart disease but so can early prevention. Heart disease is a silent killer so please go visit your doctors regularly and let’s keep ourselves active and healthy.

That’s it for me today loves!! I hope that is has helped inspire, encourage and enlighten someone to keep on pushing. I love to hear from y’all so please share, comment, and interact with me sometimes. I love you with all my heart and then some lol. Lots of cyber hugs and kisses…..XOXOXOXO

Tiara B.