Some of my fav keys to Peace

We all have different ways in which we find peace. In this blog, I’ll just share a few keys that have helped me and hopefully can help you as well.

1. Honesty. Express yourself. Share how you really feel about a situation. A soul at peace is a soul that is true to itself. No matter how difficult it may be, just be YOU.
2. Letting Go. Let go of the need to control the actions of people. People will do what they do and sometimes it will hurt of confuse you. But their actions don’t have to define or break you. Sometimes you just have to keep it moving. Save your precious energy for other things, like changing the world.
3. Boundaries. Not everyone deserves equal access to your heart. Protect it. As well as protect your mind, energy, spirit, and brilliance. Be generous, but test the spirits and be wise
4. Trusting. Trust that God (or whatever higher power you believe in) will take care of you and give you what you need. As psalm 23 states, “The lord is my Shepard I shall not be in want”
5. Making Decisions. Empower yourself by making decisions that won’t allow the same undesired things to keep happening to you. Decide TODAY that “it” won’t happen again and see that through. And if you mess up, keep trying, keep going, slow down, but whatever you do, DON’T GIVE UP.

Life is exactly what YOU make of it!!

“The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything” ~annnoymous~ One of my many favorite quotes. I’ve learned to make the best of everything no matter what life decides to throw my way. I have trained myself to literally find the best in any situation. NO I haven’t always been this way, I just got to a point where I was tired of complaining about things I couldn’t control and things I could work on myself. I could either be miserable, a complainer, negative about this and that, feel sorry for myself or do something about it and make the best of my life. I chose to make the best of my life. I wanted to write this little short and sweet blog to say to my readers, “LIFE is exactly what YOU make of it” if you don’t like something, change it, if you’re tired of things being the same, be the change and stop worrying about whom you’re going to please or disappoint. Make the most of this life you have. Travel, take care of yourself, forgive, fall in love, be open to new things, stop holding onto grudges because you’re only making yourself miserable, go for a walk, be spontaneous, just be you and do you.LIVE! Make the most of everyday

 

Know your worth and Love yourself Unapologetically

“When you know your worth, no one can make you feel worthless” ~anonymous~ You are absolutely and totally worth it. From a woman’s perspective, I say to every woman out there, never forget your worth. You are a Queen, uniquely beautiful, intelligent, outgoing, go- getter, phenomenal. You are all that even more. Don’t ever apologize for being you, take care of yourself mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially. As I get older I’ve learned that while it’s great to have someone do everything for you (when in a relationship) it’s also great to first learn how to take care of yourself. I’m grateful to have parents who taught me to love myself at a young age, and now I can hopefully inspire many women and even men to love themselves first. We live in a society where many are told they are full of themselves for loving themselves too much. I use myself as an example. I get people that tell me that my being too confident sometimes comes off as cocky, or full of myself. My response to them is normally something like this, “if you knew how much low self esteem I used to have, you wouldn’t say what you are saying, so instead of placing me in this box, get to know me and I can assure you, I’m no where near full of myself”. Ok, so maybe I don’t always say that much, but I make it very clear that my confidence and love for self isn’t me being full of myself, I’ve just learned to not care what anyone thinks of me. Therefore, I love me too much to ever allow anyone put me down. You are worth loving, worth being adored, worth being spoiled, worth showing off to the world. So my advice to many of you who might forget your worth is: Learn to love yourself so much to the point where you will begin to understand your worth!!!!! You are everything and so much more!! Never forget that!!!

What consumes your mind, controls yours life. Positive Mind, Vibes, Life.

My little page of positivity filled with my own quotes and sayings from the many people I’ve been inspired by. Life has a way of throwing so much our way, it’s always great to have positive reminders around to help us stay uplifted, encouraged and motivated. I hope you leave this page feeling inspired and hopefully use these simple daily reminders to just keep living and enjoying life. If you need to, feel free to write these down on a post it, notecard, wherever just as a daily reminder. Positive thinking goes a long way. ENJOY!!!!

Everyday is a gift.
Happiness is a choice
Happiness is your right
Accept forgiveness
Guilt will steal your joy
Focus on what’s right
Don’t allow someone else’s opinion make you feel bad about yourself
When God made you, he wasn’t having a bad day.
There may be things about you that you don’t like, but you can’t allow those things to hold you back or keep you from pursuing your dream.
Refuse to live defeated and depressed
Live without excuses and refuse to feel sorry for yourself
God’s ways are bigger and better than your own
God will always bring the right people into your life, but you have to let the wrong people walk away
You don’t need people in your life who try to limit you
Don’t live for the approval of others. Nobody can be a better you than you
Run your own race, you have something great to offer
You’re not beautiful like everyone else you’re beautiful like you
Don’t compare yourself, celebrate yourself
Just vibe with nature and let your soul glow
Don’t allow anyone to dim your light, shine at your brightest, keep your glow strong because your glow has the power to illuminate the world
There’s beauty in everything
Always make time to smile it’s the cheapest way to live a healthy life
Reflect and move forward. Let go of the things, ideas and situations that don’t promote positive personal growth
Live a life worth living. Get out, go out, Enjoy life. Do things that make you happy
Create your own rainbow
Train yourself to find a blessing in everything
Be yourself
Love yourself unapologetically

Proud to be an African woman!!

So many people always wonder why I constantly have to say these words, “I’m proud to be an African Woman”, so I figured why not tell you the reason in my blog .Moving to the US at a young age of 13, I was always proud to be from Zambia to the point where I would share everything about my country to my classmates. At the time, I actually thought it was cool to talk about Africa, not realizing that the things I was sharing like what we eat, how we dressed, what we did on a daily basis were considered uncool to my classmates. I also learned that while I was proud to share, my classmates were actually making fun of my heavy African accent at the time. With all of this, I became very discouraged and embarrassed to talk about where I was from. Within a few of being in the U.S, I became a lost child who would deny that she was African when asked. Anytime someone asked me where I was from, I would immediately respond with a defensive answer like, “what do you mean where am from?” or, something like “I’m from here, where are you from?” Keep in my mind I was only 13-14yrs old at this time. I cared about what people said and thought of me.

As I got older and more mature, and moved to a whole new state, I noticed I had a whole new attitude. I honestly give credit to one of my advisors, Mr. Thomas. From the day I started school at Southport High School, he would have on an African outfit and I made it a point to avoid him for fear of him asking me where I was from, until one day he called me into his office, which was decorated in everything African. It was at that point that I realized other people actually loved Africa. After speaking to him for almost an hour, I gained the confidence to boldly say I was from Zambia. Seeing Mr. Thomas proudly embrace his roots, although American born inspired me. Long story short, he encouraged me to participate in a few events on culture where I had an opportunity to share my culture as well as use my voice. I also was proud to wear my African outfit. (This was in the 11^th grade, I was only 17). From then on I promised myself to never be ashamed of where I was from. At the age of 18, I was the first African to be crowned as prom Queen, something I never thought I would be. I vowed to stand up for anyone who was bullied no matter the reason. I got the confidence to proudly say I am African, Zambian born with a slight accent that I hope I never lose. So I share this with you all just to say, I was once upon a young girl who was embarrassed to say she was African due to being bullied about my skin, accent, and what I wore. At the age of 28, I can boldly and proudly say, I will NEVER be ashamed of where I am from. I am AFRICA, I am ZAMBIA and always will be!!! Unapologetically African!!

Daily Positive Affirmations

Because I am a firm believer in positive affirmations, I will share with you all some of my favorite sayings. Living in a world where people are constantly trying to put each other down, I find these affirmations very helpful and yes, I repeat them to myself throughout the day. I refuse to allow negative energy or thoughts in my life. I also find it helpful to place sticky notes, or bright notecards on a special wall, where I can read these affirmations when I’m feeling low. I promise you, having sticky notes on my wall actually helps me a lot. I have days when I’m grumpy, I start complaining, get upset for no reason, then when I look up and read my affirmations, I’m reminded that I can do all things, that I am worth it. I am a child of the most high. I can change my day around. I can overcome whatever I’m battling. Sounds easy to say, but it works. TRY IT OUT!!

• I accept myself!
• I am so much stronger than I think I am!
• I can do it!
• I am enough!
• One bad day doesn’t mean all my days are bad days!
• I can and I will
• I am fearfully and wonderfully made!
• I release what’s holding me back and blocking me!
• I am not a bad person for seeking help!
• I am worth it!
• I choose to be happy!
• I am unique!
• I am love!
• I am gifted!
• I do enough!
• I am enough!
• I have enough!
• I am blessed!
• I can do all things through Christ!
• I am unapologetically me!

HAPPINESS is a CHOICE!!!

I made the decision to be happy EVERYDAY. YES, Everyday!!! As unrealistic as it may sound to some, it is realistic to me. I choose to be happy no matter what life throws my way. I literally wake everyday and tell myself this, “Today will be a GREAT day, I will not let anyone, or anything ruin my day”. I try to make it a habit to smile each morning no matter how I’m feeling. And it’s not to say that things won’t happen through out the day, I have just trained my mind to find happiness in simple things. I have also included morning prayer and either a walk or run every other day. I have my bad days as well, however, I don’t let those bad days affect my happiness. Happiness is really a choice, a choice to enjoy life the way you want to, or let other’s misery get to you, it’s up to you. Like the saying itself says, “True happiness starts from within”. If you are not happy with yourself, it makes it a little difficult to find things to be happy about. As I get older, I have come to realize that if I’m not happy with myself, then I can’t be happy with anything or anyone else. I make it a point to do the things I love, not to impress others,but because I truly enjoy them. For example, I find happiness and peace in talking to God everyday, I have conversations with him about everything, we have no secrets. I find happiness in running, walking, anything that involves sweating(the sweaty glow just gives me extra life),in eating fruit, in reading, traveling and meeting all kinds of people, music, dancing, in the simple everyday things. At the age of 29, I may not have it all, know it all, or be where I want to be, but I can truly say, I am a happy girl. Despite not having a car due to being in a horrible accident that left me carless back in February of this year, having to give up my apartment due to not being able to afford it any more, quitting my job so that I can focus on graduate school, not having enough money to pay my bills, I could go on but I’m sure you get the point. I still choose to be happy everyday knowing that God loves me enough to take care of me as well as provide for me. I haven’t always had this type of attitude when it comes to happiness, however, the moment I realized that being unhappy did nothing for me but make me even more miserable was the moment I made the decision to choose happiness over anything. I refuse to be miserable in a relationship, in any friendship, at my job, in school, wherever. If something doesn’t make me happy, I move on. Happiness is YOUR choice. Do what you love, surround yourself with people who inspire you, uplift you, push you, motivate you to do better, people who won’t dim your light. Choose to be happy for yourself. BE HAPPY UNAPOLOGETICALLY!!!!

Make a list of at least 10 things in life that make you happy and remind yourself of them on a daily basis.

ViBE with ME!!

Hey guys, welcome to my blog. I have so much to give and share with the world, so I figured why not start with my very own blog. I’m super excited just be able to ViBE with you. My very main focus in my blogs is POSITIVITY!! I will share my own stories and testimonies as well as blog about Faith, Love, Health, Fitness, Relationships, Culture, Inspiration, and everyday life as well as how I choose to look at the positive in everything, while making the best of life. I am no expert in any of the above, just simply sharing what i have learned and how I choose to live. I’m very excited and blessed just to be able to ViBE with you. Hope you enjoy what you read and somehow it inspires you to live YOUR best life!! Feel free to leave me any comments.

Live!!

I say live your life to what you feel is your fullest, go after what you want, do what you love, dare to be so different that you give people something to say. Challenge yourself, get out of your comfort zone and try new things. I’ve always been the child that did so many random and spontaneous things, and honestly I learned so much about other people and their cultures just from getting out of my element. So I dedicate this short blog to all of you who are afraid of just stepping out of your comfort zone. GET OUT!!! There is so much out there. Spend an entire day with yourself, go on a date with yourself, travel by yourself. Yes, I’ve done all that myself and I can honestly tell you that there’s freedom in being comfortable and enjoying your own company. If you can enjoy being with yourself, you will definitely enjoy being with someone else even more.LIVE! LIVE! LIVE!!

A little background on Niza

I am Unapologetically ME. Confident in who I am. God comes first in my life and I am not ashamed to say that. At the age of 28, I can truly say, despite my ups and downs, I have enjoyed my life and plan on enjoying it even more. As I have gotten older, i’ve learned to love myself even more, and because my body is a temple, I choose to take care of myself first. I am a very adventurous young woman. I enjoy trying new foods from all over the world, traveling, reading, hiking, anything fitness, meeting new people, spending time with my niece and nephew, singing, being spontaneous, just to mention a few. I was born and raised in Lusaka, Zambia for 12 years of my life, and currently living in Cleveland, OH while working and attending grad school. I have a passion for working with young women and girls and empowering them to love who they are first. I plan on starting a few organizations in my hometown upon graduating. My life is by no means perfect, I have just learned to enjoy each day the best way I can knowing that I can make a difference in someone’s life. I choose to be happy while living my life by Faith, I choose everything positive, I choose to please God and not man, I choose to uplift others, I choose to simply be unapologetically Niza.