Wrote this last month and stumbled upon it tonight as I sit to finish my classwork for this week and thought that maybe I should just share it with y’all.
Sitting in a space that I have not spent time in over the last 7 months is truly a bittersweet feeling. This studio space is set up for my creativity as I ran two incredibly fun businesses to share with the world. Spending hours in this little corner of my home, creating products and producing fun ways of sharing with others. A place where I have been able to touch thousands of people’s lives with my bright light and love.
It has been exactly 10 years, February 16, 2013, since I was moved by the Holy Spirit to step out in faith with an opportunity to build a life changing brand. A brand that would help me grow into a strong businesswoman, provide for my family, and allow me to still be home for my growing children as their steady parent. The support over the years has been incredible as we have worked hard to not use unpleasant business practices but allowed our love of the products to shine, thankful beyond any words that I could produce for sure.
8 months ago, this brand we built by investing so much time and money into it as a family was sold without having any clue that it was coming. The news was insanely hard to hear and left me feeling so conflicted. This brand that we all feel deeply connected to not only because of the awesome products, amazing memories, and such but also because of the people we have been connected to was officially dissolved.
An extremely dramatic chain of events happened as many people left the company, but the advice of my therapist was to look strictly at the business side of it. Were the products still available to sell? Am I able to still bring an income into my family? Does it really matter who oversees the company at the top? Do not dig up in doubt what was planted in faith, so I followed my gut and I stayed.
Stayed not because of fear or not because I did not have any other choice. But because the products we love are still here, products we have stood behind and shared with so many. Products that are engrained in our family’s routines, our skin loves the formulations, and our customers love it too. Will there be any new products coming any time soon? Probably not. But the products we love are still here and still able to be purchased—we can still do fundraisers like our family is known for.
There has been a whole grieving process as I have seen people leaving and doing what is best for them. The grief has kept me out of this studio space and away from interacting with the business. There is just so many heavy emotions and truly not wanting to dig up what God has clearly built over these last 10 years.
The grief has made me feel trapped in emotions and I have been struggling to stay engaged in the business activities which then gives me anxiety which then overwhelms me. Anyone spiral like this too? Well, I am genuinely in such a better head space as I have been tapping into all the gifts God has given me. I am still trying my best to process it all as you can see by this post. But I truly need to get back into the groove, stay disciplined and focus on connecting once again.
Traveling and spending time together with all the incredible people over the years has been one of the most rewarding blessings of all of this. I know with the changes that those opportunities will be fewer but somehow, I have a sliver of hope that those of us who want to can still organize gatherings and trips together as we share product lines that we all love. Girl’s business trips truly are the best and I always come back so refreshed and focused. Finding a way to get this back is necessary for me to move forward. Moving forward by making the next best choice, just like I’ve done over the last 17 months since my hospitalization.
For now, I guess I’m just sharing my feelings and where I am at because I know many of you have been wondering what is going on. I currently am still sharing the lovely pampering products we all love, Trav loves the patches, I need to get back to creating designs to share and yep-you can purchase your next devotional/journal/bible/gifts/decor with our newly added Dayspring line. I am also in love with coaching high school kids, working as a long-term substitute in a 4th grade classroom(ending this week) and finally going after my degree in education.
Our family is busier than ever as all the kids are now teenagers and 4/6 of us are enrolled in college classes. Our pet count is currently at 5 cats (yes, we got our first one June of 2020 lol!) and 2 dogs in our home, which adds to its own level of chaos. We are cherishing our time with Trav now that he is retired from the military and are very much focused on healing our mental health to the best of our abilities.
Thank you for being apart of our journey and we look forward to sharing more with you. What kind of creations and sales would you like to see from us? Any questions that you have that I could respond to in a post?
Posh Blessings,
Nicole
For those wanting to support us by shopping with us here are our links:
Posh— http://www.poshblessings.com
Our Dayspring products— http://www.mymaryandmartha.com/26804/
Or shop right here on our blog!!
