Pure 🌱 Joy Post 2 - What I've Lost

What I’ve lost….

If you read my first entry here, you learned a bit about how and why I’ve gotten involved in the clean beauty movement and what I’ve gained. I left off by asking you to guess what I’ve lost. Here are some of your very good responses:

• You lost your stagnation.

It would be easy, in my 60s, to become stagnant, and that may be one of the most frightening possibilities about growing old. Unlike contentment, which is a virtue, stagnation has the curmudgeonly power to turn a person inward, to cut one off from others, to kill one’s joy. Learning new things, trying new technologies, and meeting new people of all ages and backgrounds has been a glorious antidote to the curse of stagnation.

• You lost your fear of being criticized for stepping up to the plate on social media.

What will people think!?! While I can tend toward anxiousness from time to time, I generally don’t think of myself as a fearful person, and yet I’ve found myself holding back and second guessing my actions on a fairly regular basis out of fear of criticism. The best advice I’ve gotten to counteract this tendency is to work from a mindset of service and remove outcomes from the equation.

• You lost your privacy.

Oh yeah! I mean, really… who needs to be posting selfies on a regular basis let alone someone my age!?! And does the world really need to hear about one more person’s story?!? Holding my cards close is my preferred way of operating, so finding an acceptable balance between being relatable and not oversharing is an art I’m still exploring.

Now tell me, what are some things you’ve lost that have turned out to be gains?

Pure 🌱 Joy Post 1 - You're Doing What?!?

Embarking on the my entrepreneurial journey - January, 2019

What makes a woman start a business when she’s well on her way to 63? And a beauty related business to boot! What could she possibly be thinking?!?

Well, I am “that woman”, so let’s find out.

It was November of 2018 when I was invited to an event that introduced me to toxin-free, high performance skincare. At the time, that was nowhere on my radar - in fact, I really hadn’t heard of such a thing. But, I was curious (and needed to replenish my foundation anyway), so I jumped into my first online workshop (albeit with a bit of skepticism) and tried to follow along as best I could.

A couple orders and my own hosted workshop later, I decided to partner with this company as an advocate - only to then ask myself, “What have I gotten myself into?”

Let’s be honest. When it comes to external beauty, 63 is not a peak time in a woman’s life. As for toxin-free…. What do they call that? Impostor Syndrome??? While I live a reasonably healthy lifestyle, I’m definitely not a purist in the areas of diet, cleaning supplies, or other matters. So why’d I do it? What have I gained? What have I lost?

As a businesswoman in the clean beauty industry, I’m often encouraged to develop my why. The assignment makes me HUGELY uncomfortable. Compared to others, I don’t feel as though I have a strong why. No health issues. No sensitive skin. No glaring financial needs. I just liked the product. It surpassed my expectations. And I saw the opportunity. Since those early days, my why has broadened. This platform has enabled me to learn new things, stay in touch with trends, develop new relationships, share information to empower others, and give people healthy options when it comes to feeling beautiful at any age. Come to think of it, I guess that expanded why is also my gain.

But what have I lost?

That seems like a topic for another day, but between now and then, I’d love to read your guesses. Please use this form to let me know what you think.