We moved to Charleston, South Carolina about 3 years ago. It will officially be 3 years on July 19th of this year! Many of already know this.
What you don’t know is……
a year before we moved I had a major health scare.
One day while getting ready in the morning, applying my moisturizer to my face and neck (never forget about your neck ladies!) I noticed a lump. I knew it was an enlarged lymph node because one of my very best friends had won a battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma years prior. Needless to say the enlarged node scared me enough to schedule an appointment with my doctor right away.
He put me on a round of antibiotics thinking it was some kind of infection. But after a MONTH LONG round of antibiotics the node was not smaller. And honestly to me it looked even larger.
I was otherwise healthy. And my doctor was puzzled. He ordered a battery of tests. Sent me to have an ultrasond of my thyroid….maybe the node was enlarged because of something going on with my thyroid. I have Hashimoto’s, so this seemed like a definite possibility.
So many different tests, appointments with specialists and a lot of WAITING. Waiting isn’t my strong suit. But waiting to find out this kind of information……just, only Jesus can give you peace during that kind of waiting.
You want to know what I was thinking about during all of that waiting?
Or rather what I wasn’t thinking about. Page views, blog stats, instagram numbers, how much I weighed, or how I looked in a bathing suit, wrinkles – none of those pesky, meaningless things mattered AT ALL.
What was on my mind: my husband, my children, how grateful I am that my sister-in-law is my best girlfriend, what a joy it is to love Jesus, how blessed I am to have divorced parents that have always put their own feelings aside to make sure I feel loved. The things in life that ACTUALLY MATTER!
It took about 6 months to get the all clear – no cancer – you can breathe a sigh of relief news.
What caused that lymph node to enlarge? Still no definitive answers. But it did eventually shrink back down.
Why am I sharing this story with you now? All these years later? Because I look back now and see what a catalyst for change this moment in my life was. Those 6 months changed me in such a profound way.
That saying life is short. It’s just a saying until you have something like this pop up in your thirties. And then all of a sudden you realize just how short, how precious it is. How much of a gift today is when you realize for the first time, in a very real, personal way, that tomorrow is not promised. You celebrate every birthday with JOY because you know every birthday is a gift no matter what age you are! Shout out to all my 1978 girls!
(born in ’78? you need this shirt)
Maybe you’ve noticed the shift if you’ve been around these parts for the past few years. Blog posts only come maybe twice or three times a week now, as compared to the 4 to 5 times a week I had committed to previously.
My focus has shifted a bit.
I’ll always love talking about house related things with you all, but I’ve also become deeply passionate about sharing the message of safer beauty.
Because after having a health scare like this I was fired up when I learned the dirty truth about the personal care industry. Maybe you’ve wondered why I started sharing more about safe, non-toxic beauty products. Maybe you thought I was just another blogger sharing her favorite beauty products on the internet. But I didn’t become a Beautycounter consultant to sell cosmetics. I became one to share the message.
I joined because this message and mission are important to me! We as women, all of us, deserve to have a daily beauty regimen that is free of toxic cancer-causing chemicals!
When you’re in the midst of waiting for some potentially scary test results, finding out that the products you’ve been putting on your skin everyday are filled with ingredients that are KNOWN CARCINOGENS and ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS is to be frank, infuriating!
So I share because I care. Because Beautycounter is more than a beauty company; it’s a movement. And I want to be a part of this amazing change for good!
My Safer Beauty Tribe Newsletter has one goal. To educate, encourage and empower you to source safer beauty products for your daily life. In this month’s newsletter I shared 7 tips for choosing safer sunscreens. And PS, I also called out three different brands on shelves today that have toxic ingredients you should avoid. My monthly newsletters are basically like a note to my best girlfriends dishing the goods on safer beauty and throwing shade where shade should be thrown. 😉 I don’t call out brands on social media or here on the blog……I do however, tell it like it is in my monthly newsletters. SO, if you’re down for some real talk about the beauty industry – come join my tribe today! Click here to sign up! And come hang out with me over on my Safer Beauty Instagram.
I’d love to have you come along with me on this journey!
This mission is personal. And I shared this today because I wanted you to know why.
xo xo
Girl, I could have written this myself. And I agree, until it hits home personally you kinda just let it all slip to the back of your mind. Just like back in the day we weren’t educated about safe sun practices, and honestly the products to protect us were not all that great, now too we are bombarded more and more by products that we have not clue as to what is truly in them. I mean, unless you are a chemist who can even pronounce half the ingredients?!!!
Watching my husband go through what he has this past week, and knowing we still have 3-4 weeks of recovery ahead, and also having gone through my own cancer scare…I am here to tell you, educate yourself! Is than sunny glow, face without a wrinkle, long lashes, tattooed eyebrows worth potentially hearing the words, “you have cancer?” We’ve been there, and I am here to shout it to anyone willing to listen…IT’S NOT WORTH IT! The other thing I realized is, while my girls are now grown, as parents it is OUR responsibility to oversee what our kids are putting in and on their bodies. Both of my girls have auto immune disorders. Hereditary, yes, environmental, maybe? Keep doing what you are doing.