It’s been a while since I have written an informal update, perhaps the first ever, for a reflective post and peeled back the onion to shed a few layers. Well, I feel now is as good a time as ever to write a quick journal entry with my thoughts with you here.
Vulnerability Leads To Change
If there was a common theme over the past few years for myself I think it would be vulnerability. I am naturally an introvert (a self proclaimed extreme introvert I might add), and in an effort to challenge myself I dared myself to step out of my comfort zone a few years ago. Starting this blog was my first step.
You see, naturally I would have avoided being on social media entirely, however I felt perhaps there was more I may be missing and there might be ways I could benefit from being present more publicly. Perhaps I could make a greater impact than what I was doing at my regular 9-5 and there might be some greater calling and a reason behind why I always felt this urge to start, “Birchsalt.”
With a background in healthcare working as a nurse in various types of healthcare environments (from doctors offices, to OR’s, to health insurance companies etc), I always felt creatively I had a clog. It felt as if I had all of these grand ambitions yet when I would clock off of work, I would be too drained before calling it a night.
I’m not exactly sure when things began to change, but when my second cat Bear passed away it really affected me greatly. So profoundly in fact I ended up writing and self publishing a book on grief to help me process my own grief. No, I have not become independently wealthy from it (YET?), but I have become rich in the process. What I mean by this, is rich in fulfillment. Every time I see someone order the book, or even read a few pages from it, it fills me with immense pride. I feel like I am helping someone in that moment. THIS, this is how I want my content creation to feel. But with that comes great vulnerability, something that is still extremely uncomfortable but a necessary evil onto the road of growth and change.
I will continually work on my reflection process and evolve the content I am creating and putting out into the great universe on Birchsalt and Birchsalt Apothecary. My goal is to provide valuable and helpful content, both digitally and with physical products. Ultimately, I want to make a greater impact and positively affect others lives.
What this means is I am stepping out of my comfort zone a little more, showing a little more vulnerability and am hoping this creates positive change. I want to build my community and create deeper connections. Over the years I have added a YouTube channel in the mix (talk about scary for an introvert)and started a company with no experience or any idea what I am doing. But I believe the community will build!
With that said, I’m not afraid of failure. I think failure is an essential ingredient for growth. Don’t let the fear of the unknown stop you from pursuing anything in life. I have YouTube videos that flop all the time, I have a ‘cozy’ sized Instagram following and my soaps are not flying off the shelves… but it doesn’t mean it will stay that way forever.
Persistence
You know the old adage, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, remember that. I am a strong believer persistence will lead to change and change will lead to growth, but you have to keep at it. Sure I would love to be further along than I am right now, however I am falling in love with the process creatively. I LOVE making soaps, I enjoy filming videos and editing them! I was deeply missing this creative fulfillment in healthcare. If I stay persistent, learn something new in the process and continue sharing, I strongly believe I will find my people who also can relate, appreciate and enjoy what I am creating.
Patience
None of us are born experts at anything, and it really is never too late to begin anything. If you’ve always dreamed of learning to garden… try it! I promise you will kill plants and seeds along the way, that is OK! (I bet you weren’t expecting me to say that). We all have done it, and if someone tells you otherwise I think they’re fibbing 🙂 If you’re looking to start making soap for the first time, just know you will mix a lot of batches wrong just like I did (oops)
You will feel the imposter syndrome along the way, that is only natural. I feel like that quite often to be transparent.
My best piece of advice, be kind to yourself and know you WILL flop at it a few times, maybe you will only have one or two subscribers for months on YouTube if you want to try that (I only had 6 subscribers after SEVERAL videos), but it’s all new and still is for me a year into it!
Just know, whatever it is you’re new at… I’m right here with you. I’m new to allll of this.
Let’s be kind to ourselves and be patient.
Sincerely your gardening, soapmaking, nurse (multi-passionate) friend here on the universe of this internet.
-Kate