This past Friday night my business held its annual fund-raiser to benefit Komen Greater NYC for the cure. It was a huge success and we are well beyond what we raised from last year. The donations began as soon as we put the word out, and the giving has only continued. The smile on my heart has not disappeared once.
It is a tremendous effort to put this event together on the part of myself and my team and I have often been asked why I do it. I think the best answer I can come up with is why not!?
There are so many ways to give back that it can be done easily and often. Whether donating $1 or hosting an event, or supporting your favorite charity with your time. Whether making phone calls or helping a neighbor or offering a smile, when others have only given frowns.
The ability to help others is one of the greatest assest of humankind, and I truly believe in the inherent kindness of people. Yes, there is strife, and horror, and cruelty, and hate. But, there is also goodness, and caring, and kindness, and help.
I get so much more when I give that it almost feels "selfish", but I think this guilty pleasure is here to stay.
How do you give back to others and yourself on a daily basis?
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" As children, the answer was usually career based and it usually winds up being what our parents did, or becoming a movie or a rock star, etc. What it didn't include was the "How do you want to be"? idea.
We work diligently at our jobs, tend to our families and hopefully on occasion enjoy our hobbies, but it still does not answer the question. It is my opinion that "How you want to be" is just as important as "What do you want to be", because it speaks to the inner person and not the things we do on a day to day basis. It proves the theory that what we do does not define us.
One of my favorite quotes is " All of us want to do well. But if we do not do good, too, then doing well will never be enough." by Anna Quindlen. I believe the only way to get is to give back. Call it karma, call it do-good, call it gratitude, but it's a theory that has worked for me time and time again.
As I was laying on the massage table, waiting for the masseuse to come back, I was thinking of all the things I had to do for the day,and it occurred to me that I was ruining the good feeling before it had even started. I was forgetting to relax, forgetting to de-stress, forgetting to breathe.
I have read reports on the importance of taking a break, perused books on the benefits of massage therapy and spoken about holistic healing many times in my skin care demos. Why then was I not allowing myself that time for my own healing. I realized that for some, including myself, who at this point ought to know better, it was not a naturally occurring process, but something that had to be learned again and again. It is that important and that necessary.
I promise to keep learning, to keep breathing, and most importantly, to keep getting those blessed massages!
There are days that I wonder how I got here. Then I realize that I am putting together this puzzle piece by piece. I realize that my lack of fear in failure has granted me the ability to try new things. I realize how many hours and with total passion and abandon I give on a daily basis. I realize that hard work empowers not paralyzes me. I realize that I got lucky in the development of a product people want and love. How did I get here? One jar at a time!
I was in the middle of optimizing a few things on my website last night, checking our listing in some of the search engines, etc. when I came across a blog written about Scrubz Body Scrub this past November. (http://newyorkhabitue.com/2008/11/12/scrubbed.aspx) I recognized the name of the writer as someone who had purchased multiple times, but had no idea she had done an article.
Her experiences both on the day she tried it, when she was told it was a 4 in 1 product: body/face scrub, moisturizer as well as as a pre-shave prep and shaving oil culminated in her line, "... I have done all of the above for the past 8 months and I will never go back." She also stated right off the bat that " I usually leave the beauty products (reviews) to others, but I must share this product with as many people as possible, as it is the absolutely best sugar scrub I have ever used." She also commented, " I have been very active in petitioning friends and co workers to try it."
As I read on, my smile increased, my mood lifted, and I had one of those "AHA" moments. You know, the business one that makes you remember why you are in this business and making this product in the first place.
Yesterday was a particularly stressful work day, one where I took 10 steps forward, then back about 9, and I was in "one of those moods" last night. Then I read Leah's article and it all changed.
I wish you many "AHA!" moments and lots of things that make your day.
