Some of you may be having deja vu right now and yes, you are correct. I was honored to be previously featured in the Handmade Seller Magazine in May 2018 for their first Mental Health issue. Let me re-introduce myself for those who may have missed this feature or need a refresher. I am the proud owner of Wicked Calm Candles and an avid mental health advocate living with generalized anxiety and
panic disorder. Wicked
Calm Candles is a natural
soy candle line infused with
locally grown organic herbs
and spices and custom
blended pure essential oils.
My products have been
used as a healthy reminder
to participate in self-care
daily by thousands of
customers worldwide for
three years now. Wicked
Calm Candles helps
individuals living with
mental illness find
confidence in their ability to take care of themselves and be an advocate for their own mental health, donating a portion of all proceeds directly to mental health research funding that has aided in the advancement of the diagnosis and treatment for a variety of mental health disorders.
Somewhere along the line, I lost sight of how this mission applies to my own life
and I stopped practicing what I preached. I let my business run me instead of the other way around. That pivotal moment happened shortly after my feature in Handmade Seller Magazine and is why I am back having this full-circle moment, sharing my story with all of you again, so that other small business owners can use my experience as a point of reference and reflect on
their own business. What I
am about to discuss is sensitive on its own and the old Mary Kate would have filtered out the not-so-socially acceptable parts for the sake of avoiding rocking the boat. But if you avoid conflict your entire life to keep the peace, you end up creating a war within yourself and that is exactly what happened to me.
After sharing my story on my own social media
platforms, it b came immediately clear how prevalent this issue is amongst the handmade community, yet not spoken of nearly enough.
I have received hundreds of messages since then saying that fellow small business owners struggled with finding a way to successfully run their business and still manage their mental health.
“
I let my business run me instead of the other way around.
“
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