11/29/2025
This Small Business Saturday at the tail end of the Year of the Snake has me feeling more vulnerable than years past. I think one reason I have been so obsessed with the Year of the Snake lately is because it is giving me the language to understand what this past year has been like for me on a personal level.
This was the year I questioned everything. The year my sensitivity sharpened. The year I almost closed Smoke for good. The year I let myself imagine what that would really look and feel like, and all the feelings in between. The year I noticed how exhausted I am by what it means to run a product-based business. The year I let the noise exist without me, and let myself take space from the hustle in ways that scared me and made me feel like a failure, and ways that nourished me and affirmed that so much of the marketplace is unnecessary noise and distraction. The year I let myself give my limited capacity to the aspects of my work I truly love, and let myself be honest about the aspects of my work I don’t love, and I noticed the difference in my body and heart between the two!
It’s been a year of shedding and pivoting. It’s been a year of growing deeper into my life as a mother, and navigating the balance of parenting along with running Smoke, growing my bodywork business–– .nola ––and managing my studio.
One thing that remains is my love of the products I make, and the fact that I use these exquisite natural scents along with the healing power of the breath in my own life and work in some capacity every single day. As uncomfortable as this year has been for me, I think in some ways it has made space for a more authentic expression, and I'm feeling more trusting of the process. I am allowing myself to step tenderly forward and am feeling some spark returning as we await the start of the Year of the Horse on Mardi Gras Day!
✨🐍🤍 Kathleen
