Hello & Happy Sunday,
We made it through a big week! We had our Rompy launch event that we had been planning and working hard on (I never made it to NYC, but that’s ok), and it was an amazing night. I had my follow-up doctor visit after waiting a couple of months to see him again (I was a bit more complex than he first anticipated and learned that I have a certain strain of Lyme that they have only seen three times). I also had an extensive blood draw of 44 vials done all in one sitting (it was the record for the Lab Core technician). So, it’s safe to say that sitting fireside at our grandparents right now is food for our souls. While this week was eventful, fulfilling, and exciting, we’re ready to lay low for the next couple of days (besides casually launching a company later this week).
This week, and the past few months, honestly, has been a showcase of toggling two opposites and finding a comfortable, warm place between the two. Launching a company this week (on Wednesday, to be exact), on a special day that we simply couldn’t have planned if we tried. A business that is edgy and challenges us (and those who experience the brand) to leave comfort zones. The nature of the topic of the brand isn’t always easy or comfortable. It’s forward-thinking and about as “out there” as you can get, and yet, we will be hitting the “launch” button from a cozy little corner at our grandparent’s farm—not in a metropolitan office, not at a warehouse, not anywhere close to what would be expected for a brand like ours. But, we wouldn’t have it any other way.
We were re-reading an old post from this newsletter that we wrote almost a year ago. Turns out that we are rather wise sometimes ;) But, we needed to hear this today and maybe you do, too.
“In the car yesterday, Savannah and I were talking a lot about the concept that you do not have to be just one thing. Let us explain a little. A few months ago, we were having an (early) midlife crisis regarding a business that we had planned on starting. The crisis had transpired because we were starting to feel claustrophobic in this business idea. We could feel the walls caving in, trapping us in this place we were condemned to forever. These feelings arose because we had mentally attached ourselves, wholly and completely, to this one business idea. In our minds, we were nothing beyond this business, and that caused us to freak out. We didn’t want to be limited or constrained to this one thing. During this mid-life crisis, we had an epiphany — that business did not have to be our one thing. The instant relief that we felt when we came to this thought was remarkable. We felt the pressure fall away, the limitations dissipate, the claustrophobia retreat. Yes, this business was something that we would do—but it wouldn’t be our only thing.
We’ve noticed that as humans, it’s easy to attach ourselves to one thing and make it ours. It becomes our entire personhood, our sole identity. I am a mother or a student or a lawyer or a CEO or a son. That thing becomes our entire selves, leaving no room for anything else. But that mindset can get suffocating —what if you want to be other things, do other things, love other things in addition to your first thing?
You can be a student and a business owner.
You can be a mother and follow your passion.
You can be a clothing designer and a pastry chef.
You can be a New York baddie and a careless surfer girl.
You can be an athlete and a writer.
You can be a partier and a meditator.
You can be an entrepreneur and a gardener.
You can be a rancher and an influencer.
You can be a sexual wellness entrepreneur and rescue horses and donkeys (shoutout mom).
You can love green juice and pound tequila.
You can love your hometown and still want to leave it.
You can love harvested elk and devour vegan ice cream.
You can love interior design and run a restaurant.
You can love entrepreneurship and never start your own company.
You can love college and want to escape it.
Sometimes a simple perspective shift is all it takes to open your mind enough to realize that you can be or do or love as many things as you want. You are not shackled to the big thing you’ve carried with you, or attached your identity to, for so long. We are humans, meaning that we are multifaceted and nuanced. We are meant to have multiple dimensions to us—that is what makes life exciting.”
That’s all we’ve got for you all today—we have to go write a press release and scour through our grandparents stuff for some old film slides that Savannah is digitizing. Case in point.