I see businesses - entrepreneurship - as a means to create and help, to provide people with services and goods they can use, either by continually creating or by innovating, improving on something that has already been proposed or done. I don't view money as a goal, but rather as a secondary outcome of a venture or intervention. If money itself is a goal for someone (in the sense of The Big Goal), then I see a significant issue there. There's much to discuss within the limits of this blog post, but I don't say this in judgment, as I've been there too. I once believed that making money was a meritorious goal in life. I'll probably address this topic separately in another context. Money is merely a tool and should never be the ultimate goal.

I chose to create and work in my own business for the creative freedom it brought and still brings me, although my choice has come at a significant cost in my life. As much as I love entrepreneurship, I would give anything, if I could, to turn back time and focus on what is now the most important thing on Earth to me after being with Him: to spend more time with my child. I can't turn back time, and I don't want to dwell too much on those moments when my child was little, around 3 or 4 years old, and he would come to me and say, "Mommy, stay with me a little and a lot, please, Mommy, stay with me a little and a lot..." During that time, I was deeply involved in the challenges of my entrepreneurship and many things that weren't easy. I couldn't give my dear little boy all the attention he deserved, he - my joy. However, I remember having a passing thought that someday I would deeply regret not being able to give him more of the attention he deserved, and that I would be one day the one asking him to "stay with mommy a little and a lot..." That time is (almost) here, and it's very painful, even these brackets are painful: try to interpret them. I can't turn back time... How I wish I could! But I know that for other mothers and fathers, it's even more painful, perhaps because the departure of their children from their sides is much more difficult, maybe even permanent...

I still can cherish this "last hundred meters of land." My little boy is now a teenager, over fifteen years old, and he doesn't want to spend as much time with mommy anymore. He's into computer games with his friends, and on the street, he doesn't feel comfortable with mommy anymore. He doesn't want to take pictures anymore... I can rarely give him a kiss... I really wanted to homeschool him, considering my background in education, I studied for two years the aspect of homeschooling him, but in the end, he didn't want to, mainly because having classmates and friends at school validated him, and he needed that... I haven't slowed down enough in time. I haven't slowed down enough in time to fill my soul with the joy of childhood months. Now, I would go back in time and relive every second, start over, fill every past second with joy and happiness Just Because I'm With My Son... I let the seconds of the past cast a shadow over my joys at the time. I let the pains, worries, and problems of that time cast a shadow over my joys back then. When I was in the past, I lived in the future, and when the future caught up with me, I wish so much I could go back in time...

I let the dreams of that time and false dreams steal the present moment. I chased the wind, and when I opened my fists, it was too late. They were empty. The dearest dream is about to leave the nest empty soon, ready to take flight... My story is much longer than this, this is just a drop from it. And I didn't even think the time had come to tell it, even this bit... Sometimes, it's better to learn and help others learn from scars, not from open wounds. In my case, there are still open wounds, not just a few, and not light ones. It's not the time or place for all of it here, but I had to say it, had to tell you the story of chasing the wind and opening empty fists...

Slow down the pace of life, decelerate... While there's still time, before it's too late... Yes, I wrote in my business slogan and in my Instagram bio that slowing down leads to shining, to radiance... But it has two meanings:

One of them is that you slow down a bit to take care of your skin, which will shine, the other one is about inner radiance, which comes from stopping the mad rush of life, slowing down, and finding joy or still finding joy in what's most precious, what can't be bought with money...

My business is just a business, merely a tool, even though sometimes I enjoy it immensely, even though sometimes it exhausts me beyond measure. It's just a business, just a tool... My small online store is a tiny dream I had a while ago and now I'm fulfilling it, but it's not more valuable than what I still hold precious in my life on this Earth, the gifts from God in my life: my family, and most importantly, my child... My skincare and body care products are wonderful, some are fabulous, as I've mentioned before. They're natural, they respect human health and well-being, they respect nature and the planet, they're "clean," and they're phenomenally effective in their action on the skin, some even on a deeper level. Some are the result of years of research, and some are valuable innovations. But they're still... tools. And a tool is never and cannot be placed above the one it serves.