My 2024 was full of battles. Battles with my health, my slowing business and my emotional well-being. For those that don't know me, my name is Jessica. I am the owner and creator of Starlight Soapery. I started this business in 2020 with a passion for creating skincare and candles. I quickly set on my small business journey by attending local markets/fairs as a vendor along with hitting the social medial scene as hard as I could.
The vendor life has always been fun but also very challenging. You are at some of these festivals for days and days with long hours, little sleep and lots of physical demands. It was worth it though, and I loved being in front of the people. I got to meet many of my customers face to face and many would come see me at the weekend markets and festivals. I did the vendor life for 3 years straight. By the end of 2023 I was started to feel it.
I initially started having intense shoulder pain and was losing my range of motion by the end of 2023. I ended up seeing an orthopedic who diagnosed me with impingement and a frozen shoulder. Ugh the frozen shoulder! This injury continued to get worse and by the first of January I had very little movement in the left arm along with extreme pain when I lifted things or moved it certain ways. I ended up in physical and massage therapy. By March, a new injury began to take hold.
I started to feel a tightness in my back and began having the worst muscle spasms of my life. These spams would literally bring me to my knees in pain. Couple this injury with my frozen shoulder and I knew my vending days were on pause. I withdrew from the markets I had coming up and decided to concentrate on my health and healing.
By July, both of my injuries were still in full swing. I had days where I could barely walk from my back pain. I also had very unusual symptoms on top of that including a numbness/tingling happening in my arms and legs, intense migraines and a sudden change in my vision. An ER visit, MRI scans and several doctor visits later, I have a potential diagnosis of MS (multiple sclerosis). This, however, is still in the works with my doctor and nothing has been 100% confirmed. There are a couple other conditions that are also being discussed.
This brings us up to date. I am still in physical and massage therapy, but I'm happy to report that as of right now my back and shoulder are doing so much better. I continue to strengthen both daily with home exercises. I also started a very strict diet regime which does seem to help many of my other symptoms as well.
So, what now? I've taken a big hit with the business. I have not been able to attend markets/festivals under Starlight Soapery since March 2024. My regulars still place orders, and I am so grateful to each of you.
In October 2024, I started to make soap again. I am posting regularly on my social media pages and am in full swing of preparing for the Christmas sales. I have created a brand-new Christmas soap, Mistletoe, along with bringing back favorites from the past years, Christmas Day Soap and Snow Day Soap. I also just re-stocked all of our body butters, including the holiday favorites, Cashmere and Cedar and Cozy Nights. I also created a lot of new holiday candles!!
I am feeling more like me for the first time in a year. I'm excited to bring Starlight Soapery back into the forefront and give it my all. I plan to blog more and create a lot more content on my YouTube channel, including making lots of new products and especially new soaps! Starlight is also on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest!
I hope you will continue to support Starlight Soapery. This business is my heart. I love creating and love running this business. Here's to 2024 and going up from here. Thank you!
Jessica