I wear my Great Grandfather's hat, tucked with talismans of turquoise + coyote fur, as a spell to simultaneously embrace my love of work while also counteracting my natural inclination toward overwork. Every day it seems, I step more into the role of legit business woman -- though this was not always so. La Abeja Herbs began as a small and tender and often private affair, as I traipsed through the woods on silky underthings from another time + wrote love notes to no one in particular on the distant shores of those Great Northern Lakes.
And I am at once, grateful as well as truly astonished at how this long-ago dream has continued to blossom and bear fruits that grow sweeter with each passing year. Business truly fascinates me. I never went to school for it or took classes to help me understand its many intricacies. I didn't even graduate from college. And yet, I love what I do so much that it fills nearly every waking moment. There is always more to learn, more to create.
My Great Grandmother and Grandfather moved to America from Russia and Poland, respectively. My Great Grandfather was a peddler. He started out selling linens door to door, but proved an astute businessman, and eventually opened a small department store in NYC. Both he + my Great Grandmother worked tirelessly, though it probably would have been to their benefit to slow down and enjoy their lives quite a bit more than they did. Often I can sense that this severe work ethic lives on through me. I have to keep it in check. There are days where I work from the moment I wake to the moment I close my eyes. So, I wear my Great Grandfather's hat to honor him [and cause it's dope] and also in hopes of laying to rest this ancestral compulsion toward all work and no play.
We all inherit so much from our Ancestors, both known or unknown. It's so curious to recognize aspects of the Self that often feel almost as though they do not belong to us. These are Gifts and Teachings, and Medicines for us, but we do not have to walk with them forever. So, ask yourself -- what is it that I carry, that does not belong to me alone, but has been passed to me as a legacy to be healed?
