In the beginning... How it all began!

Welcome to Vibe and Co. Candles where we hope to help you set the atmosphere for the background of your life. Here's our origin story (this may be a bit long so you might want to grab a snack while you read).

Vibe and Co. Candles was years in the making, I just didn't know it yet

It all started back in 2015 when I decided to go on a "wholistic" self-care journey. I was feeling a little inadequate and depressed at the time and spending a lot of time (more than I would have liked) on social media. As we all no comparison is the thief of joy, but internally I started to compare myself to the lives of all the beautiful people that I saw, living in beautiful houses, going to beautiful places, living a beautiful life (which I'm aware was probably mostly photoshop, but nevertheless I digress) that I wished I could live too. Then one day I just thought to myself "Why can't that be me? Why can't I live a life like that? What's really stopping me?" The answer: Nothing. Nothing was stopping me but me and that's when my journey began.

A cluttered home/bedroom is a reflection of a cluttered mind

After making up my mind to essentially change my life I had to figure out where to begin and remembered a saying my mom used to tell me a lot growing up "Charity starts at home." So, I took a good hard look around and thought to myself "I want a nice space just like the people on social media." I wanted to be able to come home and have my home feel like home. I wanted it to be MY space; my personal little slice of heaven here on this earth, the one place that I could find peace, rest, and solitude. I filled my space with everything that made me happy, from the colors to the textures, and even the smells until there was no semblance of my old room left. And it worked! I started to feel better and not so depressed any more, but I still felt this weight on my shoulders.

No money, mo' problems

Flash forward 2 years to 2017. My space is everything I could have ever wanted but I still had this weight on my shoulders but didn't know why. I was approaching my 25th birthday (a cornerstone year for a woman) and literally on the morning I woke up on my 25th birthday it was like a light went off and all of a sudden knew where the weight was coming from. What was the weight on my shoulders you may ask? Well, it was my finances. Although I had a good job I virtually had not a dime to my name, and it was stressing me out. Between having to afford my regular cost of living, paying a car note, worrying about student loans other miscellaneous expenses (such as all the stuff I bought for my space makeover) and the regular cares of life, I was mentally stressed trying to keep track of it all. And on that day, I decided to commit to the plan that I had come up with to be debt free. The bible says, "I owe no man anything but to love him" and for the next 3 years I planned to live it. It was hard in the beginning to get started but having a clean space that smelled good really helped calm my mind and give me clarity to help me come up with a solid but simple plan to be debt free and stress free.

And then came "The 'Rona": A blessing in disguise

Now that my space was bringing me peace and my finances were stress free, here comes Miss 'Rona in 2020 with her nasty self, bringing all this uncertainty and mental health challenges that come with it. During lock down since I was forced to be stuck in the house all day every day, I began to get restless and needed an outlet, badly. I had taken a really hard look in the mirror and realized that I had spent so much time, money and energy to take care of myself that I was forgetting to actually take care of myself. I had gained weight from a poor diet and lack of exercise and my skin was patchy, dry, and dull. That kicked me into the next phase of my self-care journey of self-love. I decided that I was going to start loving the skin I'm in by watching what I put in my body and took it a step further to watch what I put on my body too. I went in search of natural skin care that I could actually pronounce the ingredients of without needing a PhD in chemistry and found Virtuous 31

skin care. Using those products became like a spa ritual to me and the smell of them really helped to relax me and put my mind at ease and make me feel like I was doing something good with my skin and gave me something to do during lockdown. Cause if I'm going to be locked away for 3 months you better believe when I pop back out in them streets ya girl was going to slay from the hair to the outfit, to the skin. You feel me?

What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

By now I'm sure you are wondering what anything I have said has to do with Vibe and Co. Candles. Well, the long answer is... everything. In 2021 now that life is starting to go back to normal, I have taken time to reflect on the past year of craziness which led me down the rabbit hole of the past few years of my life. Although my challenges were different each time, there was one thing that I knew I could fall back on (besides God) every time to help me get it together and it was always something that smelled good to me whether it be a candle, room spray, or my boyfriend's cologne (all of which I've tried to incorporate in our candles). Using smell for healing aka Aromatherapy has been used for hundreds if not thousands of years to help heal the mind and body. And I believe that it truly works and wanted to share the healing vibes and help you set your own atmosphere for success through what better way than a beautiful, warm, inviting scented candle. And thus, Vibe and Co. Candles was created. There is so much passion and love that I put into every candle just for you. And I hope my personal story helps you on your own personal journey through life and that we here at Vibe and Co. Candles can help be the small light and healing smell in the background of your life.

#Selfcare #Selflove #Itsavibe #Healing #VibeandCoCandles