TMI warning!

Here's something most businesses won't tell you: I got sick.

In the beginning, I tried hiding it. Thinking it was something fixable, that would just go away, but as my condition worsened, hiding it became harder and harder to do. I was closing down the store left and right and people probably thought I lost my mind and technically, they aren't wrong. With my physical health declining, my mental health went right along with it.

It turns out, it isn't the type of sick that you just heal from, especially overnight. If you or someone in your family suffers from an auto immune condition, I am sending you so much love and compassion. It is not for the weak and it impacts everyone in the family. Everyone. Not just the sufferer.

Auto immune is not the kind of sick you push through with enough coffee and a good attitude. That's actually how you end up in a long term flare. Ask me how I know.

Auto immune is something that shows up uninvited, barges its way into your body, and sets up camp, only to suck the joy out of everything you've known and loved.

I'd had life long health conditions since I was a small child and had learned to navigate those, but somewhere in 2021, I noticed that my mind was no longer the same. The sharpness I had once had, was slipping ever so slightly. At first it was hardly remarkable. It was forgetting a word here or there, normal brain fog stuff. Nothing too alarming. But then the skill regression set in. Things I'd known how to do for years, just suddenly slipped my mind, unable to be retrieved again. I'd scour my mind for the skills that I had once relied on to run my company, but they were nowhere to be found. Long gone was the mind that had created SeaPaints. In its place, felt like a different mind entirely.

Soon my life became a series of unpredictable flares. My once workaholic body suddenly began to burn out, just from pushing myself too hard. Day by day, the fatigue got worse. Soon, getting out of bed was a challenge. The dizzy spells, the nausea, the fainting. The pain. The unrelenting pain.

That's when I started listening.

As my illness got worse, I finally shut down SeaPaints.

A year passed and I got tired of being in bed with nothing to do. So I turned the little of my energy that I had toward something I'd been wanting to do for years. I built a PMDD resource center. No deadlines. No schedule. Just one article at a time. No commitment required. Finally, something I could do to help. If I was going to be miserable, the least I could do is help someone else. Little did I know, just how deeply PMDD and auto immune are connected.

PMDD had ruled 30 years of my life and along the way, I had done many experiments on myself and found various coping mechanisms and things that really helped. For years, I had searched for these solutions and come up with close to nothing. So I decided to create the resource center that I was searching for all those years ago.

Little by little, more readers started to gather round. Knowing I had eyes on this project, eyes that were desperately seeking help, gave me the fuel I needed to keep going. Somewhere knee deep in this project, my PMDD finally disappeared.

I held my breath as I waited for its return.

But month after month, I was PMDD free.

Whatever I was doing to treat my auto immune- it was having an alarmingly positive impact on my PMDD symptoms. I started writing down everything that had changed and what seemed to make the most difference. Every coping tool, every pattern I'd noticed, every solution I'd stumbled onto when I was desperate and no one had answers.

Each week, I post a new article to this very day. I plan to continue this non-profit work in this way for as long as I can. Because I know someone out there, needs it just as bad as I did.

These days, my health isn't as terrible as it once was, but I still live with a very unpredictable situation and I truly never know when I'm going to have a bad day, week, or month. I'm still battling auto immune flares to this day. They are not as frequent as they once were, but they are just as unpredictable. I know that with a body like mine, I can't run a business full time. At least not full time.

So as far as SeaPaints go, I did decide to reopen.

Although, I'm now running business a little differently than I was. Instead of being open year round, we're now only open 4 days a year, giving me the very needed downtime throughout the year to recuperate from the big launches each quarter.

I know this isn't the most convenient business model as a customer, but I was deeply opposed to selling the business and this is the solution I came up with that works for me and my family.

I know so many of you have wondered what's going on over the last few years and I didn't want to leave you without answers.

I'm just a dreamer, trying to find a way to keep my dreams alive without sacrificing myself in the process.

Thank you so much for your understanding and being patient over the last few years as we've gotten this sorted out. It means the world to me that you're still here.

I'm so sorry it can't be like it used to be, but I'm still here...just a little differently.

As far as those open dates go......here's the 2027 schedule.

2027 Order Dates:

• February 13th
• May 13th
• August 13th
• November 13th

Your paint will be here once each quarter, with new colors each season. And in the meantime, on my good days, I'll be blogging about PMDD and how to put your SeaPaints to use.

If you have any questions or need help finding something, you can use the green chat button on the bottom right.