So, as some of you may or may not know, 2011 was a big year for me. I passed the 30 year mark in my life, I came into the year with a 6month old child, and since the beginning of the year I have started 3 business ventures. Or business adventures if you will.
I have a dream in mind that will no doubt take no less than about 15 years to come to fruition if I'm being honest about my abilities and my financial situation. Never the less: I believe in my ability to make SOMETHING happen.
All three ventures have their selfish reasons: Mamo's Books & Handmade Goods is the spark in my dream and the most selfish for sure. I want to make things, I want to make money from making things, pretty and useful. I want to see and read all the books I possibly can (I love books!), and I want to make money while giving myself this opportunity. I want to own a shop someday where people can come hang out, drink coffee and juice and water and talk. They can buy books or not buy books, just so long as they talk about them and also talk about the world and how it can be made a nicer place for us all.
Melaleuca is for sure middle of the road. It's a selfish venture because I hope I can make a little money from it. It's not really that selfish though in that I can feel good about using most of their products in my home. I don't need to worry about the endocrine disrupting power of bleach while I disinfect my kitchen, bathroom, floors and whatever, Melaleuca products use tea tree oil (melaleuca oil) and thyme and good ole fashioned herbal chemistry. Even the vitamins are made from organic compounds, so I know I'm doing the better thing by my body (selfish, sure).
Finally, I'm brought to my venturing in Doula work. A doula, for those of you who do not know, is a woman who helps other women in childbirth. This job hopefully begins during pregnancy and climaxes during actual labor but does not end after the new person is brought into the world. I started doing this for lots of reasons. The world surrounding pregnancy and childbirth in our American culture is clouded with fear, uncertainty, drugs and greed. Unfortunately. This unfortunate development has led to growing uses of formula instead of breastmilk and thus childhood obesity, a lack of bonding and trust between mother and child, an overall unhealthy attitude towards true nutrition of the mind, body and spirit. One could argue that these developments in our history since the 30's have contributed to the lack of moral scope in Americans: why our crime rate is higher, why there is so much violence here. But I don't want to go there. I don't downplay anyone's experience as a parent: it is such an immense job with such overwhelming emotion and love. I could never pretend that my experience is better or more fulfilling than anyone else's. It wouldn't be right and it wouldn't be fair. I just maintain that in my opinion the overall feelings and thoughts towards childbirth, pregnancy and neonatal care could be better, could be different. The other countries that have a different perspective on childbirth and neonatal care; the countries that use doulas, that embrace pregnancy and childbirth as both natural and beautiful, the ones that have societies who understand that a woman (a mother) is more often than not (by about 87%) very capable of birthing without medical intervention and also more capable than any medical professional to care for her newborn: have lower birth defects, lower infant and maternal mortality rates (excluding 3rd world countries where overall nutrition is a daily struggle), lower violent crime rates, higher breastfeeding rates, less accounts of severe postpartum depression and psychosis AND lower SIDS rates. I even found studies showing an overall decrease in labor time (some claimed only half an hour on average decrease, some claimed as much as 8 hours in an average decrease). Anyway, this last venture is all about doing my part to change the world... For the better.
In any case, all three are an attempt at creating jobs in my local community - even if it's just 3 jobs for ME!
MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
Just playin. Sort of.
Love ya'll!
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