The Instagram DM I'll Never Forget
It was early last month and I was on the phone every day with our SPF manufacturer, trying to bring our new sunscreen over the finish line. The past nine months of consistently pushing that boulder up the mountain had left me fairly depleted. When friends would ask me how I was and what was going on literally all I talked about was SPF. I was very, very boring. And also getting a bit sad. I had really been feeling like what I did didn't matter - it didn't change anything or move the needle.
Our mission at Erin's Faces is to empower, educate and include and we do that in different ways - serving our clients of course by doing our best, donating to philanthropies, company culture meetings with our book and podcast club, attempting to bring positivity to social media, but I still didn't feel like it was enough. I was down in a well and nothing seemed to be able to pull me out for very long. Then I got this message on Instagram -
Dearest Erin! I don’t fully understand why I can’t get sending you a quick message off my heart, I am not a message sender of my life kind-of gal, but the quiet voice of my heart won’t let it go … and so.
I just want you to know that what you do, the products that you have created, the way you run and manage your creation and your passion behind your creation matters.
I lost my husband of 23 years mid-February, totally unexpectedly. He was 47. My world crumbled into a million little pieces and I’ve been trusting God to puzzle me back together since.
I’m not a make-up person on any day really, but prior to his passing brows and lashes were my daily routine. Last week, totally makeup free since 19-Feb I decided that I wanted to apply mascara and brighten my eyes a bit. I immediately felt a little more alive. I’ve been your mascara fan since you launched this beauty, and on this day your product gave me a tiny spark! And I just wanted you to know!
I can't tell you how humbled I felt by this. It brought me to tears as I read it - that she lost her husband (her name is Jamie), that he was so young, and that she thought to write to me to tell me what we did mattered. I'm tearing up now just writing that.
Jamie and I wrote back and forth that day and she asked if she could pray for us about anything, which also felt overwhelming with everything she had going on, and our entire staff got involved and wanted to pray for her too. It was an incredibly human moment that was full of grace, compassion, and love. And it swiftly catapulted me right out of the well and reminded me that Erin's Faces isn't about me, it's about others. And I know that but sometimes I forget and get caught up in the roadblocks.
I don't have a grand statement about it other than to say the good you do matters. Even if you feel like it doesn't. And what a gift it it is to do it - all of the intention, goodness and effort you're putting out - someone is receiving it. You may be lucky like me to hear from them, or you may not. But it doesn't change the fact that the smallest things you do can have an impact on someone and brighten their day, even for just a moment. To me, that makes it worth doing.
Ann – isn’t that just the most special thing? I can’t tell you how much it leveled me. So so grateful for Jamie, and for you 💚 xo
Total tears… what an incredible affirmation for you from both this woman & the Universe. Brava!!!
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