Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover

I don't share much of my personal life anymore. I rarely talk about my business and never my health. But maybe it's time to share a little of what's actually happening behind the scenes.

About four years ago, after years of unexplained symptoms, I was diagnosed with Lyme disease.

I grew up on a dairy farm in Missouri. Tick bites were NORMAL. I never imagined one could affect my health decades later.

And if you don't know much about Lyme, I didn't either.

Extreme exhaustion, no energy, brain fog, memory issues, headaches, joint pain, muscle pain, body aches, numbness, tingling, nerve pain. The list goes on.

It depletes your body. Your immune system, and a long list of vitamins along with it — I'm deficient in several. And your immune system is a big part of where your everyday energy comes from.

Think about the last time you were really sick. That feeling where you physically can't get out of bed.

That's what everyday life feels like with no immune system.

And on the outside, you can look completely fine. And most days, I do — I've been told.

I take that as a compliment. I'd rather not wear it on my face.

The last year and a half is when I really started treatment. 2026 was when my body stopped giving me a choice.

Treatment used to be something I fit into my schedule. Now it is my schedule.

And I'll take accountability for my part too. For years I expected my body to just KEEP GOING.

You can't continuously put crappy fuel into a car and be surprised when it doesn't run right.

Today, water is basically all I drink. Absolutely no alcohol. I prioritize protein, movement, sleep and actually understanding what my body needs. I can spend all the money in the world on treatments, but I have to do my part too.

And all of this while raising two teenage girls and running The Lash Stash completely on my own. There is no team behind my business anymore. It's me.

Which means there's no calling in sick. Nobody works my day. The bills still need to be paid.

Then the floods. Two of them. The one in 2025 never touched the building, but it disrupted the business all the same. This summer the water got the building itself — displaced from work, and when you're displaced from work, the income stops with it.

Missing a few weeks of treatment wasn't a choice.

This past Friday, while I was at work, was one of the worst days physically that I've had in a while.

A few days before, I cut my grass — a simple yard chore that took everything out of me and nearly sent me to the ER.

When you're not working with a full tank of gas, you can't go very far. I learned that real quick.

But I push and push through anyway. What other choice do we have as women?

And ironically, I found myself incredibly grateful for exactly where life has placed me — working inside Bella Luz Med Spa, who was able to administer an IV cocktail on the spot, loaded with the vitamins and nutrients my body had been asking for. Not my usual treatment facility, but for that day it was.

Sometimes God really does place people exactly where you need them, exactly when you need them.

And somewhere in all of this, my business has been evolving too. After 7½ years in the lash industry — building a salon with commission girls, and eventually coming back to working on my own — I've realized I don't want to rebuild what I had.

I want to build what comes next.

And a huge part of that is education — taking everything I've learned and using it to help other women build something of their own.

When things get heavy, I keep hearing the same words in my mom's voice:

"It's going to be okay, baby."

And somehow, it always has been. Maybe not how I expected or on the timeline I wanted — but I'm still here, still healing, still building and incredibly grateful.

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading. 🤍

A lot of you asked me to keep going. So this is the first one.

Behind the Cover is where I'll write the parts I don't usually say out loud. What it actually takes to run a business by yourself. What I got wrong. What I'm building next.

I'll keep it honest. It's the only way I know how to do it.

With love, Valarie 🤍