The Stench Of Stress

Stress was taking some of my friends out this year. Especially my Fancy teacher friends at the beginning of the school year. Fortunately, all virtual everything made pushing through the smell of it all easier.

Do not run back to anti-perspirant because you hit a rough patch in your aluminum free journey. Life comes at you fast but staying away from antiperspirant should be a non-negotiable. Aside from a few times when I was pregnant, I haven't had many "pheromone-y" days since I switched to aluminum free deodorant.

But, honey, let me tell you. Owning and operating a product based business during the holidays in a pandemic when there are delays in shipping for EVERYTHING is a different kind of stress. It was not the underarm odor for me this time.

The Fancy Factory, where Fancy Free Hair & Skin products are manufactured, has been operating with a skeleton staff for 9 months. Online sales have increased by 134% and the post office is slow to deliver packages. I had modest goals for our Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales. We kick our holiday sales off on Thanksgiving Day because people aren't doing anything but sitting around and scrolling on their phones anyway. Might as well shop with us. I call it Thankful Thursday. Well, I am very thankful but that Thankful Thursday sale almost took me out of here. We hit 90% of our income goal for the entire weekend in one day. My marketing team asked if I wanted to slow down on promoting the sales. I declined. I figured I could handle the influx of orders. And I handled it, like a champ. 

On Black Friday, we got busy. Filling every order we filled until we started running out of inventory. Then back to manufacturing product, packaging, labeling then filling the orders again. For 5 days in a row, I was working until 4am. Stressed. I was playing it cool though. It's what I do during grind time, I grind it out. I didn't think I was stressed, until I took my shoes off. The smell. Lord. Have. Mercy. I really thought I was sick. Coming down with a bad cold or the flu or something. I have never experienced anything like that. Ever. My feet really smelled like I was dying. LOL! On the bright side, my husband and I both knew we didn't have COVID-19. But my foot odor was so pungent, I think even someone with COVID who had lost the sense of smell could have smelled that. 

Anyway, I survived. Got all of the orders out with minimal errors. The foot smell subsided and I never got sick. Which made me realize that my feet were probably stinking because I was stressed tf out. LOL! I shared that so you know that you are not alone. Most people struggle with body odor from time to time, especially in stressful situations. Since we are all experiencing increased stress levels to some degree, be aware and give yourself grace. Take care of yourself. Get enough sleep. Drink plenty of water. Eat right. The odor will more than likely subside.