A longer version of ‘About Me’

“Hey y’all” might sound like a cliché Southern thing to say, but it’s really what we say! So hey y’all! Happy Friday and Happy April! I did a lil #fridayintroductions post over on Instagram because I figured IG didn’t have enough of them…

I recently rediscovered my love of wearing royal blue. I hope it still works for me when I do a color consult later this month…

My @wholejessica Instagram account has changed so much since I first started an account over there. Social media is a trip, is it not? If you scroll back far enough all you’ll see are plates full of Whole30 meals, some exercising accountability and maybe a monologue or two about how much I love my faith.

I’ve changed my handle there three times (that I remember) because I didn’t just want to be a “Whole30 girl.” It felt a little inauthentic at times. I didn’t feel like a #Whole30 spokesperson anymore because I wasn’t cooking and eating that way all the time. This sounds silly to me now because I still very much love Whole30 and still very much think everyone should try it at least once. There are things I’ve learned through my experience that have stuck with me for over 7 years now. My line of thinking also went against the true spirit of the program. It’s not something you’re meant to do forever; you can, but that’s not the point of it. So it was ok that I wasn’t “doing whole30” and had a handle with the word WHOLE in it.

Fast forward some years and I had some pretty traumatizing personal stuff going on. I felt small & weak & lost my voice. Lost a bit of myself. I had wanted to start a blog since like 2010 and started a few between then and now but never wrote on them and never told people about them. I wanted it to be perfect like the blogs I loved to read. I also didn’t think anyone would want to read what I had to say. It wasn’t helpful enough or funny enough or Catholic enough or _______ enough. You name it.

I wrestled with names for my blog that might speak to who I really was but apparently my name is famous and like all variations of Jessica I liked were taken. So I landed back on wholejessica.com.

And here we are today. My blog and social media accounts are meant to be all of me in some form or fashion. (Not like all-all because I mean I like privacy as much as the next guy.) But it’s W H O L E Jessica.

So who is W H O L E Jessica?

I am Catholic and my faith is rooted in every single thing I do. It’s part of me. I can’t be without it. I sometimes feel funny posting Catholic-y or faith-y things because I’m not an expert. I don’t have a degree in theology. I can’t name 110 saints or even the names of the all the apostles. But I have my journey and personal experience. I’ve been doing some work in finding my authentic voice, as perfectly imperfect as it may be, it was gifted to me. And hopefully Christ shines through that voice to you.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

I love to create. Meals, experiences, gifts, graphics…all sorts of stuff! I have dabbled in various crafting hobbies since I was a child. My brain is always full of ideas!

I love sharing what I love. That’s changed over the years from toxic soap & plastic coffee travel mugs to cleaner, healthier, safer everything. Low tox living stemmed from cleaning up my diet. It’s a lifelong process.

I work with Beautycounter as a brand advocate & independent consultant and love my job. I get to help women (and a few men) switch their skin care, makeup, shampoo, body wash, lotion – all of it! – to safer products that are good for them & our precious planet. I personally shoulder weight from this job. I don’t want my friends & family getting more cancer, have more miscarriages, suffer from asthma & allergies. I do important work and am so grateful to have found this company.

So that’s me in a nutshell. Maybe like a giant coconut shell seeing as how it took all these words to say it.

Even after all these words, there’s still more to me. I’m glad you’re here and I hope you’ll stay. Let’s be friends with all of our differences and similarities. Let’s learn from each other and grow with each other. Let’s be whole.