Ashley Jackson Beauty

😌I’ve gone from feeling bad to feeling grateful.

In this season, I have had to reschedule hundreds of appointments over the last couple of months. My schedule has been all over the place + for the foreseeable future, it probably still will be.

The old me, in reflection, would have felt so bad every single time I had to move someone. I would’ve apologized over + over. Felt guilty. Felt like I was inconveniencing people.

But in this season, I’m learning to just say thank you.

Thank you for being flexible.
Thank you for being open + receptive.
Thank you for being supportive.
Thank you for understanding that right now, my schedule sometimes has to change.

Because it is a gift that my clients have allowed me the space to navigate this season while still doing the work that I love.

Maybe there are seasons where we don’t need to keep saying I’m sorry.

Maybe sometimes we just need to say thank you. 🤍

…I thought I was intentionally planting a watermelon seed.

+ as the vine began to grow, taking over what is now quite literally a third of my backyard, I thought, here it comes.

I watched the flowers begin to open, expecting life to burst from them + eventually produce a glistening watermelon.

Turns out, they’re pumpkins. 🎃

Which I did NOT intentionally plant.

…there’s something about that.

I was expecting life to be produced one way.

✨I thought I knew what was growing.
✨I thought I knew what those flowers would eventually become.
✨I thought I knew what the fruit of what I planted would look like.

…life was produced still.

Just not the way I intended.

+ it’s still amazing.

It just looks different.

Let that sink in.

📸 Nilaya Lourdes

✨We are honored to be in the Best of the Region Community’s Choice Awards 2026!

Ashley Jackson Beauty + Salon would love your vote 🗳️ in 2 categories!!!

Vote for us under:
HAIR SALON 💇🏽‍♀️
NAIL SALON 💅🏼

We appreciate your support + are so thankful for the nomination + your vote🫶🏼


Community's Choice Awards

2026 Best of the Region Community's Choice Awards Voting Ballot Check it out now!

✨We don’t often talk about having to say goodbye to the former version of ourselves.

Over the years, we become so many versions of who we are. We’re supposed to.

When someone says, “You’ve changed,” or, “You’re not the same person you used to be,” maybe the answer is, “Because I wasn’t meant to stay the same.”

This season has asked me to become someone new.

+ if I’m being honest, saying goodbye to the former version of myself has been harder than I expected.

That version of me carried me through the highs, the lows, the growth, the heartbreak, the joy, + the pain. She worked so hard to become who she was. So letting go of her doesn’t feel simple.

It almost reminds me of the sunk cost theory. You invest so much time, energy, and effort into becoming one version of yourself that the thought of starting over feels exhausting. Because becoming someone new isn’t just physical work.

It’s mental.
It’s emotional.
It’s psychological.
It’s the quiet, day-to-day work that no one else sees.

Sometimes it feels less complicated to stay who you’ve always been.

But on the other side of this version… is another one.

+ maybe that’s the point.

Maybe life isn’t about becoming one final version of ourselves. Maybe it’s about being willing to keep evolving, even when it asks us to let go of someone we loved being.

So I’m learning to appreciate the version I’m in today.

Not because she’ll be here forever.

But because she won’t.

Every version of us has something to teach us.

Every version deserves gratitude.

+ every version is preparing us for the next.

📸🫶🏼 Nilaya Lourdes