2025 Can Go Suck It — But Also, Thank You?

Frith Petersen
Jun 24
4 min read

The last two months have been an absolute roller coaster. Actually, scratch that — the hardest time of my life. Ever. No competition.

2025 started like most years do for me: a week off to catch my breath before opening the shop in the second week of January, gearing up for another year. But something felt different. For the first time in 8 years of business, I felt… despondent. Not something I’ve felt before in this work I love so deeply.

Over the years, I’ve watched more and more online crystal businesses pop up. Some charging double my prices — and many of them not even selling genuine crystals. Honestly? It’s annoying. Really bloody annoying.

And don’t even get me started on the flood of online healing courses. Suddenly, someone does a $39 download and boom — they’re a qualified healer? WTF?! Now look, I get it — not every course online is a scam. But let’s be honest… this work is meant to be experienced in person. Real space. Real people. Real energy. Whatever happened to community? To circling up, learning together, finding your people in person?

Anyway… I digress.(You’ll see that a lot.)

The Rent Bomb 💣

Then February rolls around. Our two-year lease is up. We’d been in that shop for six years — and each lease renewal had already come with an above-CPI increase. We were told the rent would stay the same this time. Yay!

…until BAM — second email. The rent would nearly double. DOUBLE.

In a town full of empty shops, someone thought that was a great move? After all the care we gave to that shop like it was our own? That’s not business. That’s just good old-fashioned greed.

So now, a new challenge: find a new location. And we did. It wasn’t perfect, but it was close to the old space and had enough room for what we needed.

Enter: My Dad 💪

This is when my incredible father stepped in. He looked at the space and said, “Yeah, we can make this work.” And that was that.

What followed was absolute chaos:

Ripping up old carpet
Pulling apart busted counters
Painting over the thirstiest besser brick walls ever made (farewell, baby blue!)
Repainting the outside in our signature fuchsia
Building fences for the shop dogs
Fixing taps, cleaning, building, mowing, more painting…

And at the heart of it all? My dad. He was there every single day. Helping. Showing up. Achieving. He was old-school — everything done right, no shortcuts, everything to perfection. I had to tell him to take breaks.

It was exhausting and beautiful and so full of purpose.

Then Everything Changed 💔

It’s now mid-April. We’re in our final day at the old shop — the Thursday before Easter. We’ve planned the move for the long weekend and are set to reopen on Tuesday.

It’s big. It’s exciting. It’s a new chapter.

But what I didn’t know… was that a very different chapter was about to begin.

That Thursday afternoon, my dad passed away. Suddenly. Without warning.

There are no words. Nothing prepares you for the loss of a parent. Especially not this parent. He was my person. My go-to for everything. My constant support. My check-in call. My builder. My fixer. My steady.

And now he was gone.

We were supposed to start the move with him Friday. He was the plan. He was the muscle. He was the truck. Now? We were a man down. And I was a father down — in the deepest way.

But… we moved. We did the thing. And we reopened. And here we are — trading from the new space.

The Lesson the Universe Handed Me ✨

This is what I want you to know:

I nearly let it all break me. And no one would’ve blamed me if it did.

But through the fog of grief, something hit me like a ton of sacred bricks:

🕯️ I got to spend the last month of my dad’s life with him. Every. Single. Day. Doing things together. Achieving things together. Laughing. Problem-solving. Creating. Not just the two of us — but my daughter too. She got to work with her grandfather. That’s a gift. One I’ll never stop being grateful for.

We didn’t know he was sick. He didn’t either. But apparently, he’d been unwell for a while and that day was always going to come.

And the Universe — cheeky thing that it is — gave us that last month. That golden month.

Would that have happened if we didn’t have to move shops? Nope.

So yeah, moving is a pain in the butt. But this wasn’t just a shop relocation — it was a divine setup. A chance for closure I didn’t know I needed.

So Now What?

Now? I’m doing the things.

If I want to go somewhere — I’m bloody going.
Take a day off? Well… maybe (but that’s more than I would’ve said before).
Get another tattoo? ✒️ Fuck it — why not!
Not stressing over stupid shit? 😵‍💫 Easier said than done… but I’m trying.

Because life is short. And precious. And weird. And beautiful. And even when it feels like it’s falling apart — maybe, just maybe — something bigger is falling into place.