On Labour Day weekend, the weather was so hot here, that we actually went swimming in Lake Superior! Almost unheard of around here! It was pretty awesome!
Of course, a few days later, the temperature plummeted and we are officially into sweater weather. Honestly, I don’t mind. I love the fall. It’s probably my favourite season - cooler temperatures, no bugs, and the colours are absolutely beautiful.
I’m lucky enough to live in Northern Ontario, on their Northeastern shores of Lake Superior along Hwy 17, so for anyone who’s ever driven that highway, you know how incredibly beautiful it is. And in the fall, with all the leaves changing, it is just breathtaking!
Walking at this time of year is just amazing, and hiking into some of the great trails in Lake Superior Provincial Park is probably one of my favourite things to do.
For me, fall is sort of like the start of a new year, a new beginning. I think it’s like that for many people. It’s the start of a new school year, and the beginning of a new year for sports teams, and piano lessons, and lots of other extracurricular programs. There’s so much going on and it’s exciting.
But it can also be a bit overwhelming! I feel for those parents who just know that fall brings the beginning of routines, making school lunches, and the constant driving of kids around to all their activities. As much as they may be happy to have the kids back in school, it can also bring its own kind of stress.
Little ones feel stress too, so whatever way we can help them to make the transition easier is a good thing. Making sure they get to bed early and get a good night’s sleep is the first step, so try diffusing some KidScents DreamEase before bedtime to create a relaxing atmosphere in the bedroom and help make bedtime easier.
Kids might feel nervous about starting a new school year, with a new teacher, meeting new kids in their class. So to help them feel calmer and more confident about the situation, try rubbing a little drop of KidScents KidPower onto the bottoms of their feet before school, or put some into a roller bottle so your child can put it on themselves whenever they need a little boost of courage.
Teaching kids early how to support themselves by using their essential oils will help them throughout their lives as they navigate all of life’s challenges and changes.
Parents can model these simple self-care tips themselves! Taking good care of yourselves by using your essential oils will show your kids that Moms and Dads feel overwhelmed sometimes too, but they can use these natural tools in their toolkit to help them feel better.
I hope you all have a wonderful fall season, enjoy all the beauty that this changing season brings and don’t forget to take good care of yourselves by using your oils!
Maybe you’re old enough to remember when, at the end of 1999, we all thought we might all be in big trouble! Maybe the computers that support every part of our daily living, from our heating and electrical systems, to our phones, computers, banking systems might not work once the clock hit midnight on New Year’s Eve!
We all prepared, and hunkered down for the end of time. And then the clock hit midnight, and then a minute after midnight, and nothing happened. Computers’ clocks casually clicked over to 2000 and all was well. Hahaha! Whew! That was a close one!
I had been writing 19 something on my cheques all my life! (Yes, we had cheques back then lol) And now we were going to have to get used to writing 2000! It seemed like science fiction at the time. But now we’re in 2023 already!
In 2000, I had a 13 year old, and 11 year old and a 3 year old. I was working full time at the women’s shelter, and doing all the things you do as a busy Mom. Now my kids are 36, 33 (almost 34) and 26! And I have a 2 1/2 year old Granddaughter and a wonderful Son-in-law!
I mean, where the heck did the time go?
I remember hearing a story about a woman who got her College Diploma in her 80’s. People thought she was crazy when she started back to school at her age, but celebrated her when she finished.
Her attitude was; time is going to pass anyway, so you might as well do something productive with it, and work towards your goals. If she didn’t go back to school, she would still be a woman in her 80’s, but now she’s a woman in her 80’s with a College Diploma!
That’s how time works...it just keeps on ticking away. If you sit still and do nothing, in 5 years, you’ll be 5 years older. But if you decide today that in 5 years, you really want to be doing (fill in the blank), and you make a plan, and start taking steps to get there, and don’t give up, then 5 years from now, you’ll either have achieved that goal, or you will have made progress towards it. You will have learned valuable lessons that help you in your life. And maybe you will come to the decision that you don’t want that goal anymore, but something else. And that’s okay.
But time is going to pass anyway, so you might as well be moving yourself closer to what you want in life. You might as well be dreaming, and taking steps towards achieving that dream.
Don’t let fear of failure keep you immobilized! Failure is inevitable, but you learn from those failures. They are valuable lessons. If you never fail, then you never learn and progress.
At this point you’re probably wondering why I’m going on about time, and working towards your goals and how essential oils are connected to all of this. Well, I’m getting to that, in a round about way. I know, I know, tick tock! Hahaha!
But seriously, there are so many essential oils and essential oils blends that can support you as you work towards your goals. I’ll mention just a few of them.
First, Valor. The first essential oil blend I fell in love with, and my “go-to” whenever I have to do something hard or scary. It’s a blend of Black Spruce, Camphor, Blue Tansy, Frankincense and Geranium. I put a couple of drops onto the palm of my hand, rub my hands together and breathe! Sometimes I rub it into the bottoms of my feet and onto my shoulders.
Abundance - Do your dreams include bringing more abundance into your life? Then this beautiful blend is perfect for you! It’s a blend of Orange, Patchouli, Clove, Ginger, Myrrh, Cinnamon and Spruce.
Here’s what it says on the Young Living website: “Abundance was created to enhance the frequency of harmonic magnetic energy field that surrounds us. This manifesting and powerful blend creates what is called the “law of attraction”, which refers to the positive (or negative) energy we attract to ourselves when we focus on it. Abundance therefore opens us to a wealth of possibilities.” Doesn’t that sound amazing?
I use this one the same way I use Valor, except when breathing it in, I focus on my goals and dreams and imagine myself as having already achieved them!
Believe - This is a great essential oil blend, especially whenever you are doubting yourself and your abilities to achieve your goals. This blend is formulated with grounding essential oils like Frankincense and Idaho Black Spruce.
From the website: “This invigorating combination has an uplifting scent and encourages feelings of strength, faith and hope when used aromatically. Move past emotional barriers with its motivating aroma and experience spiritual grounding, a sense of peace and awareness, relaxation and renewed confidence.”
Sounds great, right? And it really is! I love this blend and use it whenever I need to refocus and get back on track to work towards my goals.
Those are just a few of the many, many amazing essential oils Young Living has to support your goal crushing journey! You really have to try them and experience them yourself to see what I’m talking about. I can only tell you that they have been supporting me for years!
I started using Young Living essential oils in 2012, knowing virtually nothing about essential oils. Eleven years later, I am still using them every day. I can’t even tell you all of the ways they have supported my health & wellness! And I’m so happy that I made a choice to start taking my health seriously all those years ago.
So what do you think? Will you make a conscious choice to make a positive change in your life today? After all, time is going to pass anyway, whether you do or not.
I’m not sure if I’ve told you this already, but I have been working as a women’s advocate in the anti-violence against women sector for 38 years now. I’m the Executive Director of a shelter for women and their children.
As you can imagine, this work has been, at times, heartbreaking, frustrating, and emotionally draining. There have been times when I have wanted to quit. There have been times (many times) when I have cried, out of feelings of helplessness and frustration at a system that often fails women and their children.
There have also been some happy times, fun times, and times of celebration, and I have clung to those for dear life!
So why am I telling you this? Well, there came a time during my career as a women’s advocate, when I realized that I am not invincible, not even close. I was exhausted, worn, and my usual way of coping with stress (wine anyone?) was not even a little bit helpful.
I have been fortunate to have been able to attend different conferences and workshops focused on Vicarious Trauma, and Compassion Fatigue over the years, and have come to realize the importance of Self-Care and understand that it is absolutely not selfish to take care of yourself. It’s necessary!
You can’t do a very good job of supporting and empowering others if you are struggling to hold it together yourself! If you’re going to be in this fight, you need to stay healthy and strong. You need to bring yourself back into balance when the hateful realities around you threaten to throw you down and keep you there.
For me, essential oils have been an amazing tool that I have used to bring myself back into balance. Putting on Valor (a beautiful blend of Black Spruce, Blue Tansy, and Frankincense) helps me feel calmer, stronger and less anxious. Whenever I have to do something I’m a little scared or worried about, I reach for that bottle, put a couple of drops onto the bottoms of my feet, on my shoulders and then just breathe it in.
Peace & Calming essential oil blend is one of my favourites for relaxing and bringing myself back into a state of calm after a particularly stressful time. It’s a wonderful blend of Ylang Ylang, Orange, Tangerine, Patchouli, and Blue Tansy. It’s a great blend to use just before bedtime to help you wind down after a long day.
Stress Away is another blend that I’ve been really happy I have in my essential oils collection! It’s a great combination of Lime, Lavender, Cedarwood, Copaiba, Vanilla and Ocotea and as the name suggests, it can be a great support to help you de-stress.
Can I be real here for just a second? Honestly, if I had to go searching around for products that could help me stay healthy and balanced, I think I may have just given up. Before I started using Young Living products, I had tried different things, taken different supplements (well, I bought them anyway....) but I never really made any significant changes to my lifestyle.
I honestly believe that using these essential oils everyday helped create a pathway for me to start taking my health seriously, to start caring enough about my own wellness to start making time and space for self-care.
And being able to just login to my account, order what I need, and have it be delivered to my home has made it so convenient and easy for me to keep up with my wellness goals!
I am incredibly thankful for that, because I know myself, and if it was too complicated or hard, I know I wouldn’t do it. I would have just gone back to my old bad habits. Can anybody else relate?
I think most people are like me. If it’s too hard, or time consuming, they are not going to follow through, so why not de-complicate your life? Go get yourself a Young Living account and start taking care of yourself. You’ll be so happy you did! And I’ll be right there cheering you on along the way!
Finding balance in life is not a “one and done” kind of proposition. It’s something you will constantly be trying to do. Let’s face it, life can throw you some curveballs! You may think all is going great in the direction you wanted to go, and then bam!
Something unexpected happens, you lose your job, or someone you love becomes sick, or the furnace in your house breaks down and you have to replace it, you slip on some ice and break your arm....
It can even be something good, like your career is taking off, and you’ve been given a lot more responsibility at work, or you find out you’re expecting a baby, or you get engaged to be married and now you need to plan a wedding.
All of life’s challenges and celebrations bring their own kind of stress to our lives. And as we go through them, we can become off-balance. We may not sleep as well. We may stay up later than we should and stay in bed longer than we wanted to the next day. We may feel rushed and stressed trying to get to work and get the kids out the door to school. We may grab fast food more often than we know is healthy, because it’s convenient and we’re tired and hungry and we didn’t have time to figure out supper.
We may not take the time to exercise because we’re tired and stressed, and hungry. And now we’re feeling guilty about not doing any exercise and eating the junk food, and we still have to get the kids to their activities, figure out what to feed them for supper, help them with their homework, and get them all to bed before we can relax in front of the TV with a glass of wine and a bag of chips!
Yes, folks, finding balance in life if a constant struggle. And sometimes our life circumstances make it really hard. Believe me, I get it. I have been that stressed out Mom, feeling like you’re on a never ending treadwheel, doing for everyone, and leaving yourself out of the equation.
It’s really easy to go down that dark hole, draining your energy and your joy, especially when it feels like there’s no end in sight to the busyness.
Finding balance in the middle of the chaos seems impossible, but it’s not really. It starts with a seemingly small thing. You need to breathe.
A long time ago, a counsellor who is also trained in Body Work and Therapeutic Touch, led our staff team in a breathing exercise which helped us relax each part of our body, one part at a time. It took two minutes. Everybody has two minutes, right?
We sat on a chair with our feet planted firmly on the floor, eyes closed, and breathed in, and breathed out, relaxing our toes, breathed in, breathed out, relaxing our feet, breathed in, breathed out, relaxing our ankles. And we continued on breathing like that, working our way up our bodies to our shoulders, our necks, our face and our heads.
It took two minutes, and at the end of it, we were all feeling relaxed, breathing calmer, feeling more centred.
Obviously, this was just a first step. Actually, realizing you are living your life “out of balance” is the first step. Most of us are just so used to living in a constant state of busyness and stress, that we don’t even realize how out of balance we are. Until our body lets us know, of course.
Taking two minutes to breathe and be aware of how your body feels is a gift you can give yourself today. Hopefully it will be the start (or restart) of your commitment to find balance in your life. Add a couple of drops of your favourite essential oil to the bottoms of your feet or the palms of your hands or just start up your diffuser to make this an even more grounding experience.
Start small, get some easy wins, and keep going! You got this!
I like getting up early, before anyone else is up and just easing my way into my day. I enjoy the quiet, sacred time, when it’s just me and my thoughts. I usually follow the same morning routine. Drink some water, make the coffee, start my diffuser, do some stretches. And then I’ll take my coffee over to my chair, get comfy with my blanket and my iPad, and do some writing,
I keep an ongoing list of “Gratitudes” that I add to all the time. And I sometimes write to my Dad. After he passed away, I started writing letters to him, just to let him know how I was doing, and giving him all the news of the family. It was therapeutic for me.
I don’t write to him every day now, but I still do every now and then, especially when something momentous or important happens in my life. I still wish he was here so I could tell him my news. He was always so interested in what was going on in my life, and the lives of my kids, and he was so proud of all of us.
Taking that time for myself every morning is something that I just started doing in my 50’s. I can’t believe it took me so long to figure this out, but I guess, better late than never! And to be fair, when the kids were younger, I used to think I needed to stay up late so I could have some “down time” or alone time with my hubby. And then it would be a mad rush in the morning, dragging myself out of bed, getting everyone fed, dressed and ready to go to school and work. It was often a stress-filled, miserable race to get out the door so we weren’t late.
What I discovered, albeit later in life, was that I’m a morning person. I love waking up early. I love the quiet, watching the sun come up, sitting quietly sipping my coffee and breathing in the essential oils wafting up from my diffuser.
Sitting there in the quiet is where I do my best thinking. This practice has honestly make me a better person. I feel more balanced, focused and nurtured. I’m able to tackle the day’s challenges with confidence and an energy that I never used to have.
Who knew that such a small change in my routine could have such a profound impact on my well-being? Well, as it turns out, lots of people knew this! There are actual books written on the benefits of getting up earlier and going to bed early! I’ve read a couple of them, and it makes total sense!
Making this change in my routine didn’t come easily to me, but once I embraced it, I was so pleasantly surprised at how much that one little change has made me a healthier, happier person.
Give it a try yourself, and see how you feel! If you’re like me, you’ll wish you had done it sooner!
