I haven’t been out for my daily walk in over a week! I live in Northern Ontario and it’s been super cold, like -25 to -35 degrees! I’ve also been working on a proposal at work which had me pretty busy and stuck to the computer for hours. I guess I could have gone to the gym and walked on the treadmill, but that didn’t happen either.
I could keep going on and on about all the reasons why I couldn’t go for my walk; it’s too cold, I’m too busy, it’s dark out now. I’m hungry so I’ll eat and go later, but oh no, now it’s too cold out!
The thing is, I chose not to go. I decided that I needed to do other things that took priority over going for a walk for the last week or so.
As an adult, I can do that. If I don’t go for my walk, is anyone going to hold me accountable? No, they are not. No one is going to say, Paula, you didn’t go for your walk today. We demand an explanation!
Just like no one is going to make me go for a walk today, or tomorrow, or the day after that! I’m the only one that has the power to do that.
And am I going to give myself a hard time for missing a week of walking? Am I going to shrivel up in shame and self derision?
No, I am not. And do you know why? Because, shame isn’t motivating. Because giving myself some grace and being gentle with myself is better than beating myself up for not getting my exercise in.
But, you know, walking is really important to both my physical and my mental health. So I know I need to get back at it. And I know I will. I have no doubt that I will. And do you know why I’m so confident?
Because I have built other rituals into my day that help keep me on an even keel. My morning routine is something that I have created for myself, and it has really helped me start off my day in a good way.
I get up and the first thing I do is have a drink of water. Then I start my diffuser. I usually choose a couple of essential oils to put in it. Lately Rosemary and Tangerine is my favourite diffuser blend.
I start the coffee maker, and while that’s brewing, I do my stretches. A routine that I’ve learned over years of going to exercise classes and I find it really helps to keep my body more flexible. And best of all, it gets my body moving in a gentle way, right off the bat in the morning.
Once the coffee is ready, I grab a cup, open my IPad and do some writing. I have a journal that I’ve been writing in since my Dad passed away. And I also have an ongoing Gratitude list that I add to each day.
This is all before I open up any social media or doing any posting for my Young Living business. Giving myself this time in the morning is one of the best things I have ever done for myself.
These rituals, which include putting essential oils on the bottoms of my feet, on the back of my neck and breathing them in deeply, help keep me centred, and in balance.
So even if I miss a week of walking, I know it’s not the end of the world and I know I’ll be back out there soon.
What rituals have you built into your daily self-care routine? Let me know if the comments.
December 28th, 2022 marked my 10 year anniversary as a Young Living Member. So I was 51 when I experienced my first essential oil. Wow, how had I gone that long without every knowing anything about them? Well, I guess I’m like most folks. You don’t know what you don’t know, right?
I feel kind of bummed out that I didn’t have these oils in my life when my kids were little. I know they would have made such a huge difference in creating a healthier home. I think of all I’ve learned about some of the harmful chemicals in the products I used while my kids were small, and wish I would have known about Young Living’s Thieves line back then.
But I guess you can’t do much about what has gone before. You just have to do better, once you know better, right?
And as much as my adult children like to kid me about my “hippie juice”, they do like the oils, and will use them as they need them; if they’re feeling under the weather (Thieves), or just need a calming influence (Lavender).
I think back to 10 years ago, and back then, most people didn’t know about essential oils or their benefits to our health & wellness. If they had heard of them, they mostly thought of them as “pretty aromas”, but not so much as tools to support their body, mind and spirit.
So I guess I shouldn’t feel too bad that I was one of those people. I was in the majority. But I am so incredibly grateful for that first whiff of Thieves that I smelled as I walked into my friend’s home back in 2012!
It has led to so many moments of discovery, experiencing the power of these amazing little bottles of nature’s living energy. And I am so grateful that I am able to share my experiences and my knowledge with people; my family, my friends, and new friends I’m meeting through events and gatherings that I host.
My hope is that I can help more people to live healthier, happier lives with Young Living essential oils. And hopefully they can discover them earlier in their lives, so they can share them with their children and create healthy homes for their families.
And the one thing I’ve learned is, it’s never too late to start!
I remember talking to a friend shortly after my Dad passed away. Her father had died a few years earlier. And I remember saying, you know people have no idea how this grief can just overwhelm you , how you can feel so heavy with it, until they go through it themselves. And I think I apologized to her for maybe not comprehending the enormity of her loss at the time. She was her usual amazing self and said, “it’s okay, people don’t know what it’s like, and you know, you’re happy that they don’t know. You’re happy that they don’t have to know yet.”
It really is hard to describe the loss. I know some people don’t have great relationships with their fathers, and everyone experiences the loss differently, but everyone who loses a parent feels a sense of loss, whether its the loss of the relationship you wish you had, or the loss of what could have been. It’s still a very real loss, and it hurts.
I had a really close relationship with my Dad. My parents live close to me and I saw my Dad nearly every day. In fact, if I didn’t stop in to say hi during the week, his nose would be seriously out of joint! The pout would be on! Lol!
We used to go for coffee in the morning before I went to work, back when my Dad was doing the mail run, a post retirement job he did for years. I treasure the time we spent together, just checking in with each other, and talking about everything, and nothing in particular.
My Dad’s health decline was slow and gradual, over a few years. His eyesight was going, and then his balance was off, so mobility was slower. Then he just started getting weaker, thinner, and having other health issues.
After my Dad passed away, I immediately went into what I call “crisis mode”, calling people, making funeral arrangements, taking care of my Mom, writing the obituary and the eulogy and afterwards, helping to sort out the paperwork.
“The business of death”, I remember someone calling it. Anyway, I was keeping myself busy. I had shed the odd tear, but hadn’t really had a good cry yet. I knew there would come a time, but it wasn’t here yet.
Family who were able to, came home for my Dad’s funeral, which was at the end of February 2020. And we all know what happened in mid-March that year. The pandemic was declared and the world shut down.
So three weeks after my Dad passed away, and family had all gone home, we were all told to stay home to stop the spread of this virus that we knew little about, but which was very scary and killing people.
The other thing that happened 3 weeks after my Dad passed away, was I decided to quit drinking. I felt like the glass of wine I enjoyed at supper was more often than not, becoming 3 or 4 glasses every night. I would wake up feeling crappy and feeling bad about myself. Well this just didn’t mesh well with the healthy lifestyle I was trying to achieve and the one I telling others to adopt in all my social media posts. I had to start living my authentic self. So I quit. As I write this, it’s been 2 years and 8 months since I had my last drink.
I’ll write more about that in future posts, but it was definitely a big turning point for me, and an integral part of allowing myself to grieve, to feel my feelings, and not just drown them.
What I had started doing, but definitely began doing more of, was walking. Walking, walking, walking. Thankfully, I live in a place where I can walk for miles without seeing a single soul, so it was no problem following the isolation rules that were in place at the time. And it was on these walks that my healing began. Walking, breathing, being close to nature, and using my oils. That, and lots of great hugs from my partner is what helped me grieve. Is what is helping me grieve, I should say, because I’m still grieving. I still miss my Dad everyday, and think about him everyday. And sometimes the grief just comes out of nowhere and I find myself crying. But that’s okay. Tears are good, they are cleansing and they are healing.
Grieving through a pandemic is especially hard. Not being able to gather as a family throughout the first year after my Dad passed away was devastating for us all.
I have never been so grateful for my essential oils, especially Valor, Peace & Calming and OrthoEase. There are others that I used throughout as well, but too many to mention. These ones helped me stay centred and grounded, helped me stay calm and helped ease my tension.
I know that my journey isn’t over, but I feel that my decision to quit drinking, and try to live a healthier lifestyle has actually helped my grieving process. I see with clearer eyes; I use the tools that I have, and when I have bad days, I put on my oils, I breathe, I go for a walk, and I reach out and call a friend. I stay grounded and I keep going. And that’s really all any of us can do.
I just recently made a batch of what I call “Miracle Balm” using my essential oils, some organic carrier oils and beeswax. I first started experimenting with making these different things with my essential oils about 6 years ago, just as a way to share them with my family and friends and show them the different ways to use the oils.
My first batch was just beeswax and coconut oil with the essential oils added in, and it was a bit too greasy. So in later batches I would add shea butter or coco butter.
I have fun playing around with the recipe so every batch is a bit different, but the star of the show is always the essential oils that I use. I put at least 4 drops each of Lavender, Panaway, Peppermint, Copaiba, Frankincense and Northern Lights Black Spruce in each little glass jar.
It feels so soothing on your body. My Dad used to rub it on his sore knees and legs and he would always ask me to make him some more when he ran out.
I was so happy to be able to offer him something natural that he would actually use. Like many people, who won’t just use the essential oils topically on their own, he would have no problem rubbing on this balm. So he was getting the benefit of the oils but just in a different form. And he said it really helped him.
And when you really take a deep dive into all of the essential oils I put into the balm, you can see why! Just look up the many uses of Frankincense or Helichrysum.
We are so lucky to have such easy access to these beautiful essential oils that can support our bodies in so many different ways. When you take a look at where these oils come from, there is no way we would have access to them, (and be assured of their quality and purity) if it wasn’t for Young Living!
“Frankincense oil comes from the resin of Boswellia carterii trees located in northern Africa, near the Arabian Peninsula. Copaiba essential oil is the product of distilling the gum resin tapped from the Brazilian Copaifera reticulata tree, native to the Amazon region of the country. Helichrysum essential oil, one of the oils in Panaway is from the Helichrysum flower native to coastal locales in places such as France, Italy and Croatia. The delicate flowers bloom in rocky soils before a painstakingly careful harvest. Young Living recently imported rocks to their Dalmatia Aromatic Farm in Split, Croatia, to replicate its preferred environment, where they now cultivate the previously wild-crafted blossoms.” (Information right from the Young Living website)
I tell you all this just to say, how else would you have access to these essential oils if if wasn’t for Young Living?
I know I’m not going over to Northern Africa or Brazil to tap trees to distill into essential oils! These essential oils are precious! And the investments that Young Living has made to ensure that we all have access to pure, ethically sourced, high quality essential oils is pretty incredible, and I am so very grateful!
Here’s my recipe for the “Miracle Balm”. Try making some to give to your family and friends. They will love you for it!
I use organic ingredients:
Beeswax (about a quarter of a cup)
Coconut oil 3/4 cup
Shea Butter 1/2 cup
Melt over low heat
Pour into 2 ounce glass jars and let cool for bit.
Add 4 drops each of Lavender, Frankincense, Panaway, Copaiba, Peppermint and Northern Lights Black Spruce. (All of these essential oils & blends are in the Premium Starter Bundle)
Use a toothpick and give each jar a little stir.
Let them cool off (I put mine in the fridge until they firm up)
Share with your family and friends! Enjoy!
Just Start!
I think sometimes people think they need to be aromatherapists before they can start using essential oils. I hear all the time that they “need to learn more about them before they start using them”. Or, “there’s just so much to learn! I don’t think I have enough of a grasp of how they work yet.”
While I agree that learning about what you are using in your own wellness routine is a good thing, I also think that not starting until you know everything about essential oils and how they work may keep you in limbo for a long time! And you will have missed out on this great experience!
What’s even sadder, is hearing about people who decided to bring home their first Premium Starter Bundle and two months (or 6 months) later, haven’t even opened the box yet!! Or they have their oils packed away in a cupboard somewhere. Ugh! This makes me sad!
When I got my first Premium Starter Bundle, I literally had never even heard of essential oils and had no idea what to do with them. I had purchased the bundle, eager to just start using them! I figured I would learn as I went along.
I went to a few essential oils info sessions where we went through the starter kit and learned about each oil and some of the potential uses. I’m still going to info sessions 10 years later! And I learn something new every time! But the best advice I ever got was to not get overwhelmed by trying to learn everything all at once, or needing to know it all before you start. Basically, the message was, “Just start. Start diffusing, start just putting them on the bottoms of your feet, start breathing them in. Just start.”
Don’t worry that you aren’t a reflexologist or an aromatherapist. Start “low and slow”. By that, I mean, if you want to put them on topically, start by putting them on the bottoms of your feet. Just a couple of drops is all you need. (I only use Young Living Essential Oils because I know that the quality and purity is guaranteed.)
Once I started just putting them on the bottoms of my feet every morning, I started to notice a difference in my overall feeling of wellness. It just became part of my daily routine. I felt more centred, and ready to start my day. Oils on my feet and shoulders at the end of the day was also helpful for a good night’s sleep.
There’s lots of information out there on the benefits of essential oils so you can always learn. I know this will be a lifelong learning journey for me! But don’t let your lack of “knowing enough” paralyze you and prevent you from starting. These essential oils are truly nature’s gift and I am truly grateful that I have them in my life.
