Do you ever find sometime you’ll be going along pretty good in life, you know things are just chugging along great, and then something happens that lands you on your butt?
Well that happened to me last month. Literally and figuratively! I was unloading groceries from the car when I slipped on the ice and down I went. I landed on my butt, but not before putting my hand out to try to stop my fall.
After the initial embarrassment and giving a sheepish grin to the guy driving by slowly checking me out, I noticed the pain in my right wrist. Ouch! Great, I thought! I sprained my wrist! That’s just perfect!! It’s my dominant hand (of course it is!), and it’s our fiscal year end this month, I have a grant application and a budget due, and how am I going to do all of that with a sprained wrist?!
All that went through my head in a few seconds. My wrist was really hurting! I was at my Mom’s place when this happened and she is also an oiler, so I went in to see what I could put on my wrist to ease the pain until I could get home to ice it.
She had Lavender and Cloves, so I put both on. Thankfully, Billy, my husband, was there so he drove. I insisted that I didn’t need to go to the hospital, that it was likely just a sprain. I just needed to put some ice on it and it would be fine in a couple of days.
So we headed down the highway to our place, Billy looking concerned and me grimacing in pain, trying to breathe through it, and holding my arm.
We got about halfway there when I started feeling like I was going to pass out. “Maybe we should go back into town and go to the ER”, I said. “I don’t feel so good.”
So, back we went. By this time, it’s about 6 pm, and in a small town hospital, that means the X-ray technician is gone home already. Billy grabbed a bag of frozen vegetables out of the car and I held that on my arm while I waited. The doctor saw me, checked out my wrist, and figured it was probably a sprain. She wrapped it and told me to come back in the morning for an X-ray, just to be sure.
So the next day, Billy dropped me off at the hospital, I got the X-rays done, and waited to see the doctor on-call that day. And sure enough, he came in and told me he was pretty sure I had a hairline fracture. “What? You’re kidding! I’ve never broken anything in my life!”
Doc says, “Yeah, we’re pretty sure. A couple of us looked at it, and we can see what looks to be a break. But if you want, we can wait for the Radiologist to read it.”
At this point, my head is spinning, and I’m starting to panic. We had just booked a holiday, someplace warm, on a beach! I don’t want to have to wear a cast! In my head, I’m thinking, “what does this guy know? He’s not a radiologist! My arm can’t be broken.”
Now, the doctor was great, and trying to give me some options, he could put the cast on, and if it turns out it’s not broken, they can just take it off next week. Or he could give me a prescription for a brace that I can wear until we hear back from the radiologist. (Again, small town hospital, so no radiologist on site)
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, I just knew I really didn’t want my arm to be broken. And I was trying to “will it” not to be broken. (Have I mentioned that I’m a bit of a control freak? Haha!)
Anyway, finally the doctor decides to just call the radiologist, and sure enough, the damn thing is broken!
So, fine. I have a broken arm. It’s not the end of the world, right? Could have been worse. Of course these are the things you tell yourself to help you feel better. And they are true. But you know what’s also true? Having a broken arm sucks!
Having to figure out how to do everything with your left hand is a pain in the butt! But it’s also teaching me some lessons. I’m trying to slow down. I’m learning to be patient with myself, and I’m finding out how resilient I am. I’m even more grateful for my loving husband, and my caring family. (Thank you to my sister and my Mom for sending me meals and baked goodies!)
I’m also really grateful to my work family for their care and support, and to my Northern Lights Oily Family for understanding when I had to cancel events I had planned last month.
Sometimes life just throws you a curveball, and there’s nothing you can do but to deal with it the best way you can, and thank your lucky stars for all the blessings you have in your life, because there are so many!
I’m coming up on 3 years of sobriety here! Wow! How did that happen?
About 2 weeks after my Dad passed away, I woke up with a wicked hangover, and decided, that’s it! I’m done. This is stupid.
Drinking has always been part of my life, since I was about 16, when my friends and I would sneak bottles out of our parents’ homes and binge drink on weekends. Not every weekend, but still, not good.
Family gatherings at our place always meant lots of drinking. And for the most part, it was lots of fun. We were socializing.
I never felt like my drinking was an issue. I was just socializing like everyone else. Were there were times when I over-indulged? Sure, but what the hell? We were just “socializing”.
I enjoyed having a glass of wine to relax after a long day at work. And I enjoyed having a glass of wine while I was making supper. And having another one, or two, while I was watching tv at night. Nothing wrong with that, right?
I mean, I deserve it. I work hard. I’m an adult and if I want to have a glass of wine, why not? Right? Right?!
But after a while, waking up feeling crappy, groggy, and not well rested, was getting a little old. And I was getting a little older. Not to mention, I had decided to share my love of Young Living essential oils with people, and promote a healthier lifestyle. So it all felt just a little bit disingenuous.
It wasn’t the first time I’d woken up with a hangover and decided that was it! I was “Never Drinking Again!” I’d lost count of how many times I’d said that.
So why was this time different? You know what, I really don’t know. Maybe it was the fact that I had just lost my father, and I was afraid that I could easily start using alcohol as a crutch instead of just feeling my feelings. Maybe it was that the whole world had changed; it was the beginning of the “stay at home” orders and the pandemic had just been declared. Staying healthy seemed like a very good idea.
I think the biggest reason this time was different was because I had built a foundation for healthy habits already, by using my essential oils daily, by exercising on a regular basis, by drinking lots of water and by using all the tools I had learned over the years to stay grounded and present.
I just didn’t need alcohol in my life anymore, and I recognized that it definitely wasn’t serving me, so I decided to stop. I’d try not drinking for a week, and see how I felt. Then, when the week was over, I’d go for another week. Before you knew it, a couple of months had passed. I was walking every day. I was using my oils to stay grounded, and calm. Valor, Peace & Calming, and Release were my best friends..
I was feeling healthy. I was feeling proud of myself. I was living into my values, which felt really good.
Today, I’m so grateful that I made that decision. I’m a better Mom, Grandma, Partner, Leader because of it. And I truly believe that without my essential oils, and the support and love of my partner, I probably wouldn’t have been able to stay the course.
March 14th will be 3 years of sobriety for me. I’m feeling pretty good about that, and so, so grateful!
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.
