Essential Oils: The New Lehr Craze

In 2008 when we moved to Portland, I began having weird health symptoms, mostly dealing with headaches. I have always dealt with headaches since I was young, but these headaches seemed different. I went to doctor after doctor.  They just kept prescribing medicine that didn’t seem to help me at all. Then one day a friend of mine suggested I go see a naturopath doctor.

I scheduled my first appointment. My doctor’s office was in SE Portland and if you know anything about Portland, you know that SE is the place of diversity and uniqueness aka Keep Portland Weird. I open the door to the clinic and I was taken back by how soothing the waiting room was. It was NOT your typical doctor’s office. There was a big window and outside they had a garden. There were plants everywhere and it just seemed so relaxing.

I met my doctor for the first time. I came with a page full of symptoms ranging from headaches, acne, dry skin and rashes. My doctor spent a whole hour and a half of uninterrupted time listening to me and how I have been feeling!! What western doctor does that?  My doctor suggested a few tests to see what was going on. Long story short, I had found out that I had a food allergy to dairy and sugar. I wasn’t surprised by the sugar since my dad can’t have sugar, but I was blown away by the dairy news. I went home and read about dairy and how it can cause all of the symptoms I was having. Getting off dairy is hard. I am still not 100% off dairy, but I have decreased my dairy usage and my headaches decreased and have felt much better. Who would have thought that a food allergy was the culprit of a lot of my health problems?

I was then sold on natural medicine. I went back to my doctor a few times due to other health problems and instead of prescribing me medicine, it was always a natural remedy of tinctures, salves and supplements…that really worked.

Since 2008, I have been on a quest to live a healthy lifestyle and not give in to medicine and even products with chemicals. It took a bit to convince my husband, but he is starting to catch on. Thankfully since then, we have a lot of friends who have similar interests and are into the natural lifestyle and we have learned tips and tricks that we have incorporated into our home.

For the most part, our house is full of non-toxic cleaning supplies and healthy alternatives. No, we are not perfect and slip a Tylenol here and there or temporally use a popular soap until we get our normal soap in stock, but we have come a long way to make our home healthier.

The most resent thing I have incorporated into our house is essential oils. I have always been interested in essential oils, but haven’t had the money or time to really understand the benefits. I got some oils from my sister for Christmas. I have been hooked ever since. I love lavender. I use it every night before bed. It calms me down and I feel like I sleep better. There have been times where I wake up in the middle of the night and I can’t go back to sleep. I then reapply some lavender oil and the next thing I know, I am back to sleep.

The last few months have been super stressful for me. I have been dealing with more headaches. This is where I admit that my diet has not been the most healthiest, which is probably the main culprit of these headaches, but I can’t rule out stress either. I have used peppermint oil and within a half an hour, my headaches were gone. Speaking of stress, I have used the stress away oils and I do feel less anxious and not as stressed.

A couple of weeks ago I had strep throat. I didn’t have any lemons, so I used my lemon oil and added it to a hot cup of water and honey for my throat. It provided immediate relief. Also Thieves helped my throat too. Also, I didn’t want my family to get sick, so I diffused thieves and so far, my family hasn’t gotten sick.

I’ve only been using essential oils for a short amount of time, but I can already see amazing results. I can’t wait to keep using essential oils and experimenting with them to see what other amazing things that can be life changing and make our lives and home healthier.

Please contact me for more information about essential oils. I would be happy to talk with you and get you started with your essential oils experience. 

Why Texas?

Why Texas? This is a question I keep asking myself more and more these days, especially since coming back from Oregon last week.

3 years ago we packed up our stuff and moved from Portland to Texas because John got a job right out of grad school that was too good to pass up. We had no hesitations moving here. It just seemed right. At first I really liked Texas. It was warm, it was sunny and it didn’t rain every day. There was a lot of stuff to do too. There was no reason not to love living in Texas. That feeling quickly went away about a year after we got here.

Reality kicks in every time we go back to Oregon to visit. Reality kicks in when family comes to visit us. I’ve gotten to the point where I dread going back home to visit because I know the entire time I will be heart broken and question why we don’t live near our friends and family.

I had some comfort after our house fire in December when we had no home for a week. Here was the opportunity to go wherever we wanted since we were homeless, but God quickly helped us find a home to lease within a week. We signed a 2 year lease and I felt God really directing our path. I thought to myself, ok, we have at least 2 more years in Texas. I was fine with that, but for some reason, my mind still questions why we live in Texas.

Last week we spent some time in California and Oregon. The moment we landed in Oakland, I got tears in my eyes. I knew right then I was going to have a tough time being home. The next day when we woke up, it was sunny and I saw palm trees. The air was amazing. I could actually breathe!! I was back in a familiar territory. I have a fascination with the bay area. I always have been since I was 14 and have always said that one day I would live there.

Seeing family is always great, but it also breaks my heart. It’s even worse now that we have a son. I don’t think it is fair that my son can’t see his family all the time. I also don’t think we should have to split time with family when we visit. It’s just stupid. It shouldn’t be that way. I don’t like it.

Another bummer about our vacation was that my son got bad allergies. I was hoping that the fresh air would actually help my son with his allergies, but it got worse. He didn’t sleep, he was fussy and I felt like I was a brand new mother all over again. Mid way through our vacation, I couldn’t wait to get back to Texas because he would have his own bed and be in his own environment. This thought made me more confused. Was God trying to tell me something and hint that Texas isn’t that bad? Ugh.

I’m trying to give Texas another chance. In the last 3 years, we have gone from food stamps, to buying all the food we want. We have gone from a small apartment to a 2 story house. Working at a part time job and now working for one of the top non-profits in the country. We have friends and have church. Plus John and I are stronger than ever and we went from a family of 2 to a family of 3. With all of the good things that have come out of living in Texas, how could I not like it here?

Have you been in a similar situation? How have you dealt with it? What brought you peace?