My family and I used to live in a parsonage while Dan was a pastor at a church in Portland. Living there was sometimes a struggle. The house we lived in was old and I still wonder if our many colds/allergies were because of it. After living there a couple years, my daughter and I came down with some sort of flu. She started getting over it after a week, but mine hung on for two more weeks. This was the worst I have ever felt in my life! Following that bout of illness, I experienced recurring stomach aches, headaches, and joint pain. I was diagnosed with rosacea as well. Needless to say, I was tired of feeling like crap and I knew something needed to change!

All of these issues woke me up to the fact I needed to make a change in my lifestyle.

I wasn’t sure where to begin, so I did a lot of label reading and research. I paid attention to foods that didn’t agree with me or caused my rosacea to flare up. I discovered cleaning products, hormonal changes, and not drinking enough water were the source of most of my headaches. In addition, I educated myself on the ingredients in cleaners I bought from the store. I started looking for more safe and healthy alternatives but became frustrated at what was available. I found a few choices that looked good at first glance, so I used those for a while. But even the products which stated they were more natural had suspect ingredients like fragrance, which in most instances is synthetic. I later discovered how many of the products we use can disrupt our hormones-which is something I don’t need! When I learned more about toxic ingredients in products, I tried a few DIY recipes, but that wasn’t always practical.

In 2017, I found the missing piece to my puzzle.

When I first learned about essential oils, I admit I was more than a little skeptical. My first experience was mainly using lemon oil as part of my vinegar cleaning solution and putting some lavender on myself for relaxing at night. Then my cousin, Melissa, began telling me a lot about essential oils, why she used them, and how they were helping her. My world was opened up to the many oils and oil-infused products available and the many ways I could use these therapeutic-grade oils in my home. To be honest, I wasn’t completely sold on essential oils until I started using them regularly and then I fell in love with them! Something clicked! It made sense to use natural effective products that actually help your body’s systems instead of hurting them.

I started making the switch, for example, I threw out the “lavender” scented dryer sheets which would make me want to pass out. The reason? Those are synthetically made and pure essential oils are just that-pure oils extracted from the plants. They smell different because they are. I now use wool dryer balls and add a few drops of pure lavender essential oil to them and they work better for me than the dryer sheets. I also learned to be careful where you get your oils from. Oils in grocery stores are often priced cheaply, which is a red flag that they are not pure. And no more settling for the chemical cleaners with all those warnings on the bottle that are harmful to my family. Instead, I use Young Living’s Thieves Household Cleaner and no more headaches when I clean!

I would not go back to my old way of doing things.

Some days I do well at eating healthy and drinking water and some days I just want to eat cookies. I am not perfect and I am learning to give myself grace. If you are like me, it is easy for us moms to focus just on our families and neglect our own wellness. This has been an adventure of swapping old ways of doing things for new. But it has been worth the effort because of how I feel now. This journey isn’t over and going down this road has made me want to help others as they go down the same path of improving their health, by making the switch to clean products.