Again, don’t use them full-strength because they won’t dissolve as nicely as they would if you use Epsom salts as a base. Don’t use with chemical products!
Another safe, effective way to use essential oils in your bath is to mix them with a carrier oil or milk. The carrier oil will protect your skin from potential irritation and the essential oils bond with the fatty acids in whole milk. Try Rose or Jasmine and milk.
Lavender is calming and nice for a relaxing bath. Add a few drops to soak away stress and tension. If taken internally, Lavender can also reduce anxious feelings. After your bath, take Lavender internally for a peaceful sleep.
Is MORE Better?
You might really like the scent or flavor of a certain oil, or the benefit of another, but if you think more is better it is not. Essential oils are concentrated. A few drops are plenty and anything more will just be wasted. You might also be sensitive, and some oils cause skin irritation.
In Chapter Eleven, I share some of my favorite essential oil blends. I use them in my own home to keep my family healthy and toxin-free. I encourage you to try them for yourself and your family, to create a healthy, whole and balanced home. Keep reading!
I’m a momtrepreneur. I know, crazy word, right? What the heck is a momtrepreneur? It’s a funky made-up word that describes an entrepreneur doing the ultimate juggling act—balancing it with life as a mom.
Momtrepreneurs (and entrepreneurs) take risks by investing in their ideas and building businesses. You might be thinking, “Hey, that sounds like fun! I’ll quit my job and make money doing something I like for a change! Piece ‘a cake!”
It is fun, but believe me, life as an entrepreneur is anything but easy. There are no guarantees of success, and there can be a lot of obstacles. When the entrepreneur is a momtrepreneur—the road can be even rockier.
Most momtrepreneurs, myself included, agree that between their families and their businesses there isn’t much wiggle room. Our days are jam-packed to say the least. If it were not for my oils I don’t know how I’d do it.
This momtrepreneur has two beautiful daughters, and a husband I love spending time with. I lead a super busy life managing my home in Boulder, CO, a beach house in San Diego county, and a successful business with a seven-figure annual income—oftentimes from my phone. Yeah, my phone. It’s my office away from home.
I launched my business with the support of my online business plan, including social media strategies, and I created a system to help me balance my life. Ha! Or so I thought.
As it turned out, I did just the opposite. Oh, don’t get me wrong. For a while, it worked like magic. I got a lot done and my business swelled because of it. I had no complaints. To the contrary, I was jazzed, generating more income than I ever dreamed possible in a surprisingly short time. In less than a year and a half, my customers and business partners were in twenty countries. Today it’s over sixty!
Sounds like I created a perfect world for myself, doesn’t it? In many ways, yes, I did. But something else also happened.
The more my business grew, the heavier my workload got. Part of my “busyness” came out of the thrill of watching my initial investment snowball. It seemed everything I touched was turning to gold, and so I kept…touching.
I’ve already told you I live a healthy lifestyle. I eat well, a vegan diet, to be exact. I exercise, and I practice Yoga. Juicing is one of my passions. I have a ton of energy, but at one point not too long ago I realized I was wearing myself out. Did I stop running myself ragged? Not at first.
Instead of using my free time to rest or spend with my family, I worked longer hours. The more I got done, the more I added to my plate. About three years into my business, I hit upon a realization that pretty much shocked me. I didn’t want to believe it at first, but after a while there was no denying it.
I was addicted. Not to drugs or alcohol, and not directly to my work. I was addicted to the technology that was supposed to free me to live the lifestyle my income level should afford. The gadgets and devices, the apps and software, all imprisoned me. I felt powerless to break the patterns I had created myself.
I was a slave to email, social media messaging, and phone calls. Oh, and I’m not just talking on off-hours. My engagement continued around the clock and even on weekends.
Low-level anxiety became my way of life. It was the new normal for me. Anytime my cell phone beeped alerting me to a message, I couldn’t resist the impulse to engage. I couldn’t let messages go unanswered and I NEVER turned it off. This was partly because of my desire to please people and partly because answering my messages relieved my anxiety. My tech-addiction was flaring.
I used to blame others for messaging me at all hours of the day and night until I realized that it was my accessibility that gave them permission in the first place.
My awareness of this craziness prompted me to take action. I set boundaries and I began by respecting them myself. I set specific times for checking and responding. I let everyone in my life know my boundaries and now I don’t blame anybody anymore for their expectations. Managing my life is my job and I am responsible for taking control. And so, I do. Although I still fight the temptation to engage.
I stopped thinking thoughts that brought on anxiety. I replaced them with new thoughts, reminding myself that I didn’t need to be available to others 24/7. Today, I choose when I want to make myself available.
Instead of quelling my anxiety with my phone, I use essential oils to help calm me.
Do you have anxious feelings? Bergamot is a calming and uplifting oil. It can be soothing when you’re feeling anxious or sad. Marjoram is valued for its calming properties and positive effect on the nervous system. Add to a soothing massage blend for targeting tired, stressed muscles. It may also promote healthy cardiovascular system function. Apply to the back of the neck to lessen feelings of stress.
Lavender and Wild Orange are also a couple of my go-tos, along with the blends I share in the book. It’s important to remember that when it comes to maintaining a tranquil environment, it’s all about balance.
Finding Balance
Have you ever felt like the world is crashing down on top of you? I have. If you’re a mom, you have a major responsibility. In traditional families, there’s the house and a family to care for, unless you can afford to hire help. How do you find balance?
If you have littles, there’s school, and that comes with homework, doctor’s appointments, play dates—you know the drill. And if you’re a single parent, most of it falls on you. Balance? You’re just trying to keep your head above water.
For moms who work jobs and momtrepreneurs, it can be especially challenging to find balance. We’re last on the list, right? We have to keep things going at home while not missing a beat in our professional roles.
Believe me, I get it. Sometimes my life feels like a juggling act. If I were not laser-focused and committed, my life would probably fall apart. I would be living in complete pandemonium, unable to manage my time or my tasks.
Is balance important to me? I would say it’s critical. I work to achieve it and maintain it. As I hinted in an earlier chapter, balance begins with organization.
If we’re disorganized, our lives can be chaotic. Chaos can be super stressful, and that stress is there, bubbling under the surface, whether we’re consciously aware of it or not.
Being unaware of how stressed we might be is more destructive than obvious forms of pressure because we inadvertently take it out on other people. Some stressors are out of our control, but being organized