Healthy Habits - An Essential Part of My Life!

I have experienced some real change in my life over the last few months, and I have to credit it with someone telling me something that has really resonated: 

"You have to crowd out the bad habits with good ones!"

At the time, I was working on a 30 day Healthy Habits Challenge with doTERRA, and had thought, I have the oils, why not add the supplements and see how this goes? Why not try and see if it makes any difference? 

It made a difference!

Maybe not the first day, probably not all on the same day, but I gradually noticed I was not having any problems sleeping anymore. I hadn't had more than an hour or two in a row in months. And because I was sleeping, I was waking up in the morning, and then getting things done!

To give a little context, I had come through a pretty stressful period in my life with something that felt a bit like a stress version of PTSD. The stress was over, but I was still reeling ... I couldn't focus, couldn't get projects done, couldn't seem to do much more than drag myself around and I was just happy if I didn't feel like death warmed over most of the time.

I thought the solution would be to take a break - do something completely different and just not be stressed for a while. I tried spending time helping out family members that could use a hand with stuff, and I got completely away from my previous day to day routine.

The problem was, my stress PTSD or whatever you want to call it, followed me around wherever I was and I still had trouble focussing and getting any forward progress on work that I still had to do. Fast forward a year - I had taken time away, I came back and tried to take it easy and I was still reacting like I was massively stressed. 

At this point, I didn't even realize that I could pull myself out of the hole any more and I began to think that this was aging and menopause and I should just get used to it. 

Okay - so that answer was NO! 

It may have been some of those things, but really, I was needing to give my body some help to recover. So when I started the Daily Healthy Habits challenge this spring, it was like someone flicked a switch and I got myself back - my old energy, my old vitality, my old drive - all returned as if they were just waiting for me to figure out how to unlock all that stuff.

No more laying in bed with a head ache. No more feeling blah. Now things were cooking with gas!

So what are those healthy habits?? 

First of all - the sleep component. I had never liked the smell of lavender, so I had never really tried essential oils to help me sleep. With the Daily Health Habits, I discovered you don't have to diffuse the oils, you don't even have to smell them, they don't even have to be lavender... 

Health Habit #1 - GET SOME SLEEP!!! - I put two drops of Serenity Restful Blend and two drops of Cedarwood into the palm of my hand with a couple drops of Clary Sage (I'll explain in a minute) - and then I add a bit of Fractionated Coconut Oil. I rub that together in the palms of my hands and rub it into the bottoms of my feet as I am getting into bed.

In the diffuser, I have 2 drops of Easy Air (Breathe in the US) and 2 drops of On Guard. I do not bring my phone into the bedroom. I may do a crossword puzzle or sudoku if I have the energy, but generally, I will fall asleep and stay that way within a few minutes and this seems to work consistently for me. 

Health Habit #2 - Hormone balancing - I had been having issues with night sweats, hot flashes and general malaise from menopause for quite some time. I am at that age after all, and I had been looking forward to the end of my monthly cycle for a while now. No more babies so why deal with the hassle, right?

I had heard that Clary Sage was good for dealing with symptoms of menopause, but I had tried to use it like you take an aspirin for a headache and had little success. When I started doing the daily habits, I decided to try Clary Sage as a daily habit.

Guess what? It works when you do a little bit every day. No more night sweats (well unless it is 30 degrees, then everyone sweats!) 

Health Habit #3 - Wake Up Bright and Cheerful - My morning routine now includes a couple of drops of Frankincense and a couple of drops of Copaiba under my tongue every morning.

I was skeptical about why you would do this, but thought it couldn't hurt. It is amazing the clarity that I suddenly felt in my brain as I started getting used to this daily shot.

The other thing I do every morning is again on the bottom of my feet - I add a drop of Balance to each foot and another drop of Clary Sage.

Balance blend is intended to do just that - balance out your mood and make your day just a bit better. It was already my go-to blend for when I was feeling super stressed, so I was pretty happy to add this one to a daily routine. 

Health Habit #4 - Supplements - my supplements didn't come in the mail right away, so I was a week into the routines when I finally got to start this part of the program. That was when I really was starting to notice the benefits of getting enough sleep.

Now I added Life Long Vitality supplements and TerraZyme and I suddenly had the answer to what my body had needed to finish the rebound.

The energy I felt was spectacular. Everyone in my family noticed the difference. I have been so much more productive and so much more present in my family's life, this change is so much more than anything I had expected.

Health Habit #5 - Exercise - I was already a fan of Kundalini Yoga, so I had been getting back into exercising regularly for a while before the challenge started.

The thing is, when you get sleep and you feel more energized anyway, getting exercise into your day is so much easier! 

Health Habit #6 - Hydrate - I am a person that keeps a day-planner, I track my food when I eat to keep me on track for my weight goals and I track my water, so what I was really changing here was making sure I always added a drop or two of lemon, or some other citrus, every day.

I also found that adding a drop or two of peppermint at the end of the day was a good way to prevent stomach upsets that might bother me as I am going to sleep.

Health Habit #7 - Eat Right - as I alluded, I had already been working on a weight loss goal - I am down over 25 pounds this year - so I was on that one already. However, I have to say, the struggle really changed when I stopped feeling like garbage all the time.

My snacking gene seems to have been muted now that I am feeling better all the time and that makes healthy eating much less of a feat. I actually have to watch that I eat enough lately rather than the reverse. Nice problem to have. 

So what comes next??

Miracle Mornings! A friend has challenged me to try out the plan from the best-selling book. I know that this is something that has worked for me in the past - although I didn't know then I could have made millions if I had only written a book about it first!

Anyway, I am feeling so great, I was thinking about re-instituting my early in the morning workout routine so that I could have a more productive days anyway. I am looking forward to getting back into this excellent habit.

If you get up and work out before you plan to do anything else during the day, you don't have to make room in your day for a work out and the rest of your day just goes so much better.

Since I use yoga for my workout, I have a meditation already built into the hour. The rest of the program will involve some other things I have been doing on and off but want to cement as firmer habits - keeping a journal and doing readings every morning.

We'll see how the rest of it goes. I'll keep you posted!

​Cheers and enjoy your weekend!