February is a month that many of us signify with Love. While Valentine’s Day is typically associated with celebrating partners and loved ones, this year, I want to encourage you to celebrate you, which begins with better self-care.
When I ask women what their self-care routine is, often the answer is: ‘Self-care? What’s that?’
What I mean by self-care can be doing something simple for yourself, such as taking a bath, doing some exercise, or sitting for a 5 minute meditation. For most people, however, especially women, self-care comes last on the long laundry list of things to do after everyone else in the family is taken care of. We then find ourselves exhausted, not sleeping well, stressed and angry at the world.
As a doTERRA essential oil advocate, I work with lots of women and teach self-care techniques that are simple and effective. I also talk with lots of chiropractors, naturopaths, and acupuncturists. These professionals have shared that when they give their patients lifestyle changes to follow, many of them don’t follow through with making the changes.
On the other hand, when these healthcare professionals added essential oils into their practices and started recommending them as part of their lifestyle-changes, their patients have virtually no resistance incorporating the oils into their daily lives. They find them easy to use and see profound changes in their health.
For many years I suffered anxiety and my-self care routine was virtually non-existent. When I started to take time each day to nurture myself, I was less stressed, felt happier, and the anxiety I had been living with for years started to disappear.
Here are my favorite ways for you to incorporate more self-care into your days seamlessly, and just in time to be your own best Valentine this year.
MORNING
The morning often sets the tone for the entire day. Love yourself by connecting to your mind, body and spirit first thing in the morning.
Here are a few things you can do when you wake up to point your days in the direction of love:
- Get up 10-15 minutes earlier than normal to meditate. Apply doTERRA Balance essential oil to the bottoms of your feet, diffuse Frankincense and Wild Orange oil, and connect with your breath.
- Write down at least three things you are grateful for. The more grateful you are, the happier you will be.
- Drink a glass of warm water with 1-2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar and two drops of wild orange essential oil first thing in the morning for a gentle detox.
- Move your body with yoga, stretching, or other mild exercise. Massage doTERRA’s Aromatouch or Deep Blue essential oil into your tense or tight muscles either before or after exercise.
- Sip doTERRA’s Slim & Sassy. This wonderful blend of Grapefruit, Lemon, Peppermint, Ginger and Cinnamon essential oils helps balance a healthy metabolism and curb sugar cravings. Add four drops to water and sip throughout the day.
- Place 1-2 drops of Frankincense under the tongue. This oil supports healthy cellular function and a positive mood.
- Love on your body: Add your favorite essential oil to your body lotion and massage all over your body. My favorites are Lavender, Geranium, Frankincense and Ylang Ylang.
*Please keep in mind that many essential oils have synthetic ingredients and cannot be ingested. doTERRA essential oils are 100% pure and go through stringent testing to ensure their purity and potency, so many of them can be ingested for health benefits.
MID-DAY
Maintaining an even mood throughout the day can often be our biggest challenge. To love yourself all day long, start first with taking care of and showing love to your mind.
Here are a few things you can do to support loving yourself all day long:
- Diffuse essential oils. This is the fastest way to affect your mood. Our sense of smell has a powerful link to the limbic system in our brain that is associated with memory and feelings, and controls basic emotions like fear, pleasure and anger.
- BONUS: If you have angry people around you at home or in the office, diffusing oils will help shift the mood for everyone.
- Diffuse Basil and Wild Orange essential oils when you start to feel overwhelmed. My favorite mood-shifters are the citrus oils, as they always lift my mood!
- Explore doTerra’s Emotional Aromatherapy line, and diffuse them or simply keep them in your purse to use throughout the day. Oil blends like Cheer, Console, Motivate, Forgive, and Passion are beautifully balanced and blended to help you shift from heavy emotions of sadness, anger, guilt, or grief, to feelings of joy, confidence, hope, and passion.
EVENING
After a long day, there’s nothing quite as important as a healthy unwind. Here are a few ideas to help you disconnect from the stress of a long day and reconnect to that loving feeling that only you can give to yourself.
- Take an Epsom salt bath and add 3-5 drops of Lavender or Balance Essential oils. Soak for 20 minutes.
- Diffuse doTERRA Lavender essential oil for a restful sleep.
- If you are having difficulty shutting down your thoughts, take two doTERRA Serenity softgels—an all-natural, safe blend of essential oils–to help you unwind and sleep like a baby.
As I mentioned earlier, I used to live in a constant state of anxiety, and I have found that with a regular self-care routine, I’m living without anxiety and feeling like my best self. I want every woman I know to have that kind of freedom, but it starts with us. If we don’t give love to ourselves, we can’t give to others.
A little self-care makes a huge difference in your life. So, while you may not be able to embrace a whole new self-care routine just yet, you can start somewhere. If nothing else, keep essential oils by your bed and use them each morning when you wake up and before you fall asleep. This alone can make big changes in the way you think and feel each day.
The time is now to take care of yourself, to do something different, and make yourself (and your self-love) a priority. You deserve it.
Diane Gjelaj is originally from Scotland and has been living in NYC for the past 18 years. She became fascinated by the holistic health field about ten years ago and began her journey with Body-Talk, Hypno-birthing, Doula, and Feng Shui certifications. She realized through her studies that she wanted to help others achieve harmony and balance in their lives.
In 2011, she founded her company, Serene Living, and a year later experienced the power of doTERRA essential oils for her own personal health challenges. This led her to decide to share the power of these essential oils with the world.
She now spends her time educating people about ways to manage their health with these powerful plant extracts. She also leads a team of hundreds of men & women who are also on a mission to help others find safe and natural solutions for their health care needs.
To find out more, order products or to get in touch with Diane directly, visit www.mydoterra.com/sereneliving.
