The work I do provides me with so much flexibility in how I schedule my days and weeks, and I recognize that freedom plays a huge role in my ability to respond with grace to life’s demands.
There have been many times when I’ve needed to shift my workday on a moment’s notice; when I’ve got a sick child at home or there’s a minor emergency in my family, I can choose to rearrange my work as it suits me, with no financial or punitive consequences. I have a very high level of freedom in the work that I do—but that hasn’t always been my experience.
A number of years ago in my chiropractic practice, I had a new patient come in who was in his early 40s at the time, and who was really not well. He was extremely overweight, with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and borderline Type 2 diabetes. He’d been working a factory job all his life, and he told me bluntly that he’d hated every single day of it. He was just waiting another five years until he could retire.
This man was so unwell that I remember thinking, “Friend, I don’t know if you’re going to make it five more years.”
Our early 40s is still young, ostensibly the beginning of middle age—yet this man was already facing a grim reality of daily health struggles. These were undoubtedly made worse by the emotional and mental strain of hating his work.
I came to view this man as a messenger in my life. The consequences of essentially choosing ‘a life unlived’ galvanized me into really considering whether I was creating the life that I wanted for myself and my kids, or whether I was simply “going through the motions.”
I was introduced to dōTERRA essential oils soon after that, and while I loved the products, at first I had no desire to be involved in the business side of it. At that time, I was already seeing my now-husband, and in my early 40s we were talking about trying to have a child together. When I had my two older kids, I had only been able to take three months off when they were born before I had to get back to my healthcare practice. The reality was that I needed to be present in the office in order to be earning a living.
I wanted to create a new possibility for myself—that if my partner and I were to have a child together, I would be able to enjoy a different reality and spend more time relishing new motherhood. I thought that if I started building a dōTERRA business for myself, and it created a second stream of income, then maybe it could give me the opportunity to take an extended leave from work—perhaps for nine months or a year. This would be totally different for me than my previous postpartum experiences, and I wanted to see if that was really possible.
I didn’t have another child, but I was able to create a business for myself that has become a true blessing in my life in so many ways, the greatest of which is possibly freedom of time.
I must confess, I used to think that time freedom wasn’t a real possibility for women. I didn’t think that time freedom was possible for mothers, in particular, because of the ever-rising tide of responsibilities that we face as women once we have kids. We work during the day, we’re home with the kids at night, and in between, there are errands, chores, emergencies, and everything else!
However, I’ve come to realize that time freedom is actually all about choices. It’s about being able to create your days, your weeks, your months, and your life to fit your needs, instead of just those of your partner, children, or boss.
Unfortunately, many people have been fired for far less than simply needing a day off during a family emergency. With my work, I have the capacity to switch my day on a moment’s notice to meet the needs of myself or my children, or to simply decide to do something else I choose. That opens up everything for us, and really lets us enjoy our lives to the fullest!
In my ability to shift and flow through my days with relative ease, I’ve realized that I’ve created homeostasis in my life.
In our bodies, the concept of homeostasis means being able to respond to whatever our immediate needs are physiologically, and then to return to a state of rest.
It’s very different than the fight, flight, or freeze thing that most of the Western world finds itself in these days! We’re generally hyper-reactive, and we tend toward a state of hyper-arousal and stress. We’ve forgotten how to relax…and we treat relaxation as something “extra” to be experienced for five minutes at the end of our weekly yoga class. Being able to respond and then relax, to easily and readily step back into a state of physiological ease, is so crucial to our overall wellness—and yet, it largely escapes us in our modern, busy lives.
I am so grateful that I’ve managed to create that elusive sense of balance in my life, even though I initially didn’t believe that finding balance was possible, either.
I now recognize that balance is the ability to respond to our immediate needs and desires, and then to seamlessly shift back to our regularly scheduled lives again. When you create a business that fits your life—instead of creating a life that fits into someone else’s business—it profoundly shifts things for us as mothers and as women. Freedom and flexibility in our work allow us to find true balance and homeostasis in life.
Sociological research indicates that despite our modern lifestyle, the average North American currently works more hours per year than a Medieval peasant. There is more and more research coming out (as if we need that validation!) which acknowledges that women are reaching greater burnout, greater stress, and greater overwhelm than at any other point in recorded history. The autoimmune diagnoses and unexplained ‘mystery’ illnesses that I saw all the time with my patients are becoming ever more prevalent. The challenges with fertility that even very young women are experiencing are also connected with our extremely high-stress lives.
When I first decided to build a business with dōTERRA, it felt scary—especially when people would say to me, “I’m sorry, essential oils??” with total incredulity. They didn’t understand what a powerful impact these little brown bottles had on my well-being — physically, emotionally, and financially!
I fully understand that it’s scary to step out on a ledge into something new, but when we can hold the vision of creating something for ourselves, and then step into that with openness, commitment, and consistency, we truly have no idea of the boundless possibilities that we’re able to create.
Saying ‘yes’ to dōTERRA created a freedom of choice in my life that I never anticipated finding. Whatever else is going on for me at any given time, the work I do is a massive blessing in my life that also blesses the people whom I serve. It’s one of my most heartfelt wishes that more people would allow themselves to step out of the conventional roles they’ve been assigned to and believe in their own ability to create a life filled with freedom, too!
If you’ve been craving a life that encourages both your body and mind to thrive, I’d love to share the gift of essential oils with you!
Explore how to say “yes!” to more freedom in your life as part of my dōTERRA team, here.
