Young Living Essential Oils

I consider myself to be a fairly smart and educated person, but I did not know what they were. Occasionally I would read something that mentioned "add an essential oil of your choice for fragrance", so I never had a clue. Until Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus, Ohio in 2012. I never saw the Young Living Distributor who was set up there, educating people about essential oils and horses, but that is who I have to thank for starting me on the road to something amazing and life-changing!

I was looking on the website later, trying to find the vendor who was selling embroidered halters, in order to get my daughter one for Christmas. I saw a simple set of words: "Young Living Essential Oils" and I made a mental note to google that.

I eventually did and my education began! I learned a lot about Young Living and other EO companies. I was turned on and off by Young Living at first. It is what is known as an MLM (multi-level marketing or network marketing) company.  I appreciate these companies, sometimes known as direct sales companies. I have been involved with a few, many moons ago (most notably Longaberger, Creative Memories, and Usborne Books) and others in my family have done them, as well (as far back as Tri-Chem Liquid Embroidery and Tupperware, more than once, and more recently Scentsy and Vista Health Products).  That was not what turned me off.

I read a lot of disparaging remarks about YL founder Gary Young and about YL's stance that most essential oils are okay to ingest. This is one school of thought about the use of essential oils (also known as aromatherapy) and many only feel that it is okay to use it by inhalation and topically.  I backed off of Young Living for several months after that, but continued my ). research into essential oils. I joined many groups on Facebook, became a member of the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapists, read a lot of books and learned as much as I could.

However, through the course of this, I kept coming back to Young Living and the purity of its oils. I found that Young Living was absolutely as pure as any essential oil out there.  I did not believe most of the remarks that I had read about Gary Young. Some of the claims were very unrealistic. I read about the philosophies of EO use and found there were a lot more people than YL distributors who believe in the ingestion of oils.

For the most part, I just wanted to get my hands on some oils. That day finally came when my daughter and I traveled 4 hours away from home to a rabbit show. I found a health food store in that town that listed essential oils on its website product list. It was also open on Saturday and I made a visit. A quick $160 later and I had a bag of a variety of brands of essential oils.  I had made a list of those that were known to help some basic things I was interested in, such as headaches and blood sugar (at my most recent doctor visit, mine was running high). I also picked up another book.

I came home and I started using.  An amazing thing happened. They worked. I started applying cinnamon oil on the bottom of my feet at night. Blood sugar lowered a lot.  One night I accidentally put lavender on my feet instead. Even though lavender is not know for this issue it worked even better. Health problem solved. Wow.  This is my biggest example. It took something that was potentially life-threatening and helped resolve it.

There were other happenings. Meanwhile, I was still researching. I was still including Young Living and my research and I began to realize the depth of research that this company puts into every single oil, something that many of its competitors don't have the means to do.  It became apparent, after reading and reading and reading, including hundreds of testimonials, that these were the oils I needed.

But, I did not know a distributor. I could not find one locally.  When I first searched on Facebook, a lady from Oklahoma came up. Her name is Ladonna Beals. She is a ministers wife who was healed from a pretty bad state after she started using Young Living Essential Oils in 2009. She realized that God was calling her into an incredible ministry. She is also into some amazing health habits, having been off of sugar and wheat for over three years.  I watched a video of her presentation about essential oils and felt that she was genuine and trustworthy.  I contacted her and told her I would like to join under her. It was a decision that I do not regret. She has been an amazing source of support and information. She maintains two Facebook groups that are very active. One is for members of her downline who are using the oils and the other is an additional group for those who are building a business.

I used the oils that I bought with my initial purchase for about 2 months, before realizing that these were life-changing and I had to tell everyone I knew. I started working it as a business and it ties into all of my other interests.

I just with I could snap my fingers and make people realize that these are God-given solutions to most of our health problems and household issues. They are bits of nature that mean something to everyone.  They can enhance anyone's life.

There are two major differences between YL and other direct sales companies with which I have been involved. YL distributors typically do not carry an inventory or host parties in the traditional sense. If you order from YL you can choose to be a distributor (wholesale customer) with a very small annual minimum (easy to meet if you actually use the oils) or a retail customer (no discount, but all the oils you want).  You order what you want and they come straight to you. Distributors can work the business however they want. Usually it builds naturally from word of mouth about how the oils work. Many also give classes because there are so many oils and so many uses.

I like this. It allows me to educate (via Facebook, word of mouth, and now this blog), but frees me from the sometimes tedious tasks that brought me down with other companies (carrying inventories, monthly minimums just to stay a member and receive the discount, among others).  It is the real deal!

My Journey to Lead a Simple Life Within a Digital Lifestyle

My interest in a "simple life" came about over the last few years. First, I really, really admire the Amish lifestyle and how they can make do in most situations. We live near a small Amish community and my husband knows some of them. He has given them rides on several occasions and uses some of their many services, such as deer processing. One man that he knows grows and sells produce to various markets. When he couldn't make the delivery trip one day, my husband went ahead and filled the orders. He had possession of the book of invoices and we realized what we already knew...the simple life can also be profitable.

It is quite clear that most Amish are raised to be pretty savvy businesspersons. Their businesses may be basic and simple, but they are in pretty good shape financially. I bought my daughter a $15 rabbit from an Amish man one day and he could not make change for a $20 because he only had hundreds!

I could (and probably will) give many more examples of this peace-loving community and their contributions to society, all the while enjoying a happy, healthy lifestyle. It has impressed me for a long while.

I am also a Language Arts teacher, licensed to teach grades 7 through 12.  I have always loved to read and have bookshelves full of material for the ages I teach. A lot of recently published work in this area deals with a dystopian future in which many people are very poor and struggle to survive (think "Hunger Games", among many others). Some take place in a much more realistic time period and have some pretty scary scenarios (if you are into TV, think "Revolution"). Some of these books, such as ones written by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Life as We Knew It series) deal with what happens in the event of a global catastrophe, such as the moon changing orbit. There are many more and the catastrophe doesn't have to be that bad. The grid could go down for a variety of reasons, such as an electrical overload, war, illness,...the sky is the limit. 

So I began to ask myself what the chances for survival were for my family in such a situation.  Realistically, they are better for some than others. I am lucky. I have a husband and daughter who can hunt with a bow or gun. We live in a woods and burn wood. We have a well and a pond.  Our chances would be pretty good. (I hope!)

Thoughts like these led me to "prepper" websites and I realized that there is a huge movement in this direction-people who are preparing for what they believe could happen. So I thought about stockpiling and these thoughts are never far away. But, I found myself drawn to truly being able to be self-sustaining, like the Amish.

My first major project was a garden. It had some successes last year (first try) and some failures. But, I have an improved plan in place for this year.  The goals for this year also include some needlework. I plan to quilt (not by hand, as long as I have electric and a sewing machine!) and try other handcrafts.

But, it's not all about the grid going down and prepping. It is about the enjoyments of a simpler life, of finding pleasure in life and good health in returning to many of the habits experience not only by the Amish, but by our own parents, grandparents, and other ancestors.

I actually teach in an online, virtual school to students all over my state. I am a lover of technology. I could not be without my laptop, my iPhone, and my Kindles (note the plural).  I have a degree in educational technology. I am an oxymoron of lifestyles.

I am on an odyssey to find the best of both worlds. I hope you will enjoy learning about my journey!