Change

We come into this world, into the life of our parents… we grow, we learn… we yearn for change.  As teenagers we seek to break tradition and break away from what we know and explore… it’s a natural progression for humans.  As young adults we try to find out who we are, what we want out of life… and somewhere in there, throw kids and a spouse into the mix (if you’re lucky).  Life is a journey, life is full of change. Life is about finding balance, about finding love, about finding yourself… it’s about learning to live, and also about learning to love what you have, and who you are.

I’ve noticed so much change within myself the past couple of years… As a teenager, and a young adult, I wanted so badly to have this beautiful life in my head… one where the biggest struggles were to choose what to wear that day!  One where I didn’t long for material possessions, because I had all I wanted and needed. I also longed to have everything new, who in the world would want those rusty old antiques my mom cared so much about anyway?!  I couldn’t fathom wanting or having children, and would never be tied down to kids or to a husband. Those were my thoughts… slowly, and before I even really understood what was happening, my view on the world, on what I wanted, and what I valued… it all started shifting.

I’m 30 years old, I have the love of my life sitting in the room next to me playing video games… I’m okay with that, I may even go join him in a bit… but first, I feel like I need to write down all these feelings… that’s where you come in 🙂  You see, all those things I wanted when I was younger, well… to be frank… they are unimportant now. I have found that what matters most in life, are the people we share it with.  The older you get, the more people matter… I mean REALLY matter… Slowly you start loosing loved ones, it’s never easy, those feelings of loss are just as strong today as they were were the day it happened.  We simply get used to the pain, and get used to those loved ones not being in our lives anymore… I think the death of my grandparents was probably the start of change for me, truly I do. Pappy died in 2006, then Grandma in 2010.

When they passed, I realized that I cared about their stuff… I cared about what happened to it, to their house, to their favorite things… and I started to realize, that every single antique mattered to somebody else, the same way their stuff mattered to me.  Every item has a story, a history.  I, for one, am learning that I rather like taking that little piece of history, and adding my story to it. I like knowing that what I have has weight, has meaning, has a story… In essence, I have learned that I love antiques. Now, this is probably no big news, or no big deal… you’re right, it’s not. But let me tell you what else I noticed about this.

Instead of going down to a store and buying something new, I would rather now shop online to find a beautiful antique… or go out with my mom to a thrift store and find a hidden treasure.  Believe it or not, this is reducing my impact on the world. I’m not supporting a new industry, or a chinese sweat shop, or a child labor factory… I’m having no part of that… what I am doing is putting money into the pockets of either individual people, just like me, or into the hands of charitable organizations that have a positive impact on both people, and the environment.

This is important. It’s important to realize how big of an impact small changes like this can make. My Dad, bless his heart, is so wonderful to us… each year during hunting season, he makes it a priority to kill 1 or 2 deer for us to eat on the following year.  You know what this means? This means that we’re not buying commercial beef or meat, and if we are, it’s very rare.  We are helping to keep the natural population of deer down, and I know that the animal I’m eating hasn’t suffered unnecessarily in horrible living conditions, or had to suffer a horrible death.  That matters to me tremendously.  I am, above all else, an animal lover.  We also aren’t putting anti-biotic/steroid laced meat in our bodies… This is healthier…

I used to never think about what I put into my body… I could have cared less… it wasn’t a big deal to me at all… I just assumed that if it wasn’t safe, it wouldn’t be available. I was so naive!  I have learned so much about the commercial food industry, about what is acceptable and regulated by the government… about what we put into our bodies without ever even realizing it.  I care now, when I’m at the store.  I read labels, I look for organic anything… I’m willing to pay more, to be healthier. I get SO excited at farmers markets, or when I see roadside produce stands… I love them!

So as you can see, during this quest of life, I have found that I care about much more than I ever thought I could… It was only natural that my curiosity about the world would extend into healthcare too… afterall, my Mom is a retired RN.  It was bound to happen sooner or later, and with a major health problem (PCOS) and no modern medicine answers… I found my way to Young Living, and to essential oils.

I’m so proud to be part of a company that cares about the same things I do… they care about the environment, about purity, about sustainability… they care about people, they care about animals… they care. I urge you, if you haven’t seriously started to question the things around you, please try.  Break out of your comfort zone, learn to care about what is going on in the world, with our food, with our healthcare… be involved in your local community… get involved with a company that you love, and that shares the same values that you do.

My view for my life right now, what I want… it’s so much different today than it used to be.  I have surrounded myself with a wonderful bunch of people, on the same journey that I’m on, to a healthier, more natural lifestyle. I love them, I’m so blessed to be on this journey with them.

I would love to eventually be able to quit my day job, and support my YL team full time… I don’t think I’m that far away from that goal, I definitely can see that happening in the span of a couple years.  I then want to be able to support Michael too, and let him quit his job… I want us to adopt a beautiful child together, a child in need.  I want to travel, I want to fill my home with items that have history, that have stories… I want to continue helping further animal rights… I want to grow my own garden, have my own chickens, maybe even a goat!  I want to be able to be self sustainable. I want my impact on the world to be a positive one, not a negative one.

So, about change… it’s a process, it happens so slowly that sometimes you don’t realize it. It’s a beautiful experience of growing, of learning… life is all about change. ❤