How Essential Oils Are Helping My Family
Lately my daughter has been struggling with separation anxiety, especially after long weekends. To help her get through these times I have been applying essential oils to her prior to breakfast to ease her butterflies so she can eat.
She had separation anxiety when she was in preschool. I would drop her off in the morning and my father would pick her up. There were a lot of tears, but my dad really helped her work through this challenging time. He taught her that after sad comes happy. She outgrew this phase and went off to kindergarten and first grade with no issues. I was so excited. But then something happened this year. One morning I had to go into work earlier and I couldn’t be there to put her on the bus myself. This change set her off on a tailspin. I got a call later that day from the school psychologist. She told me Adrienne was in tears. I spoke to Adrienne on the phone and helped calm her down. But this started a new case of anxiety for her for the past few weeks any time there is a change or she needs to leave me.
However, there is good news. Now that we know how this anxiety affected her in the past and what tools I have to work with; we have a plan. I am also armed with essential oils that have also been a big help during these times for both me and her. To begin her day we start with some grounding oils and uplifting oils such as Balance and Citrus Bliss, along with a little snuggle time in bed before she has her breakfast. This puts her in a better mood which enables her to eat breakfast. When she doesn’t eat her breakfast, that sets her up for a more difficult day.
After she eats and gets dressed I help her with her hair and then I have found that giving her a scarf of mine with a little perfume on it has been helpful. This allows her to smell it during the day and helps her to relax. I also gave her a bracelet to wear so that when she looks down on her arm she is reminded of me and it can give her the peace of mind she needs.
When she is at school she knows that she has plenty of resources there to help her. Her teacher has been tremendous in keeping me in the loop and the school psychologist is also a great place for her to go should she need to talk about her feelings. When my son had trouble with this in kindergarten, the school psychologist helped us teach him how to express himself by drawing out his feelings.
For Adrienne, it’s Mondays and any days following a long break from school that she had the hardest time with. When Sunday evening rolls around and she starts to complain that the weekend is ending, I immediately try to refocus her onto another topic or begin working towards finding a positive element to the next day. We start out with choosing an outfit for the next day or maybe a new pair of earrings. It also helps her to draw pictures of what she did on the weekend to help her shift her attention from the negative and move toward the positive. We all go through the same thing as adults and I told her that I also feel the same way she does because we are a very close family and to be honest, we do lots of fun things most of the time!
One of my favorite podcasts had a great episode about essential oils If you want to learn more about them and the different types that are available check it out!
