In today’s post I want to share a story with you about my early days with essential oils, long before I founded Aroma Outfitters.

It was an experience that rocked me to my core, because I thought my children were in danger.

Like some of you reading, I was still a novice. My interest in essential oils wasn’t sparked from one thing alone, it was the culmination of a bunch of different things—a friend of mine had a diffuser that I thought was really neat, I had read a few articles about all the interesting things you can do with essential oils, and, most importantly, I wanted to start reducing my dependency on store bought products.

As my fellow parents know, your life changes in ways you could never have predicted once you have kids. Some ways are good, others are bad (and smelly), but without a shred of doubt you love your children more than anything and you’d protect them with your life.

How My Kitchen Table Changed My Life

I remember looking at one of my kids while I was cleaning the dining room table. I was squirting it down with some name-brand cleaning product like I had done a thousand times before in my life, long before I became a mom. But, with my kid standing there, something made me look at the ingredients on the bottle.

I couldn’t even pronounce most of them.

This was the same table my family ate breakfasts and dinners and snacks on. The same table where the kids did homework and where I liked to sip tea early in the morning before everyone else was awake. It sounds silly, but I love the table, and I certainly love my family. And I was covering it in who-knows-what.

I remembered reading an article about how essential oils can be used to make natural house cleaners. I think that moment was the kick in the butt I needed to stop researching essential oils and to start using them.

I Started to Panic

Fast forward a few months.

I was the proud owner of many essential oils. Lavender. Peppermint. Lemongrass. Bergamot. You name it, I had it, and I loved it. I got my first diffuser that helped me fall asleep at night. Among many other DIY recipes was the all purpose cleaner that kicked off my journey. (Check out the recipe I use now).

I would say I had twelve or fifteen different oils at the time. Some were in the kitchen, some were in the bathroom, and I kept a few near my diffuser in the bedroom.

One afternoon, I was looking for my lavender essential oil. I couldn’t find it anywhere—I had a few “stashes” around the house where I kept my oils, and it was in none of them.

It was at that moment that I had began to panic.

What if one of the kids had taken it? What if they drank it? Lavender smells great, but ingesting more than a few drops can make you very sick.

I didn’t walk, I ran to the living room where the kids were playing, my heart in my throat…

Read part 2 of this post, where I’ll reveal to you what happened next and why it changed my life forever.