Episode 277: Enjoying At-Home Self Care

Engaging in regular self-care has been shown to have many benefits, and yet it can be so difficult to make the time. So today we’ll talk about ways you can fit in self-care at home.

Welcome back to Essential Oil Solutions with doTERRA, the podcast where you’ll hear exciting, useful, and simple everyday uses for essential oils from experts in the field. Today’s episode is brought to you by the doTERRA Healing Hands Foundation.

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Today we’re excited to talk to Teresa Lewis about how to practice your self-care at home.

doTERRA: Teresa, thank you so much for sitting down with us today.

Teresa: Oh, thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here.

doTERRA: I am so excited to talk about this topic, because I think it’s one that gets spoken about a lot, but not always gone into such great detail. So to begin, I want to ask you, what does self-care mean to you?

Teresa: To me, self-care is really about making intentional choices that bring me closer to well-being of body, mind, and soul. We are faced with hundreds—well, actually really thousands—of choices every day about the things that we put in our body, on our body. What we feed our mind, what we focus on. And I think if we can get intentional about these choices, our mind and our body will benefit, and so will everybody we come into contact with.

doTERRA: I love that, and I love how you mentioned it is multifaceted. It’s not just taking care of your body or just taking care of your mind. It is a whole-body experience.

Teresa: Absolutely, absolutely. And I think that’s the thing too: our mind in our body are so connected. So if we’re intentional about that connection, I think we can reap more benefits.

doTERRA: Yes. Now, why is it so important to make that time for self-care in your life?

Teresa: Well, what I’ve learned is that self-care isn’t selfish. It’s really critical. Especially, I’ve had just, uh, like a crazy amount of stress. I feel like in the last year and a half. And so if I don’t pay attention to it for myself, I find myself depleted, and it just gets really hard to navigate life.

So for me, I’ve had to really focus on it, just knowing that I’ve got a lot of things coming at me that I need to manage, and that’s, I think, normal for so many people.

But now, in this day and age, we have the pace of life, we have change, we have technology challenges, which can be great, which can add a lot of stress to our life.

It’s tough to slow down, it’s tough to take a breath. And in fact, Google trends actually showed that searches for self-care have nearly quadrupled from 2018 to 2023, which is crazy. So if we can focus on some of those things that we can control, that’s going to be helpful. And self-care is generally an area we can control and have some influence over.

Not always. Like you might have some little ones in the house that kind of detract you from any like, quiet time. But I think, you know, if we can incorporate some regular practices and make those habits, we will be very well served.

doTERRA: I agree 100%, and I love the self-care is not selfish. I think that is a really terrible perception that a lot of us have, that if we take this time for ourself, we’re being selfish. But like you said, it’s so critical to make sure that we don’t feel like we’re running on empty all the time.

Teresa: Absolutely. And that’s the thing I think rest before you get tired is what we all need to keep in mind. But otherwise, our bodies will slow us down no matter what.

doTERRA: Yes. Now, Teresa, what are some of your favorite at-home lifestyle routines to use to make sure that you’re regularly practicing self-care?

Teresa: Well, first of all, when I start my day, I start very intentionally.

So I like to start with quiet time, prayer time, uplifting music messages—things that are going to help invade my space in a different way than being really succumbing to whatever’s in the world. Something on TV or on the radio.

And I don’t want to be scrolling on social media, catching up on news. I’m really being intentional about my thoughts and my focus, because I think how we start our day and how we end our day are really critically important.

And one of the doTERRA products that I love, that’s become the habit in my morning is the MetaPWR Advantage—the collagen and NMN. I love that because it really helps support that increased energy and vitality, metabolic health, and weight management.

And then I like to stack my habits. So while I’m drinking my MetaPWR Advantage in the morning, I’m also, like, just enjoying the mindfulness in the moment. Like gazing out the window, being grateful for the gift of another day, and just having that quiet time.

So it’s kind of one of those habits that I can’t say I have a lot of routine-routine things in my life, but that is one thing that absolutely I have to have my MetaPWR Advantage every morning.

doTERRA: I think that is amazing and such a powerful product that supports our body in so many different ways.

Teresa: Oh, for sure, for sure. And I love the taste of it. So I think it’s just an easy, easy way to incorporate. And then of course, if I’m feeling a little like I want a little extra something, I might add an oil to that as well.

But and then on those days where I don’t have to rush, I think there’s another self-care piece in that. Even not rushing, I view that as self-care, because that is just a little bit of white space, a little bit of a pause. It’s an opportunity to be mindful and grateful. Enjoying the gift of warm water while I shower. Like it’s a little thing like that is so great.

And then doTERRA has all these amazing products that are not full of toxins that I can enjoy in my shower and feel good about using, you know, from the refreshing body wash, the shampoo and conditioner, invigorating scrub. And then after the shower, like, the replenishing body butter is just heavenly. And I just I feel like that’s a very pampering product, so I can feel very good about it as I’m putting it on my body. And it just makes me feel like I’m really, really just treating myself to something super special.

doTERRA: I love that, and I, you know, the idea of maybe recognizing more things as self-care, being aware of our situation and what’s happening is a form of self-care. I think that’s a beautiful sentiment.

Teresa: Yeah, I think so too. I think it’s acknowledging some of that because it’s easy to just get in a stressful moment and think, I don’t have time to take care of myself. Whereas if we can take 30 seconds, two minutes here and there, we actually can get to a better place and think of the things.

Like, I don’t like to tell people, you know, add these 25 things that are going to take you three hours a day. That’s not helpful for anybody. But if we can put some water and oils in the diffuser in the place that we’re working or sleeping. Or doing chores. That is a way to help promote well-being.

You know, when we diffuse oils, we can really create that environment that promotes what we want, whether it’s an invigorating atmosphere with like Citrus Bliss, a calming atmosphere with Adaptive Calming Blend, or maybe a relaxing atmosphere with Cedarwood.

We can really create that environment and help ourselves in the meantime. And I like the fact of diffusing because when I put my oils in the diffuser, it really causes me to take some deep breaths. And here’s the thing we know how important breathing is. How many people have watches now that tell them to stop and breathe? So, um, the simple act of that, taking deep breaths and actually having those oils—those beautiful aromatic compounds—uh, in our system is going to be so helpful. Again, connecting the body and the mind. And it’s just a huge, huge step to well-being.

doTERRA: I absolutely agree. And you know, part of your answer leads me into the next question, which is for those of us who struggle to include that self-care in our lives, what is the number one tip that you would give them?

Teresa: Oh, my number one tip. I have a lot.

doTERRA: I know that’s hard.

Teresa: If I were to narrow it down, I would say my best advice is to really give yourself permission to take care of yourself so that you have the energy that you need to take care of others and to really do good in the world, because I think that’s what it’s all about.

doTERRA: I think that’s amazing, and I appreciate how much you’ve emphasized the little things in life that, like you said, you’re not giving us a three-hour routine that we need to start including if we want to actually take care of ourselves. But it’s these little things that even the busiest of us can fit in every single day.

Teresa: Right. And the important thing—it can be small steps. Just one habit, one practice a day. But that one small thing can actually lead to big results. So the important thing is just that you start with one thing to take care of yourself.

doTERRA: Absolutely. Teresa, thank you so much for joining us today—for teaching us a little bit more about how we can practice that self-care every single day.

Teresa: Thank you for having me and take care of yourself and enjoy.

Thanks for joining us, and congratulations on living a healthier lifestyle with essential oils. If you want to try any of the products you learned about, click on the link in the episode description or find a Wellness Advocate near you to place an order today. And remember, if you liked what you heard today, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen.