Crafty Kate

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the most surprising thing to come out of my Journey is this whole “arts & crafts” side of me. Granted, when I was younger I loved making things. But hello, that was 25 years ago at best. A lot has changed since then. Mainly I grew up. I found my passion in agriculture (cows don’t appreciate the pictures you paint them no matter how hard you try) and the love of my life (he is still surprised I’m doing all this). When I started using Young Living I did my research. I crawled through their website and stalked a few people on Facebook. The common theme I found was dreams can come true if you put in the work and believe it. Yes, we tell our kids that continually and yes, we mostly believe it. At least if you start early enough. But you reach a point in your life where you feel like you’re locked in to a path and that’s ok. Your “dreams” shift to more realistic goals that fit the adult profile. Want to be a princess? Sure, you can do that. If you divorce your current husband, meet a prince (where does one meet a prince?), fall madly in love, get re-married, and then live happily ever after as a princess. Hope you love heels and social events. A more likely scenario is you learn to dream something super mature like “become debt free” or “fund 401K”. Crazy exciting stuff. And totally attainable. And adult. Does it scream “happiness”? That’s a hard no. I mean the debt free thing is pretty exciting, I’ll admit. But Young Living is full of grown adults who dream big and make it happen. It was founded by a dreamer. It planted a seed, I guess you could say.

With this Journey, one thing keeps leading to another. It all started with the oils, of course. I love my oils. I love using them and can honestly say I am healthier this winter because I changed a few simple things. I rarely, if ever, reach for over the counter solutions to my day to day ailments. I love answering questions and seeing other people fall in love with them. But just using the oils themselves, while I do and they have a ton of benefits, couldn’t help me with everything I use daily. I wanted to change out my hand soap, lotion, lip balm…anything I put on my body daily. Some things I use from Young Living and love. Their soap and deodorant are awesome. And a pain to make. But I knew I could make some things on my own to help replace some of my “fragranced” personal care products. Once I started, I kept finding more and more things I wanted to make. Every week I think of something new to try and you know what? I do it. You should see my stockpile of ingredients and containers. I could open my own store at this point. I’ve set up my own little work area and keep adding to it. For Christmas I got a cutting machine for vinyl and all types of other media. I think I may be weirdly in love with it to be honest. I can think of so many things I want to try. My parents got me a induction cooktop so I’m free from my kitchen stove! Outside of reading, this has become my favorite way to decompress and relax.

I say all that to say this: it’s ok to dream and do something that seems non-adult. It’s ok to want to be happier and to realize something goofy makes you that way. Even if everyone thinks it is waaaayyy out of character. To quote Joker, “WHY. SO. SERIOUS?” Branch out. If you’re reading this, you’re not dead yet. Do something you enjoy and let it lead you on your own journey. You might get more than you bargained for…in a good way, for a change.