You can’t see plants growing – unless you speed up a film – but you know that they do. Each day, tiny changes take place. It’s the same with your life…
Sometimes life seems to move so slowly, your goals seem to be so far out of reach or the changes you set in motion seem unnoticed to yourself or others but don’t worry as every tiny change you have made will all add up.
Travelling can be stressfull, ok I admit not for everyone but if you’re a tad of a controlfreak you want to have everything packed even though you can probably buy anything you need at your (holiday) destination….
So I make lists, and now I have a masterlist that I only have to adapt depending on what activities we have at our destination. A lot of my young living workfriends don’t need lists, but those that do want my master list…
Well I’m all about sharing but first, my 5 general travel tips ….
1. Extention cord
Pack an extention cord for you hotelroom, there are never enough outlets in hotel rooms especially if you are travelling somewhere with different outlets than they have in your homecountry. This way you only need 1 converter and can recharge all the devices you brought along.
2. Ziploc bags & Sealing clips (from IKEA)
I always buy snacks and other things on the road that get old and spilled in my bag. So I pack a few of these to keep everything where it should be and fresh.
3. Clothes pins
Not to hang any clothes in my hotel room but to keep the curtains shut. Don’t you just hate it when the curtains never entirely closes and you wake up too soon in the morning, no just me? Well hence the clothes pins 😉 You’re welcome!
4. Bag
Pack an extra bag in your cabin trolley! Almost every time I am asked to check in my cabin trolley directly or at the gate because the flight is overbooked. First time I was caught off guard and had to carry my necessities in my hands until I bought some things at the tax free shop. Not anymore. I have my necessities in my extra bag and just whip it out when they want me to check it in. And if it’s not necessary I have a handy bag at my destination.
5. Thieves cleaner
It’s not just a great, chemical free natural cleaner that only costs € 23,90 and makes approx 32 spray bottles for € 0,80 cents a bottle (1 cap in 32 oz/1 liter). It’s also an amazing Ironing hack, great for any trip but also at home for people that don”t like to iron 😉
I bring a little bottle of thieves cleaner with me on my trips, yes a cleaner and not because I plan on cleaning my hotel room but because it helps with wrinkled clothes. Not all hotel rooms have an ironing board and this technique will help you keep you clothes nice and straight.
Here’s a video on how it works!
6. Fleece wrap
A must have for cold nights and long flights, I love mine from Optidee and don’t fly without that, my neck pillow and my fluffy socks.
7. Diffuser
We have diffusers in every room of our home to set the mood and add some natural scent when needed. So when I travel I like to bring one along (not all accomodation or rental cars are as fresh as I would like them to be), obviously I need a cute small one so the Young Living orb is the best travelbuddy (great for at work or in the car as well as they charge with an usb outlet. I haven’t used it in the plane yet but this next trip I am going to test that.
8. Essential Oils
Duh, if I use them at home obviously I need them on the road, flight and where I am staying. To make sure I am relaxed, my ears adjust to the different heights, I sleep sound, my tummy stays happy and for any aches, scrapes and immune support that I need.
9. Supplements
I use supplements daily and will pack them all, sorted & counted per day, in 3 ziploc bags marked morning, aftenoon and evening. But the one I use extra on the road is Life 9, I am extremely sensitive to water abroad (I’ve had years of health problemd from unwanted guests I’ve brought back from holiday so trust me on this I need to keep my gut healthy and uninviting) and even though I don’t drink it and avoid ice cubes all fresh produce in restaurants is washed in it. So probiotics are a must during and after a trip abroad. I also pack Ningxia Red singles to keep up my energy and give my body all the antioxidants it needs on a daily basis.
10. Clothes vs activities
I make a list of the days we are abroad and the activities on that day and that’s how I pick my outfits. This is more for the business trips we make as on holiday it’s not so important what to wear I mean it’s all bikini’s and summer dresses with matching flipflops right 😉
11. Beauty/Personal products
Bringing all of your beauty products will increase the weight of your suitcase so here are some easy ways to bring less and how to store it.
Portable silicone (preferably those that stick to the wall) for shampoo, conditioners and showergel. Don’t fill them up all the way or they will overflow 😉
or alternatively you can bring small foampump bottles. Just one table spoon of your showergel of facewash, add water and you have plenty to last you your trip.
Put facecream in either lenscases or in stackeable containers
12. Suitcase organizers
ok last one … But have you ever had your suitcase opened at customs returning from a trip? I have and believe me it is not a pretty site to have your dirty underware all over the suitcase. And flying out I like to be able to grab my bikini or any other item I need when I get to my room and not have to search my whole suitcase for it. So all underwear together, beachware together etc. you get the point right. 
Now I purposely did not add any “where to purchase links” because to be honest I buy a lot of these things on Ali Express and the sellers and the products they offer change constantly so just google them or search there with the description and I am sure you will find it!
Last but not least here’s my current master list, “a living document” as I update it after every trip so one day it will be the ultimate packing list and I will never forget a thing I need.
CLOTHES
ACCESOIRES
PERSONAL CARE
HARDWARE
BIT’s & PIECES
(scroll down for dutch translation}
Over the last 3 months I have manifested, viualised, used conscious language and asked the universe for abundance to reach a business goal. Doing this, having done it and continuing to do this is not an obvious thing for me to do.
Remaining positive towards and for others is something I’m good at, as I mentor my biz team but my own little Negative Nelly voice often said different things to me. During my leadership training in Croatia I heard and learned more about conscious language from Marcella vonn Harting it reminded me of video’s by Carol Yeh Garner about the power of the mind and I realized that I needed to obliterate that voice.
I mean seriously after 47 years it was time! Everything was going uphill for me, our family, finally, dreams were/are being realized but why was I still saying “yes but” and doubting great things were on the horizon. I was able to see greatness in others and convinced them that dreaming big and believing it was the first step to fulfilling them but had a hard time setting goals and believing in them without thinking “yeah but …” or “if this then that ….”
So after Croatia I started applying the right words or replacing them when I slipped up and I was getting better at it! A friend and team member hosted an AFT (Aroma Freedom Technique) with our team member and I seized that opportunity to reinforce that change. I can now sincerely say nothing is impossible if you deeply believe in it without a doubt or nagging Nelly in your head.
Last week together with our team we raised the bar, and through doing this we taught them that when we work hard together towards a mutual goal, believe, manifest, visualise and use conscious language the impossible can happen for them too.
So how about you? Do you have a nagging Negative Nelly within you? I encourage you to learn more about it, implement it and watch your life transform, you deserve it!
Nederlands:
De afgelopen 3 maanden hebben ik gemanifesteerd, gevisualiseerd, het universum gevraagd en conscious language gebruikt om een zakelijk doel te bereiken. Dat we dit doen, hebben gedaan en zullen blijven doen is niet iets dat voor ons vanzelfsprekend is.
Want altijd positief blijven tegen anderen, Ja dat kon ik wel goed maar dat stemmetje van binnen zei vaak wat anders. Maar in Kroatië hoorde en leerde ik meer over conscious language van Marcella von Harting en ik was herinnerd aan een filmpje uit de Twelve days of diamond fb groep van Carol yeh Garner en ben ik me gaan verdiepen en kreeg ik heel sterk het gevoel dat dat stemmetje weggevaagd moest worden.
Het moest nu maar eens maar zijn na 47 jaar! Alles ging beter, eindelijk, dromen werden/worden verwezenlijkt maar waarom bleef ik zo twijfelen diep van binnen, waarom kon ik anderen zo goed overtuigen om groots te dromen erin te geloven maar had ik er zelf zo’n moeite om na het stellen van doelen er zo in te geloven zonder te denken ja maar … of als dit dan als dat …
Maar ik ging het proberen na Croatië en het ging steeds beter! Een vriendin en team member gaf een AFT (Aroma freedom technique) en ik greep die mogelijkheid aan om die verandering te versterken en kan ik nu oprecht zeggen niets is onmogelijk als je er maar in gelooft ook diep van binnen zonder twijfel of zeurend stemmetje.
Samen met ons team hebben we vorige week hebben de lat hoger gelegd en daardoor leerden we ons team dat door hard samen aan een doel te werken, erin te geloven, manifesteren, visualiseren en bewust taalgebruik dat het onmogelijke mogelijk gemaakt kan worden ook voor hen.
Hoe zit het met jou? Zit er een zeurend negatief stemmetje in je wanneer je groots hebt gedroomd of een doel hebt gesteld voor jezelf? Ik wil je aanmoedigen, om meer te leren over bewuste taal, het te implementeren en zien hoe je leven verandert. Je verdient het!
Last year this beauty junkie decided to kick it up a notch with more natural beauty products. I started researching, learning and testing new products and today I will share about my current favorite nailpolish. I have been wearing nailpolish since I was 13 years old on hands and feet (even in the winter) and can apply it like a pro on both hands, yes even a french manicure!
Traditional nailpolish has so many chemical nasties in it, I just had to switch from my beloved brands Essie, Herome and my staple top coat Out the Door to a more natural brand. There are plenty of brands that are 5 – 9 or even 10 free I have tried 2 brands; SOPHi by Piggy Paint and Boho Green, my personal favorite is Boho Green.
My findings:
Both nailpolishes are only sold online or through a salon.
Sophi has lovely colors, is a bit thicker but takes more time to apply (you need to blowdry between layers), doesn’t last as long as I am used to (1 week). It has a special remover, but didn’t like the process, alternatively you can peel it off but your nails will not be very happy with that. Sophi is 6-free and the average price in the Netherlands 9.95
Boho Green takes longer to dry so be aware of that when applying all 4 layers and lasts me a week if I’m carefull but definitely longer than Sophi.
Can be removed with any old nailpolish remover, however to keep that chemical free I use Lemongrass Essential oil combined with a paper towel (so not a cotton pad or a tissue). Boho is ? free and the average price in the Netherlands is 6,95 and I’m in luck because my beautician orders me every color I would like to try.
This is my current collection (from left to right) :
Top Coat
Base Coat
Gypsy Finish
Pure
Rose Blanche
Light
Dream
Nymphe
Rose Tendre
Coral
Red Rose
Travel
and here are some applications (hover over the photo for the name of the nailpolish):
What nailpolish do you currently use? Is it safe? If you are considering getting a less toxic version, good for you there are plenty of options.
Oh and if you would like to use a nontoxic nailpolish remover, just use lemongrass essential oil and a papertowel. I use about 6 drops for all my nails ….
This photo was taken 4 years ago and everytime I look at it I am reminded we really need to do a new shoot. The smallest of the bunch is now the tallest of us all…
As the boys were growing up we used to do a shoot every year and to my disappointment 4 years ago came the moment that we just couldn’t afford it anymore.
But here we are 4 years later and I am itching to set up a photoshoot with our family, you see a lot can change during that time. We have come from long-term unemployment (and for a while even both of us were unemployed) and barely making ends meet to starting a business that is now thriving and it supports our family in many ways, not only financially. But to be honest, coming from where we’ve been but financial freedom is what it has blessed us with the most.
No more stress to make ends meet, no more stretching the household account but the most important thing is NO more sleepless nights. Those who struggle financially know what this can do to your mind and your body.
Not a lot of people know we went through this over the course of the last 4 years but I am sharing this to let you know… if you are going through this, I get you 💚!
Things can and will get better, just don’t be afraid to take a different path to change your future because you never know where it will lead you 👊
Because I am talking about financial freedom I am required by law to share the young living income disclosure (for your reference I am currently a proud platinum team leader 😊) https://static.youngliving.com/en-US/PDFS/incomedisclosurestatement_us.pdf
A big portion of my job entails public speaking; whether it be in front of a small or bigger group educating about oils, how I got into this business or how we use young living products . Depending on what I talk about, to whom and the size of the group it can be easy or a bit nerve wrecking. But I don’t let that throw me off, even the greatest speakers need to prep, calm their nerves and to be the best they can be.
This month Young Living it’s biggest event in the Netherlands to date and I was asked to share my story which of course I love doing always that hoping that our story will inspire someone to not give up no matter what.
But … that doesn’t make it easier to speak in front of 400 people or so. I prepared what i wanted to say and wrote it all out, rehearsed, oiled up and still was afraid I would forget something vital I wanted to share.
Right before it was my turn, a few of my friends spoke before me, my nerves almost got the best of me. I literally thought, after standing on stage for 30 minutes waiting until it was my turn, that I was going to faint, until I got a hold of the microphone … and my blood rushed back and it was game on for me!
Turned out that that was enough to calm my nerves and do my thing, strange how my body relaxed at that moment. Which was strange since it was quite the audience, my friends, my family (husband & mom), my team, other team members, my colleagues and Gary and Mary Young, founders of Young Living. I was so lucky to have many of my tribe there supporting me and being my cheerleaders as always.
People listened, laughed, clapped and appreciated my talk and my cheat sheet remained safely in my pocket (you can see it on the photo below) so I could not be distracted and even though I forgot some things it was ok, my presentation was imperfectly perfect.
Again, as so many things in my life, this has shown me that even though something may be scary but it usually ends up being something great and if you can do something even though it scares you you can do anything. My mantra:
And until next time I will focus on methods to calm myself before I speak, finetune my presentation skills because I will do this again, scared or not, I will!
VERTALING NEDERLANDS:
Een groot deel van mijn werk is spreken in het openbaar, dit kan voor een grote groep mensen zijn of kleinere groepen. Vaak ben ik aan het uitleggen hoe je etherische oliën kunt toepassen, waarom ik ben gestart als zakelijk distributeur of welke producten wij in ons gezin gebruiken. Afhankelijk van waar ik over vertel, aan wie en hoe groot de groep is kan dit soms wat van mijn zenuwen uit balans brengen. Maar ik laat me daardoor niet weerhouden, zelfs de grootste sprekers bereiden zich voor, moeten hun zenuwen de onder controle krijgen om een goede presentatie te houden.
Deze maand organiseerde Young Living hun grootste event, tot op heden, in Nederland en ik was gevraagd om ons verhaal te delen. Dit vind ik altijd leuk om te doen, ik hoop altijd dat ons verhaal iemand inspireert om niet op te geven en door te blijven gaan om hun dromen te realiseren.
Maar … dat neemt niet weg dat het best wat is om voor ongeveer 400 mensen te moeten staan. Ik had een korte presentatie voorbereid, alles wat ik wilde vertellen had ik uitgeschreven, geoefend, ingeolied maar ik was best onzeker of ik het wel allemaal zou onthouden en niet iets belangrijks dat ik echt wilde delen zou vergeten.
Net voordat ik aan de beurt was, een aantal van mijn vriendinnen waren voor mij aan de beurt, werden de zenuwen echt wel een dingetje. Geloof me als je 30 minuten staat te wachten op een podium tot je aan de beurt bent gaat je lichaam echt tegen je werken en ik dacht letterlijk dat ik flauw ging vallen! Tot ik de microfoon in mijn handen kreeg … en het bloed weer terugkeerde en kon ik mijn ding kon doen!
{ filmpje }
Het bleek dat dat voldoende was om mijn zenuwen de baas te blijven en was ik weer mezelf, mooi hoe mijn lichaam zich letterlijk ontspande. En dat is best bijzonder want het was een behoorlijk publiek, mijn vrienden, mijn familie (man en moeder), mijn team, andere team members, mijn collega’s en Gary and Mary Young, de grondleggers & eigenaren van Young Living. Ik voelde me bevoorrecht om zoveel van mijn tribe daar te hebben om me te steunen en mijn cheerleaders te zijn zoals altijd.
Er werd geluisterd, gelachen, geklapt en ik voelde dat mijn verhaal werd gewaardeerd en gehoord en mijn spiekbriefje bleef in mijn broekzak (die zie je zelfs op de foto) zodat ik niet afgeleid kon worden en ook al vergat ik hier en daar iets het was ok, mijn presentatie was niet perfect maar perfect genoeg.
En wederom, zoals zoveel dingen in mijn leven, ook al is iets eng kan het zo’n geweldige ervaring zijn en als je je angsten kan overwinnen en het toch doen kun je alles. Mijn mantra
{ foto met quote }
En tot de volgende keer dat ik weer gevraagd word om te spreken zal ik mijn focussen op mijn presentatie skills, technieken leren zodat ik mijzelf kan kalmeren voor ik ga spreken. Want ik ga dit zeker weer doen, bang of niet, ik ga ervoor!
After choosing my OLW I have been thinking a lot what I nourish and want to share on of the things I do to nourish my relationships. With all our crazy busy lives we forget to send out sweet notes like in the old days, to show people we care, are thinking of them and how we appreciate them. Because we all know we don’t say it nearly enough 😉
These days we choose quick, easy & cheap messages via sms, messenger, whatsapp.
No surprise delivered by the mail man/lady; a thank you note, hardly any birthday cards, christmas or new years wishes.
I love sending out notes to my familie, friends and to my team, do this as much as I can and I encourage my team to do the same. And this year like the last we sent out New Years wishes to our team and are working on those for friends and family. After that I will focus on sending notes to all my members by the end of the month.
And I realise that a lot of people consider it a waste of money or better for the environment to go digital but lets be honest here, there are worse ways to waste money or to do harm to the environment…..
But showing people you really care, by taking the time to share that with them in a note, by sending a note brings great joy to them and to you. Trust me on this and think back to the last time you received a sweet card and how that made you feel …
NL:
Nadat ik mijn OLW had gekozen ben ik veel gaan nadenken over mijn woord nourish (voeden) en ik wilde met jullie delen wat ik doe om mijn relaties te onderhouden = voeden. Met onze drukke levens vergeten we vaak om lieve kaartjes te sturen zoals vroegah, om mensen te laten merken dat we om ze geven, we aan ze denken en dat we ze waarderen. Ik weet zeker dat iedereen het met me eens zal zijn dat we dat niet genoeg zeggen 😉
Tegenwoordig kiezen we voor snelle, makkelijke én goedkope berichtjes via sms, messenger, whatsapp. Geen verassing gebracht door de postbode; een bedankkaartje, nauwelijks verjaardagskaarten en de kerst en/of nieuwjaarskaarten worden ook steeds minder.
Ik ben dol op het sturen van kaartjes aan mijn familie, vrienden en mijn team, doe dit zoveel mogelijk en moedig mijn team ook aan om dit te doen. Dit jaar hebben we, net als vorig jaar, Nieuwjaarskaarten verstuurd aan ons team en zijn we druk doende met die voor onze vrienden en familie. Als ik daarmee klaar ben ga ik al mijn members een kaartje sturen voor het einde van de maand.
Ik realiseer me dat een hoop mensen dit zonde vinden van het geld, of dat het beter is voor het milieu om het digitaal te doen maar laten we nou wel wezen, er zijn ergere manieren om geld te verspillen of schade aan het milieu te veroorzaken ….
Mensen laten zien dat je om ze geeft, door de tijd te nemen om dat te delen in een kaartje en die aan hen te sturen geef je ze een warm gevoel. Geloof me maar en denk maar terug aan de laatste keer dat jij een lief kaartje kreeg en hoe dat voelde.
