Essential oils that made my life easier after Hurricane Irma.

The muggy weather, the heat, having to use a flash light to go to the bathroom, and automatically flicking the light switch on when there’s no power were some of the challenges left by Hurricane Irma. Luckily, for most of us in Florida that’s all we had to deal with.

I realized rather quickly that life without power for five days was going to be tough. I am 22 weeks pregnant and as my body is getting use to my growing baby. I am experiencing some tiredness, fatigue and back pain. Despite all of that, Irma left a mess for us to clean up and getting our lives and home back in order was priority. As I went through cleaning up and reorganizing our home, I found some essential oils that made all the difference.

These Essential Oils Stood By Me After The Storm

Lemon Essential Oil

Stinky fridge? Don’t despair, lemon oil works like a charm. After days of waiting for the power to return and then being told it will likely be the end of the week, our food spoiled. I threw away about 90 percent of our food in both the freezer and refrigerator. What was left was a yucky stench of rot coming from our fridge. I used lemon essential oil mixed with water to remove the odor and it worked. Lemon essential oil has strong cleansing properties. It works to disinfect surfaces and the air. The light citrus aroma left my fridge like new.

Melaleuca Essential Oil (Tea Tree)

Bug bites, oh no! Part of my clean up tasks after Hurricane Irma was raking up the debris of fallen leaves and tree limbs. As I was doing this, I didn’t realize that I had raked over a red ant pile. The burn and itch inside my gloves were red ants biting me. Within minutes, my skin was red, swollen and itchy and within a few hours I had small white pustules where the ants bit me. Since most of my oils were stored for safety after the storm, I grabbed what I had available and that was melaleuca. I applied it to my wrist and hand and it immediately stopped the itchiness. By the next day the swelling was down significantly and by the second day it was gone completely. This oil is a life saver when it comes to bug bites.

Petitgrain Essential Oil

With our family being hunkered down at home, petitgrain supported our family time together. This oil is about family lineages, history and ancestry. It invokes healing within the family, love and support. It helps us to see all the good things that family brings to our lives and especially during trying times like a hurricane when you lean on their support more.

Peppermint Essential Oil

Cool down remedy for no AC. Irma left us without air conditioning for five days. While five days may not seem like a long time, in the Florida heat it is a lifetime. My house got up in the mid 90’s during the day. It was so hot I had to sit in my car with the AC to cool down. I took about two to three cold showers a day to keep cool when I was home. But what really helped to keep me cool during the day was my peppermint essential oil. I applied some to the back of my neck and chest and immediately felt relief. I also wet my hair in the shower and applied a couple of drops of peppermint oil to my scalp. It’s cooling and invigorating.

Read: What Hurricane Irma Taught Me About Life

Frankincense

Find balance in chaos. Like many Floridians, my life after Hurricane Irma was out of balance. My home was a mess from moving furniture and packing belongings to protect them from potential water damage. My yard looked like our oak tree threw up and our routines were off, way off. Even my cats and dog could feel the unsteadiness in the air. I used my frankincense essential oil blend to root myself, to cheer me up, to help me find my zen again. And it did, it always does. I applied a couple of drops of it to my deodorant and also topically behind my ears and neck throughout the day. I carried this one with me when I went out to do errands too.

These essential oils made all the difference in getting my life after Hurricane Irma back to normal. Although the storm is gone, these life events can happen at anytime and having these oils with you when it does can make life flow a bit smoother.