When I was younger I’d keep a diary of my shenanigans, daydreams, and ramblings. Lately, I have been reminiscing about the good old days.

Yes, I love being a working mom. I love my job. I love my kids. But I also miss the days of being young, single, and sort of carefree—sort of, because I was always overthinking. I would pour my excessive thoughts into my diary. At bedtime, I found peace with myself, a pen, and my diary pages.

Fast forward to today: my late nights of solace have become late nights of catching up on an endless to-do list of work and parenting. This begs the question: what about me?

Under the endless pressure to be the perfect mother and businesswoman, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was alone in feeling this way. Thankfully, I discovered that I was and am not.

I used to worry that not only was I failing to do a good enough job at parenting, but that I wasn’t enjoying it enough. Double failure.  I felt guilty because I wasn’t in parental ecstasy every hour of every day and I wasn’t MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY MOMENT like the mamas in the parenting magazines seemed to be doing. I felt guilty because honestly, I was tired and cranky and ready for the day to be over quite often.

— 2011 LESSON #2 : DON’T CARPE DIEM, Glennon Melton Doyle

As boring as it sounds, as a mother, I recognize the importance of being a role model for my children. I prioritize conscious choices about my healthy and active lifestyle. To help lower my stress and improve my mood, I searched for a natural remedy that was not a recreational or pharmaceutical drug. I do not necessarily enjoy the “unwinding” that alcohol, marijuana, or other substances supposedly do for you. These things are just not for me.

I’m always looking for gluten-free, sugar-free, and plant-based food recipes. What we eat directly affects our bodies on a cellular level, which can improve or alter how we look and feel depending on the nutritional quality of our food. While looking for a salad dressing recipe, I stumbled upon a blog by a chef who is also a female entrepreneur. As I was reading her story on the Bottle & Stone website, I immediately resonated with their ethos. I was pleased to find a convenient format in the organic, full-spectrum CBD tinctures, which could be easily added to salad dressings, smoothies, and lattes. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed CBD oil drops for the very reason that it eases my stress, but not by making people high, like THC, it doesn’t induce a high. CBD helps me feel more grounded at any time of day. I can take it in the morning or at night.

Incorporating CBD into my daily routine has become something of a ritual that has rekindled my diary habit. CBD has helped me get my thoughts on paper again. It has helped me make time for myself.

Bottle & Stone
https://bottleandstone.us/