Wait, Peppermint Oil?!?!?

I need to begin by telling you. I am not a peppermint person. I don't like mint chocolate chip ice cream, peppermint mochas, peppermint gum.

Don't even get me started on peppermint toothpaste.

So when I ordered my first <https://www.doterra.com/US/en/p/family-essentials-&-beadlets-kit>

Family Essentials kit, I figured it would just be an oil I gave to a peppermint lover. I know tons of those weirdos. And I sure wasn't planning on diffusing it with orange oil, because orange smells in the home smell like that cleaner my Mom used when I was a kid and THAT stuff makes me gag.

Literally.

But I'm a curious person.

I also have crazy sinus headaches from allergies in the fall. So I put a few drops of peppermint in my palm and rubbed my hands together. I inhaled the oil on my palms for two or three deep, yogic (but fairly skeptical) breaths. Then I rubbed my hands on the back of my neck, on my temples, and into my forehead and hairline.

The smell wasn't unpleasant. I mean, it's not my fave aroma, but I didn't hate it. What I noticed was that I didn't so much SMELL the peppermint. I FELT the peppermint. The coolness and tingling of the oil, the opening of my sinuses, the tension releasing. And a surprising burst of alertness, like those first few sips of espresso.

Huh?

Another night I had crazy burping and bloating from eating barley (because this genius holistic girl forgot barley is full of proteins my stomach HATES). I picked up the bottle of peppermint oil. I put a few drops under my tongue. I rubbed a few drops onto my stomach. And again, I FELT the peppermint. The burping stopped. The pain from the bloating dulled, and I felt the cooling, tingling, alertness. I not only didn't mind the taste, but I liked it. It felt FRESH and soothing on my taxed salivary glands and throat.

Now peppermint is one of the first things I reach for when I experience discomfort, be it headaches, stomach aches, fatigue, or soreness. I would much rather smell like pine forests or floral feels, but aromatherapy isn't always about the smell.

It's about how the oil feels IN and ON your body.

xoxo, Courtney