As the holder of a B.A. in Women’s Studies, I find it very necessary to post that Betty Friedan passed away this weekend.
“A woman has got to be able to say, and not feel guilty, `Who am I, and what do I want out of life?’ She mustn’t feel selfish and neurotic if she wants goals of her own, outside of husband and children.”
Cute Overload has outdone themselves this time.
BABY SLOTHS.
Oh mah gah.
And this is ABSOLUTELY KILLING ME.
…to pursue a career in aromatherapy.
Back at the end of 2004 I earned a certificate in Aromatherapy from the Australasian College of Health Sciences after a year of study. It was a really cool distance learning course, and I learned a lot. Mainly that this stuff actually works. The chemical components in essential oils really have an effect on our bodies and can be used as a therapy for basically anything, usually in conjuction with or as an enhancement of western or eastern medicine. For me, the course was meant to be a complement to my candlemaking. I figured I would learn how to create blends, what scents blend well together, and what oils can be used to create a certain mood or desired effect (like lavender for relaxation, or peppermint for invigoration). That’s about as far as I thought I would go with it. And especially since I’m not really doing the candle thing anymore, I figured that was the end of it.
But this past weekend I was talking to my friend Maija, who is just finishing up school for acupuncture and Chinese medicine. She was telling me that after she graduates, she is going to work in a clinic and would like to refer clients to me for aromatherapy. “You wouldn’t believe how much people PAY for this kind of thing,” she said.
That got me thinking. I’m nowhere near the point where I would feel comfortable actually seeing clients and giving advice about using essential oils. But I could be. And people might actually want to PAY me to do it. I could have my own practice and consult with different clinics. And L.A. is the perfect place to do it - people love this type of stuff here.
So I called my school today and signed up for “Certificate in Holistic Structure and Function of the Body”. It’s a nine month long course that would start either at the end of this month (right now the course is full but I’m on the waiting list) or the middle of June. The course is an anatomy and physiology course and will (hopefully) teach me about how the different systems within the body work, and how they work together. It’s a much more scientific course than the one I took in Aromatherapy, but if I’m really going to do this, I need to understand more about the body and how the therapies I would be suggesting to people would actually affect them.
I’m really excited! I’ve been feeling kind of stuck lately. I like working for the judge and I love working at the perfume house, but I don’t see either one of those turning into a career for me, at least not any time soon. This is something that I really enjoy and I had never really thought about the fact that I could really turn it into a career. But after talking with Maija the other night, I realize that it could truly be a reality if I want it to be.
