Life Changes in the 1970s
Even though a horrible logging accident on February 2, 1973, temporarily put Gary Young in a wheelchair, he can now be found each winter still logging. However, now he is logging balsam fir, black spruce, blue spruce, pine, and other conifers that are then chipped and distilled for the production of essential oils.
My life changed on February 2, 1973. I was logging and a big tree came back and hit me on the head, altering my life and changing my destiny.
There’s a belief that we get to choose our direction and what we do. That may be true for most people, but for me it was not true. Because of this accident, my life was forced to change directions. I feel that I was driven into doing what I do today; and I know that as long as I was cutting trees, I wasn’t making much of a difference in people’s lives.
I learned about essential oils in 1976 when I was in a metaphysical bookstore, and the owner said, “Gary, what do you know about aromatherapy?”
I replied, “Oh, I have heard the word a time or two, but I don’t know anything about it.”
She said, “Well, I have some oils here; would you be interested?”
So I said, “Well, yeah.” So I bought four oils, took them home with me, and started working with them.
By 1978, two years later, I hadn’t really seen any difference with them; and by 1980 I’d given most of them away, bought a few others, and given those away, too. But I never saw any real difference, no real change.
So by 1981-82, I disposed of the idea and thought aromatherapy was just snake oil, that it was just for those New Agers, and that it had no value because it didn’t change anything in my life.
