The Truth Behind Nadurra - My Scent Story

People often ask me why I started Nadurra. The truth is, it didn't begin with a business. It began with survival.

There was a season in my life when chaos wasn't an occasional visitor, it became my daily reality. I was supporting my husband's daughters in the United States, fighting to save my son from cocaine addiction, helping my mother through illness, advocating for my father as he battled the aftermath of a brain hemorrhage, checking in on my papa who lived close by, trying to be a wife, raising my youngest son, running a business, and attempting to hold everyone together.

Somewhere in the middle of taking care of everyone else ... I disappeared. There was no room left for Mel. That thought simply didn't exist. Like so many women, I believed that if I just worked harder, loved harder, gave more of myself, somehow everything would be okay. Until it wasn't.

Eventually, the house of cards came crashing down. I couldn't keep all the balls in the air anymore. My nervous system reached its breaking point. I remember sitting there completely defeated when my dearest friend, my brother, called me and with great intent said to me "Mel... you're out of time. You're out of money. You're out of resources. You're out of talent. You're out of knowledge." I know in my heart, he wasn't trying to hurt me. He was trying to help me to pave a new path forward. But, the truth of the matter was, I had given every single part of myself away. There was nothing left.

And in that moment...

I broke.

Not the kind of cry where a few tears roll down your face. The kind that comes from somewhere so deep your body simply says, "I can't do this anymore." Suicide was a constant thought, but how or why would I give up? I knew deep down, there was more to life than all of this total chaos. I had to put these comments in a box, lock them inside and keep on fighting. I had a child to save, a business that was falling apart at the seams because I could not focus on it, not enough energy to help everyone around me, although I continued to find the resources to do so. 

The hardest part of all of it was my son. Poisoned by an addiction. Held in the grips of displair, lonliness, fear, panic, and complete helplessness. Judged by most, loved by few in this state. It became a powerless struggle to keep him safe. 

Unless you've walked beside someone you love through addiction, it's impossible to understand the fear that becomes your constant companion. Every phone call makes your heart race. Every knock at the door steals your breath. Every night you wonder if they'll still be here tomorrow. What broke me almost as much as the addiction itself was the system. The lack of mental health and addiction support available to families in Manitoba is heartbreaking. Parents are expected to navigate one of the darkest experiences imaginable with very little guidance, while being judged every step of the way. Being told by medical professionals that cocaine is a luxury drug and its not something they deal with in urgent care centres. This was no luxury in my life!

People told me I was enabling. People told me I needed tough love. People told me to let go. It was so difficult listening to the advice of others, including my family members who sat in judgement. Albeit, they were helpless too. But, I was not prepared for their useless advice, I was walking in the death zone, trying to keep my son from being consumed by the demon that was fighting so hard to keep him. 

To them I say this...

Walk a single day in my size six shoes before you judge. Stand where I stood. Love your child while watching them slowly disappear. Wonder every morning if they're still alive.

Then tell me what love should look like. I chose love. I chose to answer most phone calls. I chose to show up. I chose to give every ounce of energy, every spare minute, and every last dollar I had if it meant keeping my son alive. I gave it all, and I would do it all again.

Because today...

He is alive. He is safe. He is healthy. He is rebuilding a beautiful life. He is still my boy.

And addiction can be overcome. But somewhere during that fight, I almost lost myself. A mental health professional introduced me to something called the Five Second Rule. She handed me an elastic band and suggested I wear it around my wrist. Whenever my mind spiraled, I was to gently snap the band to interrupt the thought pattern and bring myself back to the present. Little things, like when his ring tone would start, would cause my nervous system to react. Panic for what was to come. Snap, Snap, Snap ... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 became my ritual. 

It worked. For a while.

Those few seconds gave me just enough space to catch my breath. But eventually, I found myself snapping that elastic band dozens of times every hour. Five seconds wasn't enough. The interruption ended, and my mind went straight back to chaos. That's when I realized I didn't need another distraction. I needed an anchor.

I've worked with essential oils since 2016, creating blends and helping others experience the beauty of aromatherapy. But for the first time, I stopped asking what essential oils traditionally did. Instead, I asked a different question.

How can scent help someone feel safe?

How could I create something that held me for sixty seconds instead of five? Something that gave my nervous system enough time to remember that I wasn't in danger. So I began blending. Testing. Breathing. Learning. Again and again.

Until one day...

I created Anam. Scottish Gaelic for soul. I needed exactly that, a moment for my soul to be rooted and stable inside and around my physical being. 

The first intentional inhale changed everything. My shoulders softened. My breathing slowed. My racing thoughts became quieter. Every inhale held me longer than that elastic band ever could. That single moment became the beginning of a completely different journey. It led me to discover aromachology - the science of how scent influences emotion, memory, behaviour, and the nervous system.

I realized I wasn't creating aromas. I was creating feelings.

That realization became the foundation of Nadurra. And I wanted to share it with the world. Every blend I make begins with a single question.

"How do we want someone to feel?"

Because I know what it's like to feel completely lost. I know what it's like to wonder if your nervous system will ever find peace again. And I know what it feels like when, for just one intentional breath... You remember that you're safe.

That's why Nadurra exists.

Not simply to make beautiful products. But to create moments. Moments of calm. Moments of hope. Moments of grounding. Moments that gently remind us of something we often forget.

Wellness is Within

I invite you to stop by for a conversation, a breath, a moment in complete peace. Because that is why I created Nadurra - for you to Pause. Breathe. Enter and Become YOU again.

Thank you for this moment of vulnerability. I welcome yours and send you many hugs and much love. xoxo

Mel