What do you think when you hear the term “self-care”?
Bubble baths and facials, right? That’s what I used to think. Other descriptors that came to my mind were pampered, selfish and indulgent. I even thought that self-care was a sign of weakness or, at the very least, could make me weak. But I was disabused of these notions as I prepared for the virtual self-care event that Krista Dicks (RadicalRMT) and I are hosting on April 9th, 2022. What I learned in my preparation for the event was that self-care is more than feeling good. When self-care is done with a plan in mind, it’s recharging, rebalancing and sometimes life-changing.
Not a Self-Care Hater
Okay, so why is someone who is not so big on self-care co-hosting a self-care event? First, I’m not anti-self-care. I’ve always seen the value of self care in certain situations. In fact, I have spent a significant portion of my massage career helping massage therapists take care of themselves inside the massage room so that they can massage pain-free.
The challenge with self-care for me was when I stepped outside the massage room. Outside the massage room, self-care was less important because I didn’t see the benefits. But then over the course of a year as I prepared for this self-care event, two things happened that have forever changed my view of self-care. First, Dr. Ken Martz showed me how to meditate.
Meditation Changed Me
Meditation was always something that I wanted to try, but there was a big intimidation factor here. One, I thought I had to be the Dali Lama to meditate, and, two, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to quiet my mind at all. But Dr. Ken, who not only knows everything there is to know about meditation, also, knows how to teach it. He made it so simple for me and framed it in such a way that I couldn’t fail. And I didn’t.
When I consistently practice meditation I feel less frazzled, more focused and happier. The happier part to me is intriguing, and I think it has to do with the fact that when I meditate, I’m less reactionary in life. Here’s an example of how that looks: Rocky, our rescue Siamese, chases Sofie, our rescue white and grey. My reaction is red—kill Rocky. When I don’t meditate, I yell at Rocky. When I meditate, there’s a split second where I see how I’m about to react, which provides me the opportunity to decide how I want to react. This element of control allows me to be the person I want to be instead of the person who is just reacting all the time. That makes me happy—and Rocky, too. By the way, Dr. Ken is going to be teaching this “easy way to meditate” at the event.
The Self-Care Prescription
The second thing that changed my mind about self-care happened when I was reading Dr. Robyn Gobin’s book, The Self-Care Prescription. There was a line in that book that stopped me dead in my tracks. She said that self-care doesn’t always feel fun or relaxing. Wow. I thought about all the times I saw clients over and above my normal workload because I felt bad that they were waiting to get in. And I thought about all the times I said yes to something that I didn’t want to do because I didn’t want to disappoint people. What if I had said no? What if I had stuck up for myself and had my own back, or as Dr. Robyn says “be my own best friend”? I started to imagine how my daily life could be different and right then I realized that self care is not fluff. It can be hard, challenging and confrontational, but at the end of the day, it has the potential to make me a kinder, more productive and happier human being. By the way, Dr. Robyn will be presenting “How to Be Your Own Best Friend” at the event.
So that’s my self-care journey to date. Admittedly, it’s not so pretty, but it’s moving in the right direction, and I’m committed to growing and learning and sharing. To that end, I invite you to be with Krista and me at the 1st International Take Care of You Event for Massage Therapists.
This is our website: MTRevolution
The Event page is here.
You get an additional 25% off the regular ticket price if you use this promo code PainFree25.
Regular price is $97.
Early-bird ticket is $72.75 (through March 31).
Early-bird and PainFree25 promo code is $48.02.
Hope to see you there!
