My Therapist Made Me Schedule A Massage
I was running late again. Coming into the parking lot on two wheels, I careened up the stairs, plowed through the door and landed on the couch like a sack of potatoes.
I see a therapist. I am the first to recommend getting on one’s books as it took me entirely too long to board the mental health train myself. Fellow entrepreneurs, listen up. If you often feel like your engine is ready to blow, read on but first repeat after me: “Enlisting the help of a professional is ok. Enlisting the help of a professional is ok.”
Great, now that we have that settled, ginger coming in hot! At my last appointment, I barely had a chance to sit down before the floodgates opened. Between bleary apologies and fragmented sentences, I managed to get out my profound feelings of despondence. I was losing steam and, quite frankly, it was scaring the bajeezus out of me.
Coming up on Front & Center’s third anniversary, I am no stranger to the hustle. Long hours and hard work don’t scare me. In fact, I get off on a challenge and feed on moving a mountain or two before lunch. I pride myself on the scrappy sprint all in the name of my clients’ success.
The fear, though, creeps in when my stamina wanes. It may start with a curt email getting under my skin or a struggle to rally for the next task on my to-do list. Then, like noticing someone smacking gum, I can’t ignore it – from zero to 60, everything snowballs and starts to feel hard and heavy.
This is when I get scared. Because as an entrepreneur and a business owner, if I go down the operation goes down with me. Cue dramatic ball of flames ending with a mushroom cloud.
So, back to being unhinged on a couch somewhere, I was fully expecting my therapist to reach for the horse tranquilizer when she looked me square in the face and asked, “Mary Beth, when was the last time you took more than a couple hours to do something significant for yourself?”
“Not to clean the house. Not to squeeze in an oil change. Not to get a workout in. Not even to power nap. Just to unplug, relax and reset all by yourself.”
We sat there in what felt like eternal silence while I tried to scrounge up something. The best I came up with was a girls’ trip to Sedona back in March. MARCH! Five months ago, people.
As the moment fell, she pulled out her laptop and walked me through finding, selecting and booking a massage (…and a facial, because YOLO!) in the next couple of weeks. Just the act of blocking off a pinch of me time on my color-coded Google calendar brimming with a plethora of obligations and asks felt empowering.
You heard me. I felt powerful. With no more than a little treat to look forward to, I took back control and chose to care for myself.
I know that I am at my best when I am rested, relaxed and recharged. I suspect you are too. So. Book your massage. Take the afternoon. Go away for the weekend.
We are in this for the long haul, friend, and I (along with your clients!) want you in fighting shape.
If you want to learn more about Front & Center and our swiss army knife approach to small business branding, let’s connect.