The client wanders out of the treatment room, blinking into the light, eyes glazed and a vague smile playing on their lips and I think, \u201cGood job, me. Another happy client.\u201d And in that moment, they are. They say things like \u201cit feels so much better\u201d, \u201cthat was fantastic\u201d or \u201cI can get heaps more movement\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I go home and sleep the sleep of a satisfied therapist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, of course I don\u2019t. I\u2019ve been spreading the oil for far too long to fall for that. The post-massage glow sure is nice to see but that buzz lasts until I sit down to write up the treatment notes and have to think about what I\u2019ve actually done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not wanting to sound like a crappy episode of Sex and the City, steam rising from a manhole cover to the open window where I\u2019m sitting with my Apple Powerbook G3 pretending to type out some insightful contemplation, but \u2026 what am I really doing as a massage therapist? What does being a massage therapist mean to me and to the people who trust me with their most precious asset \u2013 their body?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the pandemic years, our industry has lost many fine practitioners: a retirement or career change brought forward; the realisation that massage therapy is not pandemic-proof; the lockdown-induced total loss of income; the conflict between personal beliefs and public health orders;\u00a0or simply a decisive blow to a career that hadn\u2019t been rewarding for a while. Aside from those brave individuals who knew when to call stumps, there were other massage therapists who went to very dark places to ponder their own future in the industry and asked themselves whether they should seek a career change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lockdown was the best place to contemplate what it meant to be a massage therapist. Was it still a sustainable career? Could the unpredictable nature of the industry, the unreliable income, the mounting requirements and, for some, the government mandates, be borne to stay in practice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I sat in that dark place. I looked at all of this plus the requirements I had to comply with and fund \u2013 on top of what I\u2019d already complied with and funded \u2013 and questioned my career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the problem was that lockdown was NOT the best place to contemplate what it means to be a massage therapist. It was too easy to focus on the negatives and forget the positives: the buzz of being a massage therapist, the funny moments, the reward from successful puzzle solving with a client, the times you got through to a client, when they understood your wacky analogy, and all the ineffable moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My apologies to Aziraphale and Crowley. There are times when words don\u2019t capture the feeling. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s some German word that perfectly encapsulates it but I don\u2019t know it. Therefore, I rely on anecdotes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n