You ever been to a lovely shop on your high street and bought baskets full of lovely looking stuff that you can just imagine yourself using after work, at bedtime or at weekends to help you just let go, relax and forget about daily life, even just for half an hour? Yep, me too.
Or online?! I mean sometimes i think i should just buy some Amazon shares and just sit back and watch. We’re all suffering from one condition. Any ideas? Well, the answer is…. Life. Work, family, relationships, friendships, weight, Gaza (not Gazza btw, but i notice he was in hospital recently). I could go on. And on.
So what to do?
Keep shopping? Scour the drawer for purchases past? Will they plaster the wound that is, let’s face it, emotional overload from that little thing called Life?
How many times have you got back from work and sat down, stressed up to the eyeballs with another waking day’s worth of household tasks that need to be done but frankly you cannot be arsed?
Yep, almost every day this end.
So, what to do? The candles seem great but in reality they don’t really cut it do they? The joss sticks or whatever other scents you use may kind of relax you for a brief moment but are you actually feeling rested? Those things that you are responsible for are still their lurking behind the bathroom door aren’t they? It’s essentially a short snapshot of time where you relax to a point but there is still an elephant in the room. Life.
What the nervous system really needs to tackle that big old 4 letter word beginning with L is something not aesthetic you can buy from Boots or Ebay. It’s something that is natural. Think of it as a cue of safety, Everything is going to be okay. Think of that feeling when you are lying down, completely still. Just before sleep perhaps. It sometimes feels just wrong huh?
You start to drift off but your mind is going back to Janice saying something inappropriate and she’s a bit of a dick anyway and that kind of consumes you. You know it’s nonsense and is proverbial chip wrap tomorrow. But it’s there. If this doesn’t ring a bell, maybe it’s just me.
So what to do?
Well i could wax (we do that too btw) lyrical about lots of things that i read in glossies, overhear at the bus stop, in the gym. But guess what works for me? And everyone else i’ve ever met? Do you need a drum roll???
Touch.
The power of a hug, a kiss, a simple hand upon hand is the most powerful thing in your armory.
Have you ever been like so emotionally wound up that you simply can’t see a way out? You just see trees, not the wood. And then, gently, someone places their palm on your shoulder, or wraps an arm around you and you suddenly feel that whooooosh of relief and the emotion pours out? That, my friend is the power of touch. It can be your spouse, your granny or simply a stranger. Touch resonates with our emotions. It lets the nervous system stop shitting its pants and it’s almost like a problem shared.
That’s where massage therapy helps.
Massage isn’t a posh thing done by celebs or people from crumby reality TV nonsense. It’s essential to wellbeing. It grounds you. It relaxes you. It doesn’t leave wax on your tiles and it doesn’t make your bathroom smell like the ground floor of your local department store.
Massage therapy is not an indulgence, it’s the right choice to let your soul and your body slow down, reassess the things that feel like elephants in your bathroom and feel invigorated, encouraged and feeling that after all that rubbish that Janice spouts at work, LIFE is good.