Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/70065
I SURVIVED THE RECESSION Online Optimism www.compendium.com Inspired quote of the week. www.dailychallenge.org A place to share ideas for random acts of kindness to change the world. www.odemagazine.com A magazine on optimism and good news. www.thankgodi.com Resources for becoming grateful for your triumphs and tragedies. www.tut.com Thoughts become things; choose the good ones. NEW PERSPECTIVE Closing a business may not be the smoothest road to happiness or success, but it moved me toward both things a lot faster than owning the second spa had. It's been well over a year since I closed the spa and began traveling down the road to professional and financial recovery. If I had to sum up the theme of this era in just a few words, it would have to be "never say 'never,'" as I have taken on a number of challenges and activities I did not anticipate. In this changed business climate, it's important to be flexible when thinking about your business. Here are some examples of things I thought I would never do in my professional life, which instead reinvigorated my career, helped pay the bills, and/or altered my perspective: • Accept new massage clients (again). • Be an on-call massage therapist for a former employer. • Become a secret shopper. • Default on a business loan. • Look for a "real" job. • See clients on Saturdays (again). • Teach in a massage school (again). • Work for a consulting client—as a contracted massage therapist. • Work for a former employee of my spa—at her spa. On a personal level, I also had to re- examine my priorities, responsibilities, and "needs" in a whole new way. Some of the adventures I faced: • Learning to can and preserve food. • Looking for free plants on the Internet (and then digging them out of someone's yard). • Selling furniture and personal property on eBay and Craigslist. • Crying about said furniture as it rolled away from my house belonging to someone else. • Getting a prescription for Xanax (antianxiety medication). • Praying for lightning to hit my rental property. CLIENT TEACHERS Another shift in thinking for me came when I started doing outcall massages. Before the economy changed things so drastically, I had done perhaps five outcalls in the last 15 years. I absolutely hated dragging the table and myself into someone else's environment. I felt they took up more of my time and energy than they were worth. But last summer I got a call from a client and professional contact—a physician—requesting an outcall for his best friend, Norm, who was bedridden with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Something told me to say yes to this appointment, not just because I wouldn't need to bring a massage table, but perhaps because of the despair I heard in the doctor's voice on the phone that day. My visits with Norm were completely different than those I was accustomed to in my private practice. Having to work within the confines of a home-based medical setting, complete with a hospital bed, medical equipment, and a caregiver, was new for me. My own work style, body mechanics, and techniques all had to shift as a result, causing me a few aches and pains—physically and emotionally. But then I'd look over at my client, who in the span of less than a year had gone from being a successful physician and active outdoorsman to a man trapped in his house and his body. Seeing his atrophying muscles and sensing his deep levels of pain, depression, and resentment of his situation forced me to put my own problems into perspective. Comparatively, it was easy for me to tackle a few small obstacles to provide some much-needed relaxation and pain relief for this client. Working with Norm also made my business and financial issues seem insignificant, and it grounded me in a way I had not expected. Immediately after Norm's first session, the remaining sadness, grief, and anger 46 massage & bodywork november/december 2010