A long, long time ago (great, now I have American Pie in my head), I used to be in constant pain. Now, a weird thing happens when I say that: most people take this as a challenge. People start competing with their own stories of pain. Let me assure you of two things: I don’t doubt that you might have worse pain, and two, the pain was genuinely bad. I would regularly burst into tears because the pain was too much. I would have to sit down while waiting in line (standing on cement made it unbearable). It was nearly impossible to focus on anything but the pain. I couldn’t sleep. I had very little energy.
At first, when I started getting massages, it would make it worse. It’s almost like my body had developed its own weird protective posture, and moving my muscles to where they were SUPPOSED to be just made the pain worse. It took a while to get my body used to this new way of holding itself.
After I started this business, I got the very strong impression people really expected me to be in good health (weird, huh?), so I started getting weekly massages. Not all of the time – life happens. But mostly, I get weekly massages, and now, when the therapist asks “what are we working on today?”, I reply – oddly, with a little bit of embarrassment, I must say – “just the same old. Just want to stay pain-free”.
When I get that familiar pain now, which is very rare, I can’t believe I endured it every day. It is unacceptable to me. And really, prolonged physical pain should be unacceptable if it can be abated.
Do you need weekly massages? Probably not. I have a few conditions (scoliosis and an extra rib) that create the pain, and these issues aren’t something you can “fix”, so pain management is a long term commitment for me. Most people, who just get strain from overexertion or tension from bad posture or repetitive motion, can absolutely get away with monthly massages and be totally happy. Most people also don’t work in the same office as 4 amazing therapists. I realize I am lucky.
But for this girl, weekly massages are one of those luxuries that keep me happy and relatively pain-free.