I'm in what feels like a very poignant transitional period of my life: leaving my 20 year career in IT to start a massage therapy business.
When I was told my job was at risk back in January 2023 (on my husband's birthday of all days), people said it would be the best thing that ever happened to me. Did I believe them? Of course not.
I can't quite remember when the light bulb moment happened, but I'm totally indebted to whatever it was that inspired me to start looking at sports massage therapy courses. That "whatever" could have been my total obsession with running, or perhaps the injuries it caused that sent me hobbling to the nearest soft tissue therapist. Since training for, and running, my first marathon I found a whole new level of appreciation for what your mind can make your body do, and how it adapts to the pressure you put it under (or sometimes not so much, hence the injuries..) As Marty McFly once said ;
If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.
I'll never forget the the pure elation I felt during the last mile of my first ever 20 mile training run. For those of you who have followed a marathon training plan, you'll know this is usually the longest run you'll do before your three week taper. I had Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" on repeat for the last 20 minutes of that run, and as I ran the last stretch towards my house, I just couldn't contain the emotion - I was singing at full volume, waving my arms around, just pure elation because I knew I'd done something beyond what I thought was possible for me. And then there was running the actual marathon in London...... I digress.
Maybe that "whatever" was my desire to help people keep their amazing bodies doing amazing things. Because we all know exercise is good for your body and unbelievably good for your mind.
Whatever my "whatever" was, the impatience in me wanted to train in something that wouldn't take three (or more) years to get qualified because I had already decided that I wanted to ditch the office for a therapy room (or muddy field in some cases) and get Endorphin established. It's obviously going to take a lot more than three years to be as good as I want to be, but my Level 3 diploma in Sports Massage Therapy (via Sports Massage Academy) was a very good place to start, and I've already got Seated Acupressure Massage and Myofascial Release therapy (which needs a blog of its own - just incredible results) under my belt.
I often think about how I wished I'd made the move sooner, about how experienced and well-established I'd be if I'd ditched the office 10 years ago. But it doesn't work like that, does it? I needed to experience the elation of that 20 mile run, and the IT band syndrome that led me to that first sports massage, to put all the pieces together and make a plan. So I'd genuinely like to thank LV for their 13 year chapter in my life, and for making my role redundant, because, sadly, I don't think I'd have taken the leap otherwise. And best of all? The Bournemouth-based insurance company is letting me use their on-site therapy room to provide treatments to their staff, so I expect my seated acupressure massage will be pretty popular in that corporate setting. Sitting at a desk all day is not what we were designed for and it certainly takes its toll on our body, particularly the shoulders and neck, which are a huge focus of the acupressure massage.
I'm already going from strength to strength, getting incredible feedback from my clients which keeps driving me forward, and for the first time in my life I can say I actually love my job.
Don't be a drag, just be a queen 🎶
Can't listen to that song without picturing the traffic lights near my local Co-op. Love it.
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