Day 33: Pamper Yourself

A few years ago, after being beaten over the head with the idea that “you can’t love anyone else unless you love yourself,” I looked into the concept of “extreme self-care.” I think it appealed to me merely because it had the word “extreme” in it. And of course more must be better, right?

In reality, the sad truth was that I always put myself last. Except when I was putting myself first. I was either playing the martyr by not taking care of myself at all, or I was saying “FU!” to the world and focusing only on me.

Over time, I’ve gotten much better at balancing my needs with those of the people around me. Maybe that’s a function of my kids growing up or maybe it’s a function of ME growing up. But whatever the reason, I’ve vastly improved.

So I liked this challenge, and it came on a perfect day since I’d already scheduled a massage for late afternoon.

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For anyone who has never had a massage, you are missing a wonderful experience! I am pretty convinced that a lot of the aches and pains we suffer can be alleviated by simply getting a full-body deep-muscle massage once a month. Imagine how many pills we wouldn’t have to take, how many outdoor activities we wouldn’t have to miss, and how many sleepless nights we wouldn’t have if we just gave ourselves this one hour a month!

The first massage I ever had was in response to a literal pain in the ass. I had decided to demonstrate to my then grammar school-aged children how flexible I was despite my “advanced” age of 42 by showing them how I could put my foot behind my head. (Yes, I was sober when I did this.) The result was predictable. After several days of limping and having to lift my leg with my hands in order to get into my car, I decided to visit a massage therapist I knew from the gym.

She worked for a full session on the muscles in my butt, which were knotted and twisted in frightening ways. When she was done, she said I would be sore for a day or two but that the pain should be gone. And indeed, that was the case. I was hooked! (I also swore off placing my limbs in places God never intended them to be.)

Over the years since then, I’ve had a variety of massage therapists, some who worked out of a room in their apartment, others at high-end spas. Because I have a sedentary job, I get a good amount of lower back pain. That is also the spot where my stress tends to settle. For a long time, I’d wait until the pain, that great motivator, got bad enough to call and make a massage appointment. But over the past year, at the suggestion of a friend, I’ve made a commitment to monthly massages. This way, I can be proactive and hopefully shortstop the worst of the pain.

As always, my massage was fabulous and relaxing. Because my massage therapist and I are also friends, we spent most of the session catching up and chatting. Sometimes I choose to be quiet and use the hour for meditation, but today conversation was just what I needed, and I left feeling renewed, energized … and quite satisfyingly pampered.