Unfiltered

When I began crying while watching "The New Normal" and "Go On" last night (both of which are sitcoms, not dramas by the way), I realized that something was up. I may finally be having the emotional release the school warned us about when we started back in May. But it's not massage that's brought it on, or at least not specifically massage, but a combination of things. I recently began receiving acupuncture treatments last week and all of this emotional upheaval began shortly after my second treatment this past Monday. The first treatment last week had me feeling great and relaxed at first, then a little more melancholy a few days later, but it seems the second one stirred something up in me.

I've been going to a community acupuncture clinic, which is different in that you get your treatment in a room while resting on a recliner with several other people getting treatments at the same time. This usually means that there are only one or two therapists walking around and checking in on people and giving the treatments. On Monday, I had been sitting with the needles in for about an hour when I started to feel restless and wanted to get out of there. It took about another fifteen to twenty minutes for the therapist to make her way over to me to get the needles out. Since Monday, I have felt out of sorts to say the least. My massage practices in class have felt unfocused, I've had random crying jags, and I've just felt sort of introspective, unsure of myself, and exhausted.

There are a few other things going on that may be contributing to this. We've had a lot of polarity classes at school lately and a few of the moves have been particularly intense and/or painful for me, making me more aware of where I hold things physically and emotionally in my body. I also started a polarity liver flush drink on Monday morning. I didn't really notice much of a change from the drink, besides having to pee every 5 minutes for a few hours after, until I moronically went out for beers after class the other night (moronic drinking beer, not hanging out with my awesome classmates of course). That night, I kept waking up feeling super nauseous, and then I woke up the next morning with horrible stomach pains that lasted through the morning until I was able to down some toast and tea. This is not a normal reaction for my body to have after a couple drinks so it told me that the liver flush was actually doing it's job. I know it should be common sense not to drink alcohol while on a liver cleanse but I was too tempted by half off beers and good company to really think that one through. Sometimes you have to live and learn.

I have a couple of clients this afternoon in the clinic so I'm hoping that giving treatments provides me with some relief today and doesn't exacerbate things. Sometimes I go into treatments feeling tired and come out energized and sometimes I go in feeling great, and come out feeling off. I believe it totally depends on the clients and how much I feel like I am able to tune into them (though that can depend on the day as well). I've definitely had enough clients now so that I can sort of tell who I connect with and who I don't. I also scheduled my first yoga classes in months for tomorrow and Saturday and I know that I always leave yoga feeling better. And, I have another acupuncture treatment tomorrow. This reaction obviously means it's doing something to me so I think I need to keep it up for a while to see if I level out. I love the meditative quality even though sometimes it can be hard to sit with yourself for an hour when you're feeling ungrounded, which makes me sure that it's just what I need right now.

New Year, New Career

I know, I know...hey strangers! It's been a busy few months and a lot of changes are in the works for me, which I can finally talk about on this blog. A few years ago, I took this weekend massage course through continuing ed at UNM and just fell in love with massage therapy. Ever since then, I've kept it at the back of my mind as a potential career option. The only thing holding me back was my mortgage and my luxurious, shopping at Target twice a month, lifestyle. Since I took that course, I left one job and started another. After only a year at Leadership New Mexico, I have begun to feel burnt out on the job and know it's not for me in the long term. So...I have officially decided to go to massage school!

I am really, really excited about this new, and sure to be fun and interesting, venture. I put in my notice here at Leadership and my boss offered to keep me on part time while I am in school so I'll be the newly titled Marketing and Community Relations Director and my boss will be hiring a new Program Director to take my place in the planning and attending of all the sessions. My final session will be with our 25-40 year old class next week in Roswell.

It's a little bittersweet as I really do enjoy all the people I've been able to meet and all the things I've gotten to do at the program sessions, but I definitely will not miss all of the planning and work that goes into them. No more watching the clock and waiting for a speaker to show up 5 minutes before they're supposed to go on. No more last minute cancellations and replacements. No more dealing with caterers and other vendors who just don't bother to return my calls until a week before an event. In my new position at LNM, there won't be as many issues that are out of my control to deal with. I'm realizing more and more, that that's what I've hated most about my past few jobs, just not having control over a lot of my work and the things that come up last minute. I know every job has a little of this but I hope that pursuing a career where I can eventually be my own boss, will help me control the outcome of things a bit better. What can I say? I'm a control freak. 

I also love that my job will be about helping people relax and easing pain and stress instead of feeling stressed all the time. It's one of the healthiest professions too, because of all the physical requirements involved. I'm excited to finally get some strength in these arms of mine. In fact, I may need to start doing some exercises ahead of time to get ready. Physical exhaustion is so much better than mental exhaustion that keeps you up at night.

So, I've narrowed it down to a couple schools, but the one I am leaning towards, the NM School of Natural Therapeutics, doesn't start until May so I'm going to take the time to re-visit a couple of the schools, audit a class, and get a student and graduate massage. The runner up doesn't start until April I believe. I wasn't sure if I would be doing day or evening classes until my boss offered me to stay part time so I will be doing evening classes. I go part time at the end of February so I'm hoping to get a few short trips planned while I have some extra time on my hands. Though money is going to be a huge issue for me so we'll see.

That's pretty much the update for now. I'm definitely looking forward to future posts giving the inside scoop on massage therapy stuff. "Ranting" doesn't really go along with this new endeavor so I may need to change up the ol' blog title and give it a more serene look and feel. I'll stick to the 70's retro vibe for now though : ).