Disclaimer - I'm not some pampered privileged princess. Groupon/Living Social/etc. has made monthly massage affordable for me - the only drawback is that these types of deals are usually good for one-time use only, meaning I'm seeing a different massage therapist every single month. This is not a concern for me as I can count on one hand the number of times I've received a bad massage.
However, it also means I don't know who is going to be working on me...
...and when I show up for my appointment and some dude introduces himself as my massage therapist, I'm all like:
Yes, I discriminate. I'm a terrible person. But here's the thing - I'm there to relax and feel better, and I have a really difficult time doing that with a male massage therapist. My mind immediately goes to every single flaw on my body. Stretch marks. Scars. Chipped toenail polish and feet that still haven't entirely healed from a poorly thought-out beach run.
The logical, rational part of me rolls her eyes at the self-conscious, insecure me. Deep down, I know my thoughts are ridiculous. Why would my imperfections bother him any more than they would a female therapist? If they did, wouldn't he just choose a different line of work? He probably sees a lot of "weird stuff" on all kinds of random people - my "weird stuff" doesn't matter. Anybody who goes into massage, regardless of gender, is probably pretty sensitive, cares about making people feel better. and - at the end of the day - is just trying to pay the bills like everyone else.
I've never had a bad experience with a male therapist, and last night didn't break the streak. Once I turned my irrational mind off, the massage was pretty amazing. Don't know if these are all massage-related or not, but I slept well last night, had a great run this morning, and am feeling really good today.
But the next time I have a male therapist, will I remember all of this or will I go right back to feeling self-conscious?
I need to get over myself.
73 days left.
Today's Exercise: First run in my new neighborhood
M1: 14:16
M2: 14;47
M3: 14:51
M4: 15:25
M5: 14:45
M6: 14:43
M7: 14:58
Breakfast
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Lunch
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Snack
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Dinner
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| HC Latte | Chili, coffee w/ cream | peppermint tea | chicken apple sausage, baby spinach salad |
I have had both male and female massage therapists, and gender doesn't matter to me as much as personality. I had a SUPER CREEPY guy give me a massage once and I hated it. But I had a regular male massage therapist for about a year, and he did a great job and never creeped me out.
ReplyDeleteI am very fortunate that I've never had a creepy massage! My worst massage actually did come from a female torturist I mean therapist... I never found out what I did to make her so mad at me.
DeleteI agree with Laura. I don't care about gender but I can't stand overly chatty or creepy ones!
ReplyDeleteYou are a step ahead of me...I can't make myself get a massage, period! I don't think I could turn off my insecurity.
ReplyDelete