The Vampires of Massage
The massage industry is a meat grinder, the schools are a cancer, the mega chains are its necrotic waste and massage therapists are vampires leeching the life from our peers. This is a titanic problem.
If we want our industry to glow like the radiant rays of the sun, we must become the solution. Our professional organizations cannot fix the disease eating our industry. We must become paragons of excellence by exemplifying the virtues of empathy, humility, and creativity.
How is this achieved? We start by affecting the things we can change. As a culture we are lazy, self-absorbed, and broken. We believe we are owed more than we have earned; we are eager to make unreasonable demands; and we weigh the actions of others against impossible scales.
How can we expect our industry to improve when we are unwilling to see our own faults?
As massage therapists we are the problem, and our self-obsession is creating a cascade of unfortunate realities.
If we want our industry to glow like the radiant rays of the sun, we must look inwardly to realize our flaws. We need to search for the reasons our fangs are so sharp, and when we discover the cause, it will help us fight the desire to feed on the peace of others. This will free our peers from the venom of our brutal bite, encourage them to live without spite, and liberate our industry from misery.
Our professional organizations cannot fix the disease eating our industry, because they are not the ones hurting. The only way we can encourage meaningful change is by changing ourselves.
How do we transform our inner glow?
We must shoot for the stars, embrace the divine light of life, and transform how we share our suffering with others.
Our titanic problem is about to hit an iceberg, and we need to open our eyes to steer the ship away from the artic obstacle. The waters are already cold, and many of us feel alone. We need to tap into our wisdom, prepare the lifeboats and escape the suffering of our soul.
It is easy to get lost in the horrors of the past. Though there is a time, we do not have a place to share our feelings without poisoning our peers. The meat grinder of massage has a massive maw, and its fangs are venomous. Each time we are bitten we lose a little hope and over time we abandon our ability to cope.
Once bitten we lose sight of the vibrant glow of our soul. Each session becomes rote, and we lose the pleasure of our purpose. The meat grinder of massage chews up every shred of goodness we have until our heart implodes. We become a blackhole that leeches away the hope of those who come close. Darkness shrouds our existence as we fail to free our spirit from old pains. We start to dread each day and the goodness of the sun’s rays. Our vampiric ways sharpen our fangs, and the hunger of our broken heart eats away everyone’s hope.
This is a negative energy loop, and we need to stop it from repeating. What is the first step? We need a time and a place to share our horrors of the past, a space where we can express our feelings without poisoning our peers. The meat grinder of massage has a massive maw, but we can close its mouth. We can drain the venom from its fangs by encouraging each other to stand in the sun’s rays. We might not be able to cure the blackhole of every soul, but we can prevent new vampires from spawning.
How do we slip some light back into our lives?
We need support, and people who understand our plight. Sharing our agonies is not enough, we must have a guide who encourages us to see the bright side. We need an amazing guide who can be there for us as we slide from the light.
Once we have a place to experience peace our spirit can begin to heal. This alone is not enough. As we rest we need someone to stand by our side to help us close our open wounds. We need a mentor who can help manage the monsters who lurk in the shadows of our soul. Finding someone who can fill this role can seem impossible. This is because people who live with this purpose are diamonds in the rough. They are therapists who have been bitten by vampires, shredded by the meat grinder, and discarded like waste. These hopeful souls are more than broken bones mended with bolts and bars. Surviving the horrors caused by the cancer and necrotic waste does not forge us into guides. A hard life can teach us to advocate for ourselves, but it does not bless us with the divine drive to serve as a mentor. It requires a special spirit to rise from the ashes and fly through the sky. They must possess unlikely wisdom, peace, and inner harmony. Their existence has been forged in the fires of suffering and tempered with love. A mentor must be a paragon of excellence and exemplify the virtues of empathy, humility, and creativity. Their intentions must match their actions. They must embolden others to make the world a better place, inspire people to live with purpose, and encourage them to remember the joy of helping others. A mentor is more than a teacher, they are a guide and through their selfless sacrifice they are the only way our profession will survive.
Serving as a mentor is a lonely road with an impossible goal. When we embark on this purpose our soul bears the burden of everyone’s pain. We face resentment, jealousy, and apathy. Sometimes we are met with smiles and happy time goodness, but we are hated equally and the same. Eventually our glass shatters and our spirit breaks. This leads us astray and steals away the golden glow of our day.
Solving one problem leads to the need for a new solution. As we address the hardship of every massage therapist it creates new vampires we must endure. We can focus on saving our mentors and our beautiful industry by focusing on the source of our misery.
Simply providing a space for old wounds to heal is not enough to stop the terrible spin of our dizzying industry.
How do we stop spiraling out of control? We must focus on the greatest threat to our profession. After building a place to rest our weary eyes and hurting heart, we have to turn inward to slice away the disease eating our industry.
We are the disease. We are lazy, self-absorbed, and broken. If we want to save massage therapy we need to stop blaming everyone else for our woes. It is time to take responsibility for the choices and inactions we have committed to.
The world has a limited supply of mentors, and many of us will never meet one. We must become the mentor of our own mind. Our guide can be found within our inside zones. If we take time to listen to him, he will instruct us to pause, listen, and slowly think. He will ask us to consider the reality of others before passing judgement. His words will suggest we weigh the actions of others by the same scales and standards we hold ourselves to. He will grant us more wisdom than we will ever give him, and his wisdom will teach us to give more and accept less. His love will guide us to give goodness and to do the right thing without the anticipation of a reward. He will encourage us to refrain from demanding others to change, and instead inspire us to be an example of excellence.
