Look! No Hands!

It being the crack of summer and my massage practice being filled to the seams, I decided to take 10 days off. Daring, I know, for anyone in private practice, but it was great.

For 10 days, no massages, no excess use of my hands and now, heading back to the office for another full slate, I am doing my back exercises in hopes I can keep it all working just right when I head back in.

Taking time for a vacation can be a big guilt trip for therapists. It can take years to build a decent practice, and sometimes it entails working through your weekends – a massage here and there on Sunday or Mondays off to keep the books full.

In my first five years of practice, I worked four days a week at a spa and spent my “off” days serving private clients. Trouble was, if the spa called me and I could fit it in, I would also work extra shifts. I was being a team player, of course, helping the manager avoid canceling massage appointments because of someone calling in sick on a weekend.

After 30 days with no days off, I took the daring step of saying no to some extra shifts. They managed to live without me, and I saw the error of my ways.

Then I took vacations fairly regularly, a week here and there, and used my time off to do massage related things such as attend conventions. I loved the classes, and I came back recharged.

As time passed, however, I felt less like immersing myself in c.e.u. classes on my time off. The true massage-less vacations began and I enjoy them.

A good friend in practice for more years than I explained the math to me: If you do too many massages in a week or a month, maybe that is fine. But let’s say you do too many massages in a quarter or half-year or a year?

My friend was seeing 35 clients a week. After a few months, he woke up one morning with no energy for anything. He dropped two of his side jobs and went with his own practice clients exclusively. It took him a year to recover.

Frying out is a danger to all massage therapists. Every person has their own personal limits, and before you reach them you may have no clue as to what those limits are.

As I teetered along the edge of burnout for a few years, I began to see no-work vacations as a blessing. Yes, leave a message that you are gone. It will be OK.

When clients come in, they notice you are fresh. And it is a great compliment when they admit two-timing you while you were off, and coming back because the massage elsewhere wasn’t that good.