{Time changes everything}

The past 

The past few years have been very rewarding for me. Many changes have happened over the course of only a few months. This time last year, I had signed myself up for upgrading courses at SAIT in Calgary. I had decided that the world of massage just wasn’t cut out for me anymore. I had had enough. I was determined to move forward into a totally different career. I needed to find something that was quick, wasn’t gonna cost me an arm and a leg and that still involved a biology background, as all the other sciences make my ears bleed. So off I went in search of a new career. I had to start from the beginning which meant, high school 101. Math 10 and Science 10 were to first on my chopping block. I could do 2 courses per semester, as I only had minimal amounts of time with having kids and working full time. I endured 4  months of sheer pain. Mental exhaustion took over like I’ve never felt before. The amount of time I lost out on with my kids and my social life was depressing. Dinners? No thank you, I have to relearn the periodic table!

There came a day while at work that you might say I had a serendipitous moment. I noticed a posting for Orthopaedic Massage and a light was struck. What about ART®? I used to know a guy who made it as an ART® provider for other a decade, if he could do it why not me? No need to upgrade as I already have my massage schooling as my background. Mind you, I wasn’t getting out of the massage business but I could go far away enough from it to make a big enough change. Here’s the thing, after a decade of “rubbing” body parts, you get pretty tired of it. It’s not physically demanding as much as it’s the mental drain on your pschyce. How many times can I possible try and make these people feel better when they aren’t willing to help themselves? To be honest, the appeal of massage was lost once I realized that 90% of my clients didn’t want to put the work into getting better. They wanted me to do it for them! Tsk tsk, I cannot fix anyone in an hour when you sit all day and only see me once a month. I wish I could work magic, but alas, I am just a simple human.

ART® was my way out. It was something that I could make work. It would give a chance to work with people and clients who wanted to get better. Who wanted to see results and not just “feel good”. I wanted to make a difference in peoples lives, make them perform to their fullest potential be it through their day to day activities playing with their kids or training for a marathon. I wanted to shake them and tell them, that their health is in their hands and the only way to get better at anything is to keep learning and training for it. Don’t just give up. What kind of a life is that to live? I know I had great results from having ART® in the past and I wanted to share that with the world (or maybe just a group in Calgary). So I dropped out. I am a high school upgrading drop out. That’s right. I gave up chasing something I had no real desire for in the first place and put all my eggs in one basket and went to Colorado for my training. What an experience! The people I had the privilege of meeting and getting to know changed my life. The friendships you form with people under such stressful situations changes you. It makes you realize that everything in your own life is molded by your own hands. You are the keeper of your own destiny.

This was life for 8 days. And I wouldn’t change it for anything. 

The Present 

Forward to 2018, I completed my ART® training (with some hiccups along the way) and was ready to tackle on the this world which was so familiar and yet so different. The clinic I had been working at was more then accommodating to my interest in getting ART® services set up. I am most grateful for their support and understanding as I tried to get this new modality introduced to not only to my clients but new ones as well. I knew this would present with many new challenges, one being how to tell people about ART® and the many benefits versus the conventional massage or any other treatment out there.  Though I did manage to get clients in to see me for this new service, I started to feel stuck. Stuck in a place that I felt was like quick sand. The more I tried to get out, the more difficult it became. I knew I had to make a difficult decision. I had to start fresh or try and continue to crawl out of a place I felt was suffocating me. The reasons behind me getting my ART® was to finish with the massage aspect and move forward, learn and grow. After so many years, you simply just don’t want to do it. I know it’s hard for my clients to hear, but I simply lost the drive for it. Introducing a new approach to soft tissue rehabilitation was the next step for me. I had to do it for me. After all, what’s a life lived without fulfilment?

If it was easy, everyone would do it. 

I am moving on to a new place. Starting at the bottom and working my way up again. This time I have my mind set on new heights and I can’t stop till I get there. Resiliency is the one thing I have learned to tackle in my life and that stems from my life as an immigrant.  Starting new and working your way up is no easy task. I watched my folks make a life for themselves and for us and I plan on continuing. I need to set an example for my kids that nothing is this life is handed to you. You earn your way. Everything you do will either make you, or break you. But either way, you learn along the way.

So thank you to all my clients, whether you ever read this or not. But each and everyone of you have changed me for the better. To all those clients who made my work a misery, I thank you even more. For giving me more insight into what I really wanted to do with my life. Starting March 5th, I begin in a new place. A fresh start. I hope to see some of you, but I understand whole heartedly If I never see you again. ❤️!

meraki [may-rah-kee] (adjective) word used to describe doing something with soul, creativity, or love — when you put “something of yourself” into what you’re doing, whatever it may be