12/31/2023
If everyone could take the time to read this post, I would appreciate it.
Clients, potential clients, and anyone else who supports and follows this page:
Firstly, I hope you’ve all had a great holiday season, and are all looking forward to 2024.
This isn’t a post I thought I’d ever make, and while this is embarrassing for me to put out there, especially as someone who doesn’t deal with emotions very well, I thought it was necessary to get this off my chest.
It’s been exactly a year now since I took my first “break” from the office, which wasn’t a big deal at the time, but as most of you know, it has now turned into pretty much a year of absence on my end. When I was younger, I hit a rough patch in life when I had a couple of life changing incidents involving someone older and in a position of power over me. Unfortunately those incidents took place in a similar environment/atmosphere as my massage therapy office. It’s ultimately what led to me leaving school in the middle of grade 8. After a couple of years of therapy, I was diagnosed with PTSD. I eventually got past a lot of what I was feeling, and was eventually able to do my GED, and attend massage therapy school (something I would have never thought possible). Due to my past, every day since I opened my doors in 2020 has been a mental battle of convincing myself every day was going to be ok being inside a room with essentially a stranger (I’m really happy to say a lot of my clients are not strangers anymore, and I’d also consider a lot of them almost like friends). I’m not sure what exactly brought it on, but one year ago I started becoming physically ill before heading in to work. It was something I thought would eventually pass with time, which is why I took an initial month away, and changed office spaces to see if the new environment would maybe help. I was able to keep things together for 3-4 months at the new place before eventually my brain caught up to me again and I had to take another step back. Unfortunately taking time off kind of started a spiral for me, because I felt like I was letting everyone down. Putting my own health first wasn’t something I’ve ever really thought about until just recently, as at the end of 2022 I was seeing close to 120 people a month. I tried doing a lot of things to make myself feel better, some good, and some definitely not so good. Finally I decided to speak with my Doctor again at the end of the summer, and I do believe that I’m on the road to recovery again. I just wanted to put this out here to apologize to everyone for probably not handling this situation as well as I should have. Looking back now, explaining what was going on right from day one was probably the play, regardless of how scary it is to be honest about things like this. I’m trying really hard to get back, because I do love what I do, and all the people I see every day. I’m not yet sure what that’s going to look like, but if anybody has any suggestions on easing back in, I’d definitely be open to hearing them. I’m grateful for all the people around me who have helped me through this, and for the few of you that did know what was going on for reaching out with kind words. For the people who have sent messages and emails that weren’t replied to, I’m sorry, but I had to take this step back for my own good. I’m really hoping that 2024 brings me back to work. If anyone has questions or concerns, the best way to reach me right now is by text at (902) 315-1005 and I will try my best to provide an answer.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you can all understand where I’m coming from.
Noah
