My first massage - I’m booking an appointment for a second

I don’t like to be touched.

But through circumstance, I had the opportunity to have a massage.

I hesitated. Or actually I hesitated, made excuses, said I would make an appointment, never did, and then came up with other reasons why this week, or next week wouldn’t work.

I’ve always been very self conscious about my body image, so the opportunity to have a massage caused me great anxiety.

I found it hard to breath - just thinking about entering a massage clinic.

During the Holiday Season, as the fates would have it, I received an Academy Massage Therapy gift card from my work.

I told my family about the gift card, and tried to give it to one of them, who I thought would happily go, in my place. Families being families - they teased and even laughed at me - because they knew this is something which I had been avoiding for many years.

My fate was sealed.

However, even when that realization hit me, I wasn’t going to make an appointment right away. I delayed it, and delayed it.

But during this period, I thought about the whole notion of having a massage, and even checked out online massage videos on the Academy Massage website.

One evening during a conversation with a close family member who gets massages regularly at Academy Massage, she told me about how great if feels after a massage, and that I should, “Go for it!” This conversation gave me a boost!

With a lot of courage and a lot of anxiety, I called Academy Massage and made an appointment for a massage for the coming week.

The day of my massage, I thought about my upcoming massage all day at work.

And soon, there I was at the door of Academy Massage. I wasn’t sure if I should go in, or turn around and go back home.

I went inside, and walked up to the reception desk. A nice lady greeted me with a smile. She asked me if I had an appointment, and then directed me to have a seat, while she arranged for my massage therapist to meet me.

After a couple minutes, I was greeted by a peaceful, calm person - my massage therapist. I was guided to a room where the music was pleasant, lights were soothing. The atmosphere was peaceful.

After a brief consultation with the therapist, I was given time to change, and settle myself on the massage table. In a few minutes, I was ready.

The entire massage experience was healing. I felt my stress dissipating. I felt my body thanking me.

As I walked home after my massage. I was so relieved and so happy that I had experienced my first massage. Of course, my family chuckled when I told them all about it.

And, you know what - I’m going to start getting massages on a regular basis, because my first massage made my body feel so good.

This is a true personal experience. The name of the writer is being withheld by request.