(upbeat music)
- Hi, everyone.
Don't mind the people in the background.
You're watching the artist at work.
We are getting ready to film our video tomorrow.
So looking forward to that, and I hope you do too.
So today I wanna talk about burnout.
Burnout is the reduction of a fuel
or a substance to nothing through repetitive use.
And that's exactly what we do
to our bodies and to ourselves.
We keep going and pushing ourselves
and keep going until we have nothing left to give.
So today I'd like to talk a little bit about that,
about some of the signs of burnout,
and some of the solutions that you can have
because trust me, I've been there.
I've burned out before after so many years
of being in this profession,
there are times where I have burned out myself.
One of the things that I can tell you
is to really listen to your body.
Your body sends you signals when you're starting to burnout.
Burnout doesn't happen from one day to the next.
It's progressive, it's an accumulative effect.
So if you've been grouchy,
or if you are not sleeping right,
if you have insomnia, if you're not eating right,
if you don't have any energy,
and you just feel like you're dragging
every morning to get up, and you dread going to work.
I know one for me was very important
is when I thought of a client as I have to go
in today because I need to make that money.
That's when I knew I was burning out
because I never wanna see a client
as just somebody that pays me,
and that's all I want as an exchange from them.
That would tell me that
oh, I'm really running low on energy,
I'm really not enjoying my job anymore.
So that's when I look at myself and say,
okay, something's gotta give here.
I need to make adjustments,
and I need to have more balance in my life.
If you've got any of these signs,
that you have insomnia, or exhaustion, or moodiness,
or if you have a bottle of wine hiding in your cabinet,
you know it's time to reevaluate yourself
and reevaluate what you're doing.
So some of the solutions that I'm gonna talk you through,
consider some of 'em, you don't have to do all of 'em,
but I would combine two or three.
So the main one for me is exercise.
Exercise is really good for your endorphins,
it really helps you relax.
I like to personally like to walk outside.
I love to breath in that fresh air,
and that really helps me to relax and to sleep way better,
so right there, you're getting two in one
'cause you'll be able to sleep better just by exercising.
And any kind of exercises that you like,
please tailor everything to you to what you like.
I could be yoga, it could be Tai Chi,
it could be going to the gym.
Whatever it is that you enjoy,
you must enjoy the exercise.
Don't think of it as oh, one more thing
to do that I can't stand.
Another thing that you can do for yourself
is something simple is take a bath.
I know there's some things that you say,
oh, I can't do that because I don't have the time,
exercise takes a long time.
Well, you know what, take a bath.
Enjoy, have time for you.
Another one is take a day off.
I know that most of you will say
no, I can't even do that 'cause I can't afford that,
or I have to work, but if you can take one or two days off,
I guarantee that you're gonna feel way better after that.
Something else that I've done in the past
is set boundaries with people and boundaries
with the people that I let into my life.
I don't want somebody that's gonna drain my energy
physically, mentally, spiritually,
and as it is, what we do is already very draining
because we are there for our clients,
and we must stay within our scope of practice.
I can't emphasize that enough.
Remember that our job is just to listen.
We don't have solutions for their problems,
we don't try to fix their problems, we just listen.
But we're like the hairdressers, we hear everything.
More than even we wanna hear,
sometimes we do, we listen to them.
And on top of being physically demanding,
it's emotionally demanding,
and sometimes spiritually demanding.
I'll tell you some of the clients
I have gotten to be a little difficult for me,
and those are the clients that I've had
in the past five years that have had cancer.
I had one, an 18-year-old, that had cancer,
and I saw him go through chemo.
He was going, coming here, I'm sorry,
every two weeks, and it was the only
thing that alleviated his pain.
So I saw him go through all that.
And thank god he's alive and thriving,
even has a girlfriend now.
But watching him go through that was difficult.
I've had other people that have gone through
cancer, and chemo, radiation.
Other clients, and it is draining.
So you really have to be in a good place,
you really have to take care of yourself.
You it to yourself and to your clients
to stay healthy mentally, physically, spiritually.
Another one is watch how many clients you do a day.
Some people can do eight massages,
which I don't know about that,
I was never one of those that
could do eight massages a day.
Six was my limit, and now I've had to cut back some
because I'm so active with teaching
and other things going on in my life
that my six might be somebody else's four,
or my six might be somebody else's eight.
Tailor it to what you can do.
Set boundaries, what's right for you?
Don't compare yourself to other massage therapists.
Some people may be able to do more,
but maybe you've got so much going on at home,
maybe you're a single mom,
maybe you've got parents that you need to take care of,
so please don't compare yourself to anybody else
and do what's right for you.
Another thing that I've always
done is changed my room around.
I was at one office for 18 years.
Imagine being in the same room for 18 years, people.
That's a long time.
And it would drive me nuts
if it stayed the same for 18 years.
That's not me.
So what I did is I would switch it around.
I would sometimes I'd paint the room a different color,
or one wall, or put a fountain.
I remember one time I had zen style,
like oriental furniture and oriental paintings.
Another time it was Native American.
Another time it was a fountain and plants,
so switch it around, make it you,
figure out what works for you and how it's your space.
It can be your sanctuary.
Your going to work should be about relaxation,
about recharging yourself and others.
Remember that we're not the miracle,
the miracle is the body itself.
We're assisting the client to heal,
we're assisting their body to heal.
We're not doing anything great,
it's the body that's doing the miracle.
So please keep your ego in check.
All of us have to do that once in a while.
I know we all love what we do,
and that's why we're in this profession
because we like to help people.
We like to really help somebody feel better,
better leaving them when they came in.
Take care of yourself.
Another one is get a massage.
I am so amazed after all these years of how many
massage therapists do not get a massage.
I really don't understand that.
I've always gotten a massage throughout the past 30 years.
And I didn't, I can honestly tell you,
maybe I've paid for a handful.
I always trade it, I always found somebody to trade with,
whether it was once a week, every two weeks,
even when I traveled.
I can tell you I've met massage therapists
in Denver, Dallas, Austin, San Diego,
everywhere I would go, I would look up
the ten best massage therapists,
and call 'em up, call 'em up!
Say I'm here from out of town,
I would love to trade a massage with you,
this is what I can offer,
this is the type of massage that I do,
and most of them were really eager.
I can tell you I traded in every one of those places
with everybody in every one of those cities.
Some people might tell you no, they're too busy,
they're not interested, but if you go down the line,
I'm sure you can find someone to trade with.
Please, if you're a massage therapist,
we all need to be reminded how good it feels
and what our clients experience.
It's very important that you also take care of yourself,
and trade and get a massage.
You're important, what you do is important.
'Til the next time, create a good day.
(upbeat music)