“I CAN’T! We rent our home, we don’t own it, so I can’t install a hot tub, and it’s not worth the risk to book a massage in case I pass the virus onto my child. And I can’t ask my husband for a massage because he’s so burned out at the end of the day, too. Sure I could get sushi takeout but it’s not the SAME.”
On and on I went with all of my excuses which felt intractably real, bulletproof against her counters, and, frankly, demoralizing.
At the end of the session, we got off the phone and I felt deflated, defeated.
Feeling as stuck as when I started the call.
More in touch with my self-care needs now, but totally convinced that I couldn’t have what my body and soul were really craving.
Sometimes we tend to forget: we can be creative with our self care.
You see, it had been a hard holiday season followed by a long, cold January filled with many nights of broken sleep since my toddler was having a little sleep regression from potty training.
I was working about six days a week as my team prepped for a big project and I onboarded a new staff member at my therapy center.
My body felt cold most of the time since I work in my poorly insulated garage (ahem, converted pandemic home office) and I was TIRED and very in need of self care and physical comfort.
A little while later, after making some tea and feeling marginally better and marginally warmer, I went back into my “office.”
I sat down at my desk, at my laptop. I thought, ‘But what if there was such a thing as a temporary hot tub? That you could have at a rental home. Is that a thing?”
Onto Amazon, I went.
And my jaw dropped.
Inflatable hot tubs are a THING.
And not only was it a thing, but it’s a thing that apparently gets nearly four thousand raving reviews.*
CLICK. Added to my cart.
And then I thought, aren’t there things like electric hand massagers and foot massagers, too?
YES. There are. So I added them to my cart.
A few days later, my self care packages arrived.
Honestly, the foot and hand massager were flops so I sent them back.
But the hot tub?
Oh, my glorious, wonderful, transformative hot tub.
Aside from the $500 fee I paid as my Kaiser co-pay for labor and delivery of my daughter a few years ago, that was hands down the best $500 I’ve ever spent.
Since blowing it up and waiting for the water to heat up, I have been in that hot tub. Usually with my husband and daughter – every single day since. Without fail.
