I’ve never thought I was particularly good at artistic things. I’m pretty sure I still draw like I did in third grade.
Finding art in my work
But over the past year and a half, I’ve started to recognize my work as a massage therapist as art. Everything I do at the massage table is creative: listening, feeling, responding to the person in front of me. There is knowledge and technique behind it, but how it all comes together is intuitive. Each session is different.
Until recently, I mostly thought of that creativity as something that happened when I was physically working with clients. Now I’m wondering: couldn’t that extend to how I run my business? And beyond that, couldn’t we look at our lives as art?
Learning, then finding our own way
I can take life a little too seriously at times. Owning a business, I often get caught up in the numbers, the marketing, and the day-to-day tasks. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking I need to follow what the “business model” says or what the marketing gurus recommend.
And yes, there is value in learning from others. If you want to paint, taking a class and learning the techniques can help. The same goes for cooking, working out, or running a business. But then comes the part where you get to explore, experiment, and find your own way.
Making room for inspiration
Some of our best ideas arrive when we aren’t trying so hard—in the shower, on a walk, or somewhere outside our usual environment. Something comes to us, almost by accident, and we follow it. I imagine many artists would recognize that feeling.
Even the recipes and routines we follow began as someone’s idea. Someone tried something, found that it worked, and shared it with others.
There isn’t one perfect recipe for everything. Sometimes following clear instructions is exactly what we need. But perhaps there are also places where we can give ourselves a little more room to be curious, trust what we feel, and create something of our own.
Your life as art
That’s what I’m inviting you to explore: your life as art. Read the books. Take the classes. Then bring what you’ve learned into your life in a way that feels right for YOU.
For me, this is showing up in how I run my business. Healing Is Allowed has grown to welcome new practitioners, each bringing their own experience, intuition, and creativity to the massage table. You can meet the team here. It’s a new chapter, and I’m allowing myself to explore what it can become.
