This was sooo good!
Self care is something I really struggle with, and from conversations I have had with other people that have or do suffer with mental health illnesses, it seems to be common place.
We don't look after ourselves in the way we advise others to. Its not we put ourselves second, its that we put ourselves third, fourth and fifth.
Plus, possibly misjudging this but Im not sure how 'manly' having a massage is? Personally I don't feel like I care, it wouldn't affect me booking. But maybe it has... it may have affected my desire to talk about wanting it and so indirectly prevented me from looking into this sooner. I don't know. Males, what do you think?
Having a massage is something I have only paid for once before and it was great. The time to relax and just shut down. However, I was a bit nervous my first time and ended up talking through most of it. It felt kind of awkward to take your clothes off and have someone else touch you and not say anything.
That first time was in a luxury hotel spa, so I really should have made more of it, but hey ho. This time it was as part of my crazy Groupon spend from a couple of months ago. I looked at some of the offers and was temped into doing some of the things I had wanted to do for a while but kept putting off. That evening I brought vouchers for the skydive (you can read about that here) and this massage.
Its fair to say these are... different. Though both were very cool to me for the same reason. I was doing them because I wanted to. Not because I had to or because someone had given me a gift card. I wanted to do / experience them so I booked. That was a very empowering feeling.
Once I had the voucher I did keep on putting off booking it. Again I think that lack of self care and almost not wanting to do something that was something nice, I guess you could say I kind of felt like I didn't deserve it.
After eventually booking and finding out exactly where the place was, I looked forward to it. On the day I managed to find free 3 hour parking too, so not panicking about getting back to the car.
When I arrived I had to fill in a form, which I am gradually getting less stressed about when writing that I am on medication. If only I could spell citalopram first time!
This was my second massage, but my first full body. I wasn't sure what the deal was with clothes, so I made sure to be wearing good undies haha. When I was called into the masseuses room she asked me to take my clothes off while she stepped out. I had to judge it. I was pretty sure she would have said jeans and top if thats all I needed. So I went for I'm meant to be naked (under the towel), gosh I didn't think it was going to be this stressful. I was right by the way, yay! Phew!
I wasn't sure if a full body was going to be a waste of time, as I really like and needed the back, shoulders and neck to get attention. Which I did mention to the masseuse before we started.
But I have to say having your legs, arms and face massaged is actually (surprisingly) very nice. It was super relaxing. I was in a kind of dreamy mood through a lot of the hour because of this.
I was advised after that my upper back could get a little stiff that night. She had removed some knots and eased others, but there were still plenty there. So having another massage in a couple of weeks could be good. Also using heat pads or hot water flannels could help to ease the muscle tension.
I was quite pleased she offered non 'come back give us more money' advise. Thats good customer service.
I would defiantly go back again, Puresun Health & Beauty Salon is not far for me to travel and the free parking is a plus. The original cost of my treatment was £40 which I wouldn't pay. Not to say its not worth it. Just for me, I wouldn't pay that for a massage. Through the Groupon deal I found I got this for £19 which is a price I would pay again for this service. In fact I would consider having one every month or so at that price. Its just looking around and seeing whats available. Like right now the offer is £29 for 45 minutes. Thats £10 more for 15 minutes less.
Have you had any great deals through Groupon? What do you think of massages? Have you ever had that awkward should I be naked moment?