Your Inner Punk Rocker
I seem to be enmeshed in musical metaphors lately. In Jerry Kennedy’s blog titled, “Why Being a Non-Conformist Is Great for Your Business,” he talks about non-conformity and the importance of being true to yourself. So many of us play it safe, particularly in the name of credibility and acceptance. Kennedy shares how he’s struggled over the past several years to create his dream business—without reaching the levels of success he wants. In doing things the “right” way, he has stifled his creativity. He states, “And all the while I’ve been suppressing my inner punk-rocker.”
I too have been suppressing my rebellious nature. While not quite a punk-rocker, I am a rock-and-roll girl—literally and figuratively. Unfortunately, for the past couple of years I’ve been performing as a soft-rock player. And that’s not who I am. And truthfully, it’s that outspoken, funny, yet compassionate aspect of my personality that created my success. As I move into this next phase of my life, playing it safe is not the way to go!
For the past three decades, leaders in the massage industry have been working very hard to remove the stigma associated with massage and to depict therapists as “normal,” responsible people. In the zest to remove the “granola crunching” image, many practitioners have stifled a lot of their artistry. I think balance is in order.
How are you playing it safe in your practice? What aspects of your personality are you suppressing to fit in? Perhaps it’s time to let your inner rebel out to play.
ROCK ON! It wasn’t until I finally threw away my disappointing attempts to be a button-down, shut-up-and-sit-down corporate drone, that I found happiness and true success. I became a massage therapist and finally I worked and lived in a way that I can truly be myself. I can be professional, but I can also be off the cuff, candid, a little uncensored and not fear being shunned or pushed away. I can express my spiritual side and not be considered ‘weird’. I can load Metallica in my iPod and still have room on it for the meditative music I used to quite down and calm my clients. I can have my tattoos, my bold colors and wild prints and I am not afraid to stand out. If you fully embrace what you do without reservation, people will respond favorably to that. Live in full, bright color!
Right on Cherie! What attracted many of us to this field was a desire for authenticity, a need for expression of the true self. Most of us were, to use Jerry Kennedy’s term, “a little nuts” to enter a profession that was in flux, that had no benefits, no 9-5 structure. For some of us, even our closest friends may have had their doubts about our profession of choice. But as the saying goes, “those who danced thought to be crazy by those who couldn’t hear the music”, and it’s true, those on the outside – even our closest friends and especially those outside of our profession – cannot hear the music that is playing inside.So, Cherie, keep your “music” playing and keep dancing to it, you too Laura, and all of you out there who with your voices show the way to the new people entering the field.
Cherie, you go right ahead and unleash your Rock and Roll Goddess! I have to say I don’t suppress myself at all. Well, I do try not to cuss when I’m teaching a class, but other than that…not so much.
There are clients who will always seek out the white coats, and clients who prefer the crystal carriers. There are clients who feel better about seeing a massage therapist who is dressed in scrubs, and clients who would feel better seeing someone who’s sporting dreadlocks, dressed in tie-dye and barefooted.
I think there’s plenty of demand–and plenty of room–for all individuals to be who they are. Bear in mind that if you’re the tie-dye barefoot therapist, the doctors are probably not going to refer people to you–but the other hippies will, and the last time I looked, their money was worth the same.
I think image DOES have a lot to do with success. But it’s easy for us to forget that not everyone’s idea of success is the same thing. Some people think success is having a $100,000 a year (or more) practice. Some people think it’s a half-dozen clients a week and plenty of time off to go fishing.
If you have a goal that doesn’t let you be who you really are, maybe you ought to rethink the goal. Suppressing the real you in the interest of pleasing others usually winds up in an ulcer or just a plain old case of boiling resentment. I say embrace yourself, whatever and whoever you are!