Mary, Dave and their two boys, 14 year old Josh and 10 year old Nate, were going through some rough times. They were barely scraping by when both of them had jobs, but Dave, a construction worker, had been recently laid off. That put a horrible financial strain on them. Mary’s job as nurse’s aide in a local nursing home coupled with Dave’s unemployment check just wasn’t enough money. By the time the rent and utilities were paid, there was barely enough left over to buy enough food for the family.
They knew if something went wrong with the car or if Mary got laid off, it would be disastrous. They could end up living on the street.
Their financial woes were putting a serious strain on their relationship. Dave was depressed and grumpy. Mary tried to keep a positive attitude, but each day it grew more difficult. Her stress level rose and was fast becoming unbearable which had a negative impact on her job. She knew she needed to do something fast or she was at risk of getting fired.
A coworker nurse friend suggested that Mary take an hour each day to relax and rejuvenate. Out of desperation, Mary decided to try, though she had no idea where she was going to find an hour of free time. Between her job, taking care of the household chores, trying to shore up Dave’s mood, tending to the kids, there just wasn’t a lot of spare time left in her day.
Finally she landed on the idea of taking an hour on the evenings she didn’t have to work.
The boy’s bedtime was 10:00. Dave would still be up, but involved in a TV show. Mary decided that was the best time to grab an hour for herself.
The next question was how to spend that precious hour. There were so many lovely spa products to buy, but she couldn’t justify spending the money. She didn’t feel right even using an egg to create a face mask. So her spa experience was as simple as it gets, but what is important is that it was effective.
Mary went to the library and checked out a book on self massage. She used the techniques she learned from the book to give herself a massage then took a nice hot bath. That was it. No more.
Impressed with the results of her simple massage then bath technique, she decided to give Dave a massage. There was some resistance, but she prevailed and he loved it.
The morning after his massage, she noticed that he seemed to be more relaxed and in a much better mood. She decided to give Dave a massage at least twice a week.
Three weeks later, Dave picked up a carpentry job from a neighbor. Then he got another carpentry job and another. They were small jobs, but did wonders for their financial problems.
Mary continues to study various massage techniques and is seriously considering becoming a massage therapist. Dave thinks it’s a great idea.
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