Milestones

Reposting today's blog from Massage Magazine:

One week from today, I’ll be turning 50. To me it sounds much more impressive when I say “half a century,” instead of “hitting the big five-OH!.”

I think when most people hit one of those numbers with a zero on the end, they pause and reflect, and I’m no exception. In the previous decade, I married the love of my life, went back to college and attended massage school, and switched careers. In this one, I’ve opened a new business, expanded it twice, had three books published, and gained an entire new family when I met my birth father for the first time. I’ve crossed a lot of stuff off my bucket list, too.

I counted it as a milestone in my career the first time I got an article published in this magazine, and another one when they asked me to contribute to this blog. In the beginning, I named this blog Massage Collage because I intended to write about anything and everything to do with massage. Over the course of time, as I became more and more interested in the politics of the massage profession, I began to focus on that.

There are plenty of folks writing about how to market massage, and even though I have authored a book on that subject, I have chosen not to write too much about that here because several others are doing it. And there seems to be plenty of advice coming from the bodywork standpoint from John Barnes, Erik Dalton, Ann Caitlin and all the other contributors I admire here, who have probably forgotten more about massage than I’ll ever know, due to their years of experience in this business.Some of these folks have a big head start on me.

In case you haven’t noticed, I have refrained from writing anything political, particularly about the National Certification Board, for the past month or two. They are a substantial advertiser in Massage Magazine, and I imagine they aren’t too happy to see my criticism of them appearing on these pages.

I have therefore decided to take my political rants to another forum, where that won’t be an issue. www.massageprofessionals.com was started by ABMP (Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals), but you don’t have to be a member of that association to join the network; everyone is welcome.

I belong to both ABMP and AMTA, and I sometimes write about them, as well. I enjoy keeping massage therapists informed about what is going on with legislation and with governance and representation from our professional organizations. And I don’t mind calling any of them on the carpet when I have a beef. As a member of those organizations, I believe that’s my right, and I think they’ll agree with me on that. Remember those “senior superlatives” back in high school: most likely to succeed, etc.? I was voted “the person most likely to tell it like it is.” I don’t think I’ve changed too much since then, in that particular area.

I’ll still be weighing in here with Massage Collage, as long as I’m welcome to stay. I’m grateful to Karen Menehan and the others at this magazine for giving me a start, and I do have something to say other than complaining about the NCB, so I’ll say that here. In the meantime, if you miss my political diatribes, you’ll know where to find me.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen