News from the treatment room - Retirement
RESIDENT BLOGGER, AMANDA APPS GIVES US THE LATEST INSTALMENT OF HER 'NEWS FROM THE TREATMENT ROOM...'. PROVING AGE DOESN'T MATTER.
All generations visit my treatment room from small children to the upper spectrum of age.
A recently retired lady decided to visit. She had found retirement hard work at first. Having no daily schedule and going from a hectic job to nothing each day had been a struggle. The small jobs, a bit of decorating had been completed within the first few months and had just felt like a little time off at first, but then it became a little harder.
She said that the turning point was when someone recommended a weekly programme to her. So each week she has to complete five things …
The first was to do something physical; that was easy as the daily dog walk was a necessity for the dog and as someone has to hold the lead it was inevitable that she needed to attend.
The second task was to mentally use her brain – again this was relatively easy as a daily crossword in the newspaper was normally completed over a cuppa but she took up reading and joined a local book club which meant that she met a few people in her area.
Third was to do something creative. This was a bit more tricky as she didn’t feel that she was artistic and certainly didn’t feel that there was anything she could do in this category. However, arranging stones around a flower bed and even starting a mosaic table top kit started her in the right direction. Before she knew it she had painted stones to spell the name of the house and then created a calendar by painting the months and then one to nine on pebbles to make her own nifty calendar which she could display on the kitchen windowsill. She even joined a monthly craft class with “Love from the Fairies” and makes cards, gift boxes and tags and finds that she fills more than one day a week with her new-found craftiness!
Next was to do something for the community. This sounds difficult to do but actually very easy. She found that pulling a few weeds along a pathway, cutting ivy from a tree, picking up litter, washing down a greened sign, bringing in the wheelie bin from the path for a neighbour or helping a friend with a hospital appointment. All were easy to perform but just needed a little prompting to think of something – great for a fourth task a week.
Last was finding some time for herself … and this is where I came in!
She was still struggling with feeling unappreciated, insignificant and just a little bit down. She had never tried a Jikiden reiki treatment and was intrigued what it was as well as being a little bit nervous but it was recommended by a friend who thought she would benefit from it.
She was unsure whether she needed to undress and was shocked when she only had to remove her shoes and lay on the massage couch. Once she was snug under the fleecy blanket in the cocoon of the treatment room she was ready and already relaxing.
Within minutes she was incredibly relaxed and I used the session to rebalance and rejuvenate her body. At the end she couldn’t believe how she could drift without a care.
Afterwards she reported that although she initially felt quite tired and a little spaced out she had slept better that night than she had since her retirement. But much more than that was the change in herself. She felt energised and she realised that she had stopped comparing her working life with her retired life and accepted her daily chores. She was more positive generally and she has found different ways to give time to herself. A Jikiden Reiki treatment is booked every month to keep her on track and an easy way that week to complete her five tasks!
