Rub me

Friday 25th August 2023

In South Africa, I have regular, mostly weekly massages and I love them. In the UK, I have now had one. It was glorious.

I used to be weird about someone touching my body. I had a huge personal space issue even though I grew up in a crowded, busy home. There was an unspoken rule about respecting another's space. On leaving school, I nursed. You can't narrow the personal space any lesser than that, as I was doing bed baths, bum rubs and operation shaving. I know, I panicked too initially, but a white uniform helped both nurse and patient relax. In the public domain though, it was still 'give me some space to dance'.

The thought of someone touching me filled me with horror. But it had to change when I joined the TV industry after I fled my nursing career. TV studios are tiny and space is limited so I was forced into spaces where I would hold my breath until a guy had walked past. But then there was the issue of clipping microphones on people's ties, lapels, priest robes, suits, flimsy dresses and the biggest challenge-a sumo wrestler! Hiding the cables under the shirts, skirts, pants and jackets meant that I was in very intimate spaces without my nurse uniform coat of armour. My body fears eased a little but the thought of going for a massage? Never...

Getting down to my underwear was difficult enough at the doctor's room but the idea of a stranger rubbing oil on me and working knots in muscles filled me horror. So when I started doing less and less TV work and becoming interested in complementary therapies, I became curious to having a massage.

To this day, I still struggle with people touching my feet, but now I love a full body massage. I don't even care if someone were to see a naked elbow, lol. My masseuse can do whatever they choose. My body has shifted so much that I realised recently, that I was craving touch. I missed it terribly and after my last week of being a 'cyclist' I realised that I had lumps in muscles that needed professional touch. However, my legs are totally covered in bruises from the pedals and different bed bases. My SA masseuse would be moaning at the state of my legs and today's lovely lady was scared to touch them. Fortunately the bruises aren't sore, but just colourful.

A whole hour of massage has left me feeling relaxed and dreamy. Every human being should get regular massage, and not as a luxury but as a health necessity. The world would find peace much quicker if we all had a monthly massage.

Sigh