Less

My word for the year is “less.”

First up, less of those who harm rather than help. Here’s why I fired my massage therapist and physiotherapist:

One, Two, Three Strikes You’re Out - After the massage therapist I’d been seeing regularly for one year crossed the line on at least three occasions for various reasons, I’ve decided that since I’m acquainted with a number of massage therapists, I will just rotate appointments amongst them. That way, there will hopefully be no more chance of comments being made linking my weight and overall health and expensive treatments pushed and pushed and pushed that I’ve repeatedly said we can’t afford. I should have clued in after my very first appointment with her when I shared something very personal I later felt exceedingly uncomfortable with doing so. My choice? Sure it was, except she’s a bit like a dog with a bone and probably wouldn’t have let it go. Discussing the issues I had with her statements has resulted in major backpedaling and comments like “I’m sorry took it wrong” – um, shouldn’t you be sorry for saying these things in the first place?

The physiotherapist I was seeing since fall, 2011 is also “out”. Following his advice concerning exercise “if it hurts, don’t do it” and advising against core work, using weights, and stretching has resulted in a decrease in strength and cardiovascular ability and an increase in, well, flab. Does less physical strength and ability equal more physiotherapy visits to him? I have grown a little suspicious of his motivation and his diagnosis – not fibromyalgia [he's one of those - doesn't believe in it] but somato-sensory disorder caused by prematurity. Googling somato-sensory disorder reveals very little information. Does my physiotherapist see me as a “cash cow” or have a genuine desire to help. Further, I learned recently that a “brain game” he gave me to do at his clinic (for which I bought the software for use on my home computer and finally installed recently) essentially has a built-in margin of error. It is designed such that the user will make occasional mistakes while playing it. This was never mentioned to me by the physiotherapist; in fact, I was led to believe that the amount of errors I made were because of my somato-sensory disorder and I needed to keep coming to see him. It is interesting that when I play the games at home I do a lot better than playing at his office.

If my trust in these two practitioners has broken down for me, it doesn’t make sense to continue seeing them.

Also on the “less list”:

Less Facebook, more face time
Less lengthy emails
Less spending
Less fears about the future – might be hard to teach an old dog new tricks with this one; I’m a bit of a worrier.

Gotta run, I’m off to check Facebook now…oh wait…:)

Stay tuned as I chronicle how it’s all going.