I always hated that question when I was growing up...What do you want to be when you grow up?
I don't think that I have really reached that point in my life yet where I am done learning and am ready to stop growing. I always knew that working at a desk job was not for me and that I wanted to be in a job where I was helping people instead. Though I don't think it was until I started getting treated with massage that I finally realized that it was leading me down the path towards my career.
I woke up one day with a headache that lasted for 7 years. When the headaches started when I was 15, that started me on my journey into massage. I met my massage therapist Kristi who would turn out to be the person to help change and shape my career choices. Over the years she talked to me about the job and convinced me to consider massage therapy as a career choice at the time. It turns out she was one of the instructors at the Edmonton College of Swedish Massage and with her guidance and mentorship in 2007 I graduated top of my class.
Once graduated I felt as though I had this drive to do things on my own and prove to the world that I could make it. So fresh out of college I decided to go into business for myself and Celtic Knots Massage was born!
An opportunity had come up at the college for me to rent one of the treatment rooms and work beside one of the other teachers and when I had more hours under my belt, I would be able to move into a supervisor role of the student clinic while still building my clientele. So, I jumped at the chance but unfortunately just 6 short months later due to financial issues the college was forced to close completely.
Left frustrated and wondering whether at 20 years old I had made a huge mistake branching out on my own I scrambled to find a new place to move to with very short notice. I ended up by a fluke dial of the number from the phonebook stumbling across what would be my forever massage family at MacGriw Massage Therapy. The ladies there were so welcoming and MacGriw became my home for the next 4 years. Over those years, I built my practice and learned from Helen and Hazel who both specialized in different areas and honed my own specialty in...you might have guessed by now....Headaches.
In February 2011 the worst possible thing I thought could ever happen happened! While out with my mom shopping, I slipped on some ice and fell and broke my wrist. I thought for sure that this would be the end to my career. But after just 6 short weeks and with diligent physio I was back to doing what I loved.
After my injury I made the tough and scary choice to leave MacGriw and my family there and move the business home. I wasn't sure what it would be like to work from my home. I wasn't sure how my clients would adjust and whether they would follow me or whether this would be a huge mistake to my career that I would instantly regret.
Here we are 11 years later, I think you have all adjusted pretty well!
And so we plugged along pretty well for a few years and then I just needed more.....
In 2016 I felt the pull to be able to offer more to my clients. More than just my knowledge..but actual backing behind what I told them. So after some consideration I decided to complete my Yoga Teaching certification. We built a studio in the basement of the house and in 2016 Celtic Knots Yoga was born! Now I had the ability to offer my clients a well-rounded experience and the care that they required.
My studying never stops so where I'll go from here....who knows.
Life is a journey and this one is far from over.
~let today be the day you breath deep and live courageously. Let today be the day you remember that to pursue courage is to leave behind a pursuit of perfection or the need to get it all right. To pursue courage is to approach the day with an open heart that says " I am here to learn whatever it is I am meant to learn. I am here to grow how I am meant to grow. No matter what is unknown." ~