What Do You Find Therapeutic?

Recently, I treated a couple of friends of mine to my favorite therapy--a manicure and pedicure.  The nail salon I go to always does a great job and the massage you get on your feet, arms, legs, and hands is well worth the price.  Plus, you get the additional benefit of having great looking nails--no dead, gross skin and chipped nails!  Ick!! 

In return, my gal pal decided I needed to experience my first hot stone massage.  Well, my first massage, really.  It was a completely awesome experience.  My aches and pains weren't the only things to disappear.  I found my stress level plunging the longer I lay there. It wasn't just the actual hands on treatment to sore muscles that was appealing, it was the complete presentation.  The lights were dimmed, the air scented with lavender, and soothing music played through surround sound speakers.  The experience was complete and total ZEN!!

But at first, I had trouble completely relaxing because for me, I can be totally relaxed physically but my mind still races.  Thoughts of conflicting work schedules, scenes (written needing revisions or to be put down on paper) play out behind my closed lids, worries or joys about my children, upcoming cakes that I may be planning to bake...This keeps me from being completely relaxed. 

 I find this most often happens when I'm trying to go to bed and get those hard to earn eight hours of Zzzzzz's--whether it be day sleep because I work nights or going to bed like the rest of the world.  So, what can I do about this?  I need to sleep, don't I?  I seem to get so little as it is.  I am still looking for solutions, but I find that if I have other things to occupy me during my waking hours (besides work) that when I finally lay down to sleep, I'm able to actually get some rest.  One of the hobbies I developed this year, was to learn to bake and decorate cakes.  My daughter and I took cake decorating classes back in January that continued clear into April. 

Here's Haleigh.  We had a pile of icing for our clown cakes!

And here I am...trying...


But as our cakes have evolved, and we've learned so much about how to decorate and bake cakes, I have found that baking and decorating cakes has been very therapeutic for me.  I put a little music on in the background, my mind becomes focused on what I am doing.  Nothing else seems to matter.  The kitchen becomes a complete disaster!!!  I end up a mess with powdered sugar and icing on my t-shirt, in my hair, on my face.  But I don't care because I'm so absorbed in what I am doing.

  And that's what is so great about the entire process--nothing else matters at that moment in time.

Have you ever found something that absorbs you in such a way, that all your troubles and stresses seem to disappear temporarily?  Keep looking if you haven't because the solution may be where you never thought to find it!


Here are some cakes I've done this year!  The first is a football cake for a friend at work who had a birthday.

 This next one, I made for a bachelorette party!

 And this last I did yesterday for a dear friend and fellow nurse who is retiring!

Everyone have a GREAT Tuesday!!