Suddenly we are in a Lockdown and the whole of Spain has to stay at home. We are not allowed to leave our houses unless it is an essential trip to the supermarket, pharmacy or to walk your dog. After the first shock, which especially has to do with existential fears, what to do about my basic needs? How will I be able to earn an income as a Massage Therapist and Foot Reflexologist? Will I receive help from the government? What am I going to do?
My name is Marjan Looije and I have been living in Spain since 2000. I have been working for a Real Estate in Puerto Banus. Until 2007 when the property bubble burst and we experienced the bank crisis from 2008. From that moment onwards the Real Estate Company started to pay us irregular and in the end we just did not receive our wages anymore. I had to look very quickly for a Plan B. And Plan B was already my hobby: Massage and Foot Reflexology. I had done the courses next to my job at the Real Estate and was already a certified Massage Therapist and Foot Reflexologist. How lucky! I already gave my friends and family massages and foot reflexology to practice and now came the time to earn money with this. With mouth to mouth advertisement my circle of clients started to grow slowly. Then I could rent a room at a tennis club. Since then I have been working for myself as a therapist and love my work. I had nothing to complain about….
So now we have another crisis: the Coronavirus. And what is my Plan B now? I would love to work online, but how do you do that as a Massage Therapist and Foot Reflexologist? You work with your hands and your therapy is based on touch, whereby you can solve or lighten some physical problems of your clients. In what way can I express this digital? Massage Therapy and Foot Reflexology are therapies which are stress relieving and calming. Maybe I should create a YouTube Channel whereby I can help others to help themselves and their loved ones to combat stress? So, maybe I can show some massage techniques that are easy to follow and this way people at home can help themselves and others to stay calm? Since the Greek Ancient Times touch has been promoted to lift pains, relieve stress and calm the system down. Exactly now it is important to stay healthy and keep our immunity strong, so these YouTube videos can help! It also keeps me motivated and busy to produce the videos, I have not had so much free time in years. As I am working for myself, I cannot take very long holidays as my regular clients would not be very happy and also if I do not work, I do not earn anything. Being in Lockdown, it is a very interesting time to try different things: reading, painting, yoga, fitness. I am in contact with people I have not heard from in ages, I follow online courses, do webinars. And everything is happening online! How wonderful is the Internet!
Then I received, unexpected, an email from a school of natural therapies, which sells online courses. They told me, that they have seen my YouTube channel Marjan Massage and they are very happy with my Massage demonstration videos as they can send the link to their students, who want to practise their Massage and Foot Reflexology routines. The next thing they ask me is, whether I would like to give one-to-one online tutoring? Of course, I would love to! Even better, I am a certified Massage and Foot Reflexology teacher! How wonderful when life gives us new opportunities! Plan B is in action. COVID-19 has led to new and exciting reflections and developments. I hope this story can inspire you as well. And when you want to help yourself and/or your loved ones, please check out my YouTube: Marjan Massage and when you like the videos, please subscribe. And if you want to take it a step further and make use of this time in Lockdown to learn a new trade or practise your routines, please send me an email and we can make a personalized lesson plan which suits you.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuBFHIfis7UaoSlSRtdlv_w?view_as=subscriber
marlooije@yahoo.com
