I don't know about you all, but Thanksgiving wore me out this year. I loved the delicious meal, and the company, but having east coast family in town and all that came with the buildup of entertaining.. I was just bushed for a whole week.

I found myself feeling irritable, jumpy, unable to focus on important things.

Places in my body actually started hurting for no reason!

(I usually stay ahead of pain, for the most part.)

Did that happen to you, too?

Luckily, all the advice I'm always giving on BEING GOOD TO YOURSELF actually clicked in, and I noted my downward spiral.

I immediately cleared my calendar of anything optional, cleaned up my diet (no sugar or starch, and almost no wine), picked up my exercise, and the best thing was taking myself for an evening 90 minute massage at a spa.

Wonder why that part made such a difference?

The massage, that is.

Having someone take care of you, and bring you mint lemon water, with candles in the room.And say "this hour is for you-- if the room is too hot or too cold, or the music is too loud, or if I talk to much or .. (like 5 more things) finally broke through my shell, and I found myself relaxing.

Someone was taking care of ME! And they were doing an amazing job of it.

So I am writing this to say that I'm here for you, always.

If there's stress left over from Thanksgiving, or the responsibilities of the impending holiday are weighing on you.. or life/work stress is just building up-

PLEASE, let us take care of YOU!

I only hope that my staff and I are even half as effective at stress relieving as that sweet spa-therapist was to me.

Remember, self nurturing fills us up so that we can better take care of others when we want/need to do so.

It worked wonders on me.

It's not selfish to take care of yourself, it's actually good for everyone around you.

Don't forget to breathe,

Dr. Rina