Laura Allen’s Blog

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Let the Sun Set on CAMTC

 

Those who formerly followed my blog focusing on the politics of massage know that I gave it up a long time ago. But in this case, I feel compelled to come out of blogging retirement. Hang on; this will be lengthy.

For the uninformed, up until 2008, massage in California was subject to neither licensing or certification. It was regulated by individual towns and cities, and was most often categorized as adult entertainment. A legitimate therapist who was practicing years ago told me she was required to take a test for STDs before getting a city license.

In 2008, a bill creating the CAMTC (California Massage Therapy Council) as a non-governmental, non-profit agency to offer voluntary certification for massage therapists was passed, and in 2009, they began issuing certifications. Just a few years later, city officials managed to get a change made, stating that brothels masquerading as massage businesses had proliferated since the initial bill passed. The CA Chapter of AMTA has a history of the process available for public view.

Newer legislation clarifies what cities and towns can and cannot do to interfere with health professionals, such as massage therapists, doing their job. And yet, that is exactly what CAMTC is currently doing.

On January 14, 2025, I was contacted by a graduate of A2Z Health Massage School, located in Reseda, California.  The graduate who contacted me had graduated from a 250-hour program at A2Z in Thousand Oaks in 2015, followed by obtaining another 50 hours of additional education in Deep Tissue Massage in 2016, and returned to the Reseda location for a 528-hour diploma in 2024. They tracked me down through my old blog and we had a phone call. In the meantime, they emailed me their transcripts and communications with CAMTC. The crux of the communications was that their application was denied; not because of lack of education, but because A2Z was under investigation. When I looked up the school on the CAMTC website before my call with the graduate, they were listed as an approved school. They are still listed as an approved school, but there is now a statement there that says, “As of 1/23/2025, CAMTC has placed A2Z Health.net, Inc., under investigation.” That may be so, but this graduate applied for their license over a year ago.

According to the owners of A2Z, there are approximately 250 graduates of their school who have applied to CAMTC for certification who have not received it. They are being held in limbo.

CAMTC has, in my opinion, come to the end of their usefulness. Judging by the 60+ school owners, educators, and therapists in attendance at a ZOOM meeting of CAMSA (California Massage Schools Association) that I also attended this past Wednesday, as well as last month’s meeting, the majority of are in agreement that California needs full-on licensing the same as the other regulated states.

Besides California, there are now only a few states without regulation: Minnesota, Kansas, and Wyoming; Vermont does not require a license, but requires registration. What that means is that people practicing massage in unregulated states do not have to have any training in massage therapy, nor pass any sort of exam to prove competency. California’s certification is voluntary, and while they have the requirement of 500 hours of education to be certified, they do not require anyone to pass an exam. And it is still perfectly fine to hold yourself out as a massage therapist in CA without any training or knowledge at all; you just can’t claim to be certified by CAMTC.

I ended up contacting the school owners, Dr. Ben Drillings and Lilah Drillings for some clarification. Dr. Ben has been a chiropractor since 1991 ; he and Lilah founded A2Z school in 1997. Dr. Drillings is a former Board member of CAMTC, and is the President of the California Massage Schools Association. A2Z was approved by the CAMTC in 2015, when they initially started approving schools. CAMTC’s website states: Pursuant to CAMTC’s Policies and Procedures for Approval of Schools, as of July 1, 2016, CAMTC generally only accepts education from California schools specifically approved by CAMTC. Previously, CAMTC did not approve schools. Rather, it accepted education from California schools approved by the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE) or other entities listed in California Business and Professions Code section 4601(a), unless the school was otherwise un-approved by CAMTC.

A2Z has been approved by the BPPE since their inception in 1998. BPPE is a division of California Department of Consumer Affairs to provide oversight of private postsecondary educational institutions operating in California. The Drillings stated to me that their school (and all others that are approved by the Bureau) gets inspected annually by the Bureau, and that if any deficiencies are found, the school is notified in writing and is given 30 days to correct any deficiencies. And herein starts the problem.

On January 4, 2023, A2Z received a corrective letter from Joe Bob Smith, the Director of Educational Standards Division at California Massage Therapy Council, who had visited the school 7 months prior. He stated that the ESL students did not understand the material.  Another employee in the Education Standards Division, Jeff Simancek, also visited; during 2022, A2Z received a total of 7 unannounced visits from CAMTC, including two in one day. From May 20, 2022 to December 8, 2022, there was an unprecedented number of unannounced visits to A2Z’s Reseda and Santa Monica locations. What Mr. Simancek observed and reported was that A2Z students appeared to understand the material that was being taught in English and participated in English.

Following the May 20, 2022 visit, Mr. Simancek wrote “Students were asking questions and participating in the lecture.” Following the June 9, 2022 visit, Mr. Simancek wrote that “class was in English.” “Students were asking questions.” “Teacher was knowledgeable”. Following the August 3, 2022 visit, Jeff Simancek wrote that the students were very interactive with students commenting and answering questions, and that the class was student driven. In the December 8, 2022 visit, Simancek stated that many students speak English very well and that the lectures are in English. In an email written by  Simancek to Joe Bob Smith dated December 9, 2022, Simancek reported that there were “no red flags. Most students spoke and responded to in English.” It should be noted that the Drillings, owners of the school, did not receive these good reports until they were provided during the discovery process of the lawsuit.

Neither students nor teachers were interviewed at the school. They were “observed.” Joe Bob Smith informed the school that CAMTC wanted a list of every ESL student who had graduated from 2020 forward. When the school responded they did not keep a separate list of ESL students because that would be discriminatory, CAMTC said they intended to interview every student. Once the interviews, which were conducted by Shanna Price, Hearing Officer of CAMTC, started, according to the Drillings, every student who was ESL (most were Asian) failed the interview. However, when students asked why they failed, they were not given a response.  When the school questioned the interview, asking about a rubric, how many questions a student needed to answer correctly to pass, etc., the response from Price was “It is based on my experience.” American students who were interviewed were asked “how they felt” about ESL students. 18% of  California’s population is Asian. 71% of Asians in California are proficient in English.

It should be noted that once the student failed the interview, they were notified they could have a hearing to appeal, 5-6 months in the future, and that there would be a fee of $180 for a written hearing, or $270 for a verbal hearing. In July 2024, Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California (AJSOCAL) filed a lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court against the California Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC) for discriminating against students of Asian descent, on behalf of 6 Chinese and Thai massage therapy students. A2Z secured a court ruling  on October 10, 2024, where CAMTC was ordered to stop its investigation and issue certifications to A2Z grads…but they did not do so, apparently working on the assumption that they are above the law.

The graduate who contacted me, who is incidentally non-Asian, born in America, and English-speaking, along with the other graduates who have been waiting, received an email from A2Z last week that included a Superior Court ruling that was issued on March 13 ordering the CAMTC to issue provisional certificates no later than April 4. The pertinent part of the order is:

Petitioners’ motion for a preliminary injunction is granted as follows:

(1) By no later than April 4, 2025, the Council shall issue provisional certifications to each Petitioner. The provisional certifications shall remain effective until the final disposition of this action, subject to the Massage Therapy Act’s provisions for renewal (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 4605) and discipline (Bus. & Prof. Code, §§ 4609-
4611).
(2) The Council is enjoined from withholding certification from any applicant based upon the Council’s investigation of and/or approval revocation proceedings against A2Z.
(3) The Council is enjoined from requiring any applicant to submit to any
investigatory process as a condition of certification, including interviews,
hearings, or submission of additional information, except for the sole purpose of determining whether the applicant has received the required education set forth in Business & Professions Code, § 4604, subd. (a)(2).)
IT IS SO ORDERED.

I had first approached Joe Bob Smith, Director of Educational Standards Division at California Massage Therapy Council, a few weeks ago to tell him I was coming out of retirement to blog about this issue, and that I would give CAMTC a chance to comment. He said they could not comment because it was currently in litigation. I contacted him again last week to let him know I had a copy of the Superior Court order telling them to issue the certifications, and asked him if they were going to comply with it. He stated he was away from the office but that he would pass it on. I have not heard anything from them. The graduate who initially contacted me emailed CAMTC on March 17, asking to have their certification in accordance with the court order, and received the following reply:

Thank you for your inquiry.  Due to ongoing litigation between A2Z and CAMTC, we are unable to discuss the details of this ongoing matter or respond more substantially at this time.  Please feel free to contact us in the future and we will plan to let you know when we can share additional information.

Tomorrow, March 24, is the Sunset hearing for CAMTC. AMTA is backing the sunset of this organization in favor of a real licensing board. So is ABMP.  If you agree that it’s time for California to retire this power-trip organization in favor of an actual licensing board, please contact Robert.Sumner@asm.ca.gov  with Sunset Hearing – CAMTC or California Massage Therapy Council in the subject line. You can also view the committee members and their contact info at

https://abp.assembly.ca.gov/members/committee-staff

https://sbp.senate.ca.gov/committeehome

Time is of the essence so please contact them immediately. If anyone would like a sample letter to send them, you can get in touch with me at educatedheart@gmail.com and I will send you one.

 

 

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Let’s Stay Home

 

I’m 64 on my way to 65. Looking forward to Medicare and Social Security. I’m not planning to retire yet, but I’m slowly easing towards it. I’m in relatively good health. I am still a workaholic and always have projects going on, but I’ve substantially shifted gears. I work whatever hours I wish, usually early in the morning or late at night. I do the same with writing and recording class videos. Most of my deadlines these days are self-imposed. 

I’ve worked remotely from home since 2015. Between 2015-2020, I also continued to maintain a small base of massage clients, which I let go when COVID started. Although I still have my massage license and plan to keep it for a few more years, I don’t intend to ever go back to regular practice. I have one client that I’ve seen almost daily for close to a year; she’s 39 and in a wheelchair due to an aneurysm and two strokes. She lives close by so I drop in most days for 20-30 minutes and do range of motion exercises with her and a little bit of “feel-good” massage. It feeds my soul and hopefully does some good for her. I get occasional messages from people on social media wanting to book massage with me, and so far, I’ve declined to take on any further clients. I don’t really foresee that changing.

I have a sign on my front porch that says, “Let’s Stay Home.” That’s my attitude these days. I have accepted a teaching gig at the Texas AMTA meeting in April, also one at NC AMTA in April, and I will of course be at the World Massage Festival as usual this year and hopefully for as long as it lasts. I will probably go down to FSMTA, also in July, since my brothers live nearby and I usually combine that with a visit to them.  I am volunteering with FSMTB this year and will probably have to make a trip or two for them, but I plan to never have another schedule that requires frequent trips away from home…because I want to be at home.

For years, I was out playing music on weekends, and that’s over, too. My picking and grinning takes place on the porch, or at an occasional jam session on the mountaintop with my friends in good weather. I’m past the point of waiting until 9pm to start playing and not crawling home until the wee hours of the morning. Neither my husband nor I  like to drive at night, and we don’t drink and drive, so we’ve turned into two old coots who don’t get out much. We’ve been to a few concerts in the past couple of years, but Robert Plant, Jason Isbell, or Billy Strings is going to have to appear in my back yard for me to consider going to another one. Not only has the price of tickets become ridiculous, but I also don’t like paying $12 for a beer just because I’m a captive audience. It’s insane. I’ll stay home and watch YouTube and spend $12 for a 6-pack of Guinness.

I haven’t turned into a hermit. I haven’t developed agoraphobia. I still enjoy meeting up with old friends and making new ones at conventions and teaching and attending CE classes. But my priorities have changed. When I was 24, I would have thought the world was coming to an end if I wasn’t out having a wild time on the weekends. At 64, I appreciate the heck out of being home and having a slow dance on the porch with my husband, and sipping on some cherry bounce. It’s a good life. So yeah, let’s stay home.

 

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On the Road Again

1950 Ford CoupeThis fine-looking 1950 Ford Coupe belongs to my husband, James. It was his father’s. He and his brother restored it to the perfect specimen that it is now. It’s beautiful. We just put insurance and tag on it a few days ago. We built a new garage for it, too.

Two years ago, when the world turned upside down with COVID, all the massage conventions and live classes were canceled. It seems that COVID is going to stay with us for a while longer–maybe forever–but life goes on.  I’m vaxxed and boosted. That’s not a guarantee of staying free of COVID, but it makes me feel somewhat better about the risk of getting a severe case.

I ventured out to teach my first live class since 2020 a couple of months ago for the South Carolina Chapter of AMTA. Next week, I’m heading to the World Massage Festival in Cherokee, NC, to teach four classes, hang around the CryoDerm booth when I can, and reconnect with my tribe. It’s good to be on the road again, seeing massage therapists from near and far.

On the other hand, these two years of staying home have been a wonderful blessing. I’m fortunate that I have been working at home since 2015, when I accepted a job with Soothing Touch. They are located in New Mexico, but allowed me to work remotely. I left there after three years and went to work for CryoDerm. CryoDerm is located in Florida, and they also allow me to work from home.

James and I both stay busy. We both always have some kind of project to work on. We do projects together, too, usually involving woodworking. I’m handy with a Dremel and using the torch to burn wood. My husband is the gardener in our family.  Sometimes he trusts me to do the watering; that’s brave on his part, since I could kill a silk flower!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It will be good to see the family of hands again (that’s what I’ve always called the Festival). We’ve got another trip planned to meet up with friends in Tennessee in September. Sometime this winter, we’ll head down to see my family in Florida. And next year, hopefully we can return to Ireland. I’ve visited Ireland  every year for years, until COVID came along. James made his first trip with me in 2019, and we had no idea we wouldn’t be able to go in 2020, or 2021, or this year. While the numbers have gone down in my home state of North Carolina, they’re rising again in Ireland, so we’ll wait another year and see what happens.

No one knows what the future may hold. We will take it in stride, whatever it is. We’ll enjoy sitting on the porch with our dogs, watching the garden grow, and playing music together in the evenings.  And we’ll enjoy our rides through the countryside (the kind with no real destination in mind) in the Ford.

I wish everyone health and happiness. May your blessings be many and your troubles be few.

 

 

 

 

 

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A Rude Awakening: Unintended Plagiarism

Writing has been a big part of my life since I was in middle school, when I helped put the school annual together, and wrote in it that I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. I started college right after high school in the 70s, and wrote political articles for The Patriot, our school newspaper. A few years later, when I was working as a chef at a mountain resort, I started writing a regular column for their monthly newspaper. My first magazine article was published in a regional magazine, Spirit of the Smokies, over 20 years ago. I’ve written numerous articles published in nearly every massage publication, and over 300 blogs.

In 2003, when I was working at the massage school I attended, I wrote my first book. Students were complaining about the prep guides that were out at the time to help study for the National Certification Exam from the NCBTMB, which was the licensing exam at the time in most regulated states. I cheekily thought I could do a better job, so I wrote a guide. I had copies of it wire-o bound and printed at a local print shop, and the owner of the school sold it in the bookstore. It never occurred to me to sell it to anyone except the students at the school. I still have one copy of that original in my possession, and it’s pitiful…it wasn’t professionally edited, it had no pictures, no index, and all around, it was just awful.

In spite of that, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins published the book. The owner of the massage school had received a letter from them asking if she would be interested in reviewing books from them, and she tossed it to me and said “Why don’t you do this, you’ll be good at it!” So I filled out an application, which involved listing anything you had published. I listed my book. A few weeks later, they contacted me and asked me to send them a copy…and the rest is history. They published the first edition in 2005, and went on to publish three editions of the book, as well as four other books I authored. They also threw me plenty of work as a reviewer, and writing curriculum for massage schools and ancillaries for other textbooks.  A few years ago, they decided to get out of the massage part of the healthcare publishing business, and returned my copyrights to me. I have since self-published my books. I haven’t even shopped them to other publishers. I have enjoyed being responsible for them from start to finish.

One of the high points of my career was Nina McIntosh, the author of The Educated Heart, personally asking me to author the future editions of her ethics book. She had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease, and she didn’t want the book to die when she did. She had Lippincott sign a contract to that effect. When Lippincott dropped the massage line, and gave the copyright to Nina’s heirs, her heirs signed that over to me. I have authored the 4th and 5th editions and have been proud to carry on her work. I also took over writing her regular column, Heart of Bodywork, in ABMP’s magazine, Massage & Bodywork. It has been a great privilege, and I was flattered to be asked.

I was asked to revise Clay & Pounds Basic Clinical Massage Therapy: Integrating Anatomy & Treatment, after the original author died. It was one of LWW’s best-selling books, and during the revision, I found (and corrected) 75 anatomy mistakes in it. I’ve always wondered how many students learned the wrong thing from the original. David Pounds, the illustrator on the book, is brilliant, and won an award for the book.

Another high point of my career was winning a case study contest from the Massage Therapy Foundation, which resulted in being published in the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork, a peer-reviewed publication. My study is indexed on PubMed. I had to cut the word count of the study in half for publication, and it was picked apart by their editors and by my own advisors before being published…in fact, I asked them to pick it apart before I ever submitted it. That was my first, and only, foray into writing for a peer-reviewed journal. I usually stick to writing about ethics and business.

I’ve written other self-published books on various topics, and edited and ghost-written books for other people who had a good story to tell, but weren’t writers. It’s been a rewarding part of my life. I haven’t gotten rich from it, but I’ve had a lot of personal satisfaction of being able to do what I enjoy doing. I usually have one or two people waiting in the wings for my services on that front.

Last weekend, that came crashing down around my head.  I submitted an article to a science-based magazine that I have written a couple of articles for in the past, and a couple of days later, received an email from the owner telling me they would not publish my article or any future work of mine because I was guilty of plagiarism. I almost choked. This magazine expects references on all articles, linked within the article, and I had done that. I responded to him that I had never intentionally plagiarized anything in my life, and that I thought I had provided the source links throughout the article.  He acknowledged that I had provided the links to the original work (all were research studies), but told me I had too many words copied verbatim that should have been in my own words. Strangely, a plagiarism checker, which I have never used before, but have since investigated, will computer-generate those alternative words for you, when it catches something that is plagiarized. I have never used a plagiarism checker, but it’s apparent that I need to start. It does seem kind of ironic that something that should be changed into your own words doesn’t actually have to be in your own words; the computer will change them for you.

This whole episode made me feel physically ill. I truly cannot describe how I felt. I was filled with embarrassment and shame. I cried in front of my husband, and threw up after I got the message, and have had a serious flareup of my IBS in the few days since.

I thought of the many times I have contacted other teachers to ask if I could use something they’ve written, or gotten quotes from to include in something I was writing. I’ve asked massage therapists to contribute to things I was writing, and asked some of the most well-known and illustrious teachers in massage if I could use something they’ve written, or a picture they’ve taken, and I have never been refused. They have all been very gracious about it. One teacher, who didn’t know me at all, when I contacted to ask if I could include something he had written in a class I was teaching, laughed and said, “Thanks for asking, most people just steal it!”

I thought of a time when people on FB kept sending me links to material from one of my own books that was being shared without any credits, saying “Isn’t this from your book?”. The illustrations from the Clay & Pounds book that I revised (pictures by David Pounds, accompanying text for them was mine) were being shared by a physical therapy company in Brazil with the statement “For more lessons like this, visit our website.” By the time Lippincott’s lawyers got that stopped, it had been shared more than 600,000 times on FB alone.

I thought of a time when I shared an article written by a well-known  friend and colleague on my social media, and a reader went ballistic and claimed it was someone else’s work. The author of it shared proof that she had written it in the 90s, long before the person that the reader was claiming whose work it was ever did a massage, and long before she was on social media holding herself out as an expert on the topic.

For the record, anyone is free to use anything I have written, whether that’s in a class or a publication. Please leave my name and/or the link to the book, article, or my website on it.

I am sharing this story because it was a hard life lesson for me. Although no one other than myself and the magazine owner, who is someone I know personally and like and respect, and whom I don’t expect to make this public or to ruin my reputation in any way, knows about it, I thought it was important to share this lesson. I thought I was doing the right thing when I included the links to the source articles in my article. I didn’t go far enough. I failed to include quotation marks. I am approved by the NCBTMB to teach over 30 classes, and I plan to run every single one of them through a plagiarism checker to make sure I’m not guilty of anything else. This is a good article, Accidental and Unintended Plagiarism, which is enlightening. Unfortunately for me, I should have read that before submitting the article.  I regret this entire incident. I regret that after writing for the past 50 years that this has happened this late in my career.  It’s never too late for a wake-up call, regardless of how painful it is.

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Starting Over

Laura AllenA couple of months ago, any one of us could have started a sentence with “When this is over,” and chances are, no one except your family or close friends might have known what personal problem you were referring to. Now, everyone knows what it refers to: COVID-19. For many of us, it’s personal on some level. We’ve had a friend or family member or acquaintance who was sick with it, or died from it, or maybe you’ve personally been sick with it.

At this point, no one knows when “it” will be over…”it” meaning the effects on society. There are millions of Americans out of work due to shutdowns of “non-essential” businesses. There are shortages in grocery stores…every day on my social media, I am still seeing people who can’t find a roll of toilet paper. This is Easter Sunday, and millions of Americans who would otherwise be at church are at home watching a service on television or a streaming service on the Internet.  Some churches are holding parking lot services where the congregants remain in their cars.

I’ve had a lot of private messages from massage therapists asking my opinion on when we’ll be back to work. The short answer is, I don’t know. Nobody knows. I live in NC, and the governor ordered things shut down until April 30. I personally believe it will be extended beyond that, and even if it isn’t, I will probably wait several weeks beyond the date that it is lifted to go back to work. I’m the suspicious type, as well as one who errs on the side of caution, and I fear a “back to work” decision from the government that is based on economics instead of actual safety.

We tend to think in terms of ourselves and our own occupation and our own lives. There may be no intention of being selfish or self-centered, but that’s the way things are. In reality, there are going to be a lot of businesses, of every type, that do not survive this shutdown. Your favorite restaurant, coffeehouse, or bar may be forced out of business. Your neighborhood florist, art gallery, or gym that is privately owned and not part of a big chain may be gone. While some landlords are giving rent relief, others are not. Some business owners simply cannot pay rent for several months when they don’t have money flowing into the business to cover that cost. In fairness, some landlords count on their rent money to make ends meet themselves.

For many massage therapists (and others), once the shutdown is over, this will be like starting all over at square one. While many may have faithful clients that can’t wait to come back, we have to consider that many of our self-employed clients, or those who work in businesses deemed non-essential, may be in the same boat we’re in: unemployment checks are not coming in yet, but the bills keep piling up.  A lot of people may have to choose between getting a massage or trying to catch up on their bills.

For those who are self-employed, and ICs (many of whom are misclassified, but that’s another story altogether), this situation may cause you to rethink your employment circumstances. Those who are employees have had a much easier time signing up for unemployment. While the federal government has announced the intention to extend unemployment payments to self-employed and ICs, most state unemployment websites have been waiting on instructions from the feds to get that started. NC’s website states that it is expected to be in place by April 25 for self-employed and ICs to file. If you don’t have a cash cushion, that’s a big financial strain for those who are waiting.

Anytime you choose to be self-employed, you’re taking personal risks. If you’re using independent contractors in your business, they (and you, if you have them misclassified) are also taking a personal risk. Ask yourself if you could live for 6 months without money coming in. If the answer is no, rethink your decision about your work circumstances. Go over your budget and see where you can cut expenses in order to save money. Maybe that means doing without stopping for coffee on the way to work every morning or doing without eating out. Or giving up your addiction to new shoes, or carefully tracking the mindless spending most of us do. I recently saw a meme pointing out that spending 27.35 per day adds up to $10,000 in one year. Using an app like EveryDollar can help you see where your money is actually going.

Many people are just one paycheck away from total disaster. I’ve been there myself in years gone by. This isn’t meant to be negative; it’s meant to be a reality check. We don’t know how long this is going to last, but it’s already evident that many people are in big trouble.  It’s a good idea, when the world returns to some semblance of normalcy, to treat this as an opportunity to start over with a plan to be better prepared, so the next emergency doesn’t knock you flat.

It’s also a fact that at the end of our lives, none of us are going to say “I wish I had worked more.” We’ll be wishing we had taken more time to stop and smell the roses, spent more time appreciating our families, had more quality time with our spouse, or learned to play the flute or paint or whatever you think you never have time for. If you have that time now, just do it. While you’re adding up your problems, don’t forget to add up your blessings.

In closing, I express my gratitude to all the medical personnel who are on the front lines, and the essential workers who are enabling us to still go to the grocery store, the gas station, and wherever else we NEED to go. I’ve found out in the past couple of months that I don’t need to go near as many places as I thought I did. Bless all who are sick and suffering and all those who have lost loved ones.  Bless you all and may you remain safe and well.

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Coronavirus and Massage Therapist Resources

Laura Allen

We are living in extraordinary times. Everyone I know has experienced hard times at some point, individually, but as a whole nation, and as the collective of massage therapists, we are currently going through things that we didn’t expect to go through. When this started (before it was acknowledged as a pandemic, and unfortunately even since), some people had the belief that it was something that existed on the other side of the world and wouldn’t affect us. Others have claimed it’s just a germ, or just the flu, or a political conspiracy. As a nation, we were ill prepared. I will save my political rant about that for another day (or another book). Right now, people need help.

Many massage therapists have voluntarily shut down their practice, and that includes those who have no savings and are worried about where their next rent payment will come from. Others are continuing to work, citing their finances. Others work for chains that threaten that they will have no job if they refuse to work. Harder times are coming, unless we do everything we can to stem the spread of this illness.

I have put together some information and some resources that massage therapists will hopefully find beneficial.

Financial Help

    • Today (Saturday March 21) as I am writing this, the Senate and the House are in session, putting differences aside, and working with White House negotiators trying to finalize the details of the economic stimulus plan. Current thought is that individuals and small businesses will receive $1000-$1200 checks, and the plan is to get them out there very quickly, hopefully April, and there may be an additional payment in May. The current thought is that if you filed taxes last year, you will not have to do anything special in order to receive it; it will automatically be mailed to you. I suggest watching national news shows to keep updated on this.

 

    • The Department of Labor has several important announcements on their website. While there is a statement to contact your individual state, the Federal  government has issued specific new guidance for the states. Under the guidance, federal law permits significant flexibility for states to amend their laws to provide unemployment insurance benefits in multiple scenarios related to COVID-19. For example, federal law allows states to pay benefits where:
    • An employer temporarily ceases operations due to COVID-19, preventing employees from coming to work;
    • An individual is quarantined with the expectation of returning to work after the quarantine is over; and
    • An individual leaves employment due to a risk of exposure or infection or to care for a family member.
    • In addition, federal law does not require an employee to quit in order to receive benefits due to the impact of COVID-19.

 

    • Obviously, I cannot list resources for specific states. My suggestions are for you to contact your state unemployment office to find out. There are local offices in most towns. I live in a very small town, but there is one here.

 

    • If you are a business owner, the Small Business Administration is helping small businesses with long-term (up to 30 years) loans at 3.75% interest that can cover operating expenses, payroll, etc. When you call your local office, say you are inquiring about the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (the name they are giving to this instance).

 

    • If you have credit card debt, don’t panic. Call your card company. Many of the major credit card companies are offering cardholders the opportunity to skip payments without interest. 

 

 

    • If you have a student loan, now is a good time to ask for forbearance. Contact your particular lender.

 

    • Many utility, phone, and internet companies are giving people a break right now by easing shutoffs and forgoing late payments. Call your utility company to find out what they are doing.

 

    • There is further help for both renters and for homeowners. The Forbes website states that they will update this list as more information becomes available.  Best advice, though, is if you feel your are going to get behind on your mortgage, call the lender now. Don’t wait until you’re in real trouble of being foreclosed on. In this environment, and because lenders often get the information about financial developments before they do, they will often be sympathetic and help you out by deferring payments or accepting partial payments, or even refinancing at a favorable rate. They do not want to get stuck with a bunch of defaulted foreclosure properties in the midst of a recession, which we are undoubtedly heading for. They would probably rather take some money that no money, or give you a grace period on making payments.

 

If you rent, or your home (or office space) is financed by an individual, all the more reason to handle it and call them now. See if they are able and willing to work with you. I have seen quite a few therapists on FB who said that their landlords were very sympathetic and willing to work with them. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know. Some landlords may take a hard line or just not be in a financial position to do so themselves and refuse, but if they think about it carefully, they may decide that they would have difficulty replacing their reliable tenants in this environment, and work with you.

 

    • Seek LOCAL resources. Now is not the time for pride to stand in the way of doing things you wouldn’t normally do, such as going to a food bank or going to local charities to ask for assistance. Rutherford County NC, where I live, is NC’s largest county, area-wise, largely rural, and only has a population of about 60,000. There are probably at least 20 food pantries here that are operated by churches and community organizations. There is also a soup kitchen open somewhere every day of the week. There are several local non-profits that help people with rent, heating expenses (thank God the need for that is close to over in most places).

 

    • Insurance tip from Allissa Haines: If you buy your health insurance on the national or your state exchange, you can probably edit your application to reflect your new income and get a lower rate. Allissa and Michael Reynolds have also made a lot of their podcasts available for free at https://www.massagebusinessblueprint.com/free-stuff

      Speaking of insurance, keep in mind that your liability insurance will not cover you in the event of a client catching the virus in your practice. Allissa, incidentally, was exposed to the virus, and was in the uncomfortable position of having to call her clients to tell them that they had been exposed. You do not want to find yourself in that position.

 

Seek a temporary job. Go to a local temp agency and see what’s available. MANY grocery stores are currently hiring due to the food panic that’s going on. Yes, you will still be in contact with people. However, grocers are not a licensed profession, and they do not swear to a code of ethics that they will First Do No Harm. Amazon is hiring. Walmart announced  yesterday that they plan to hire 150,000 additional workers. Ingle’s announced the same.

There are many massage therapists that have other degrees, other trade experience, and/or other skills. I personally know many who are everything from CNAs, nurses, truck drivers, and formerly (or still part-time) work in other professions. Medical personnel are in great demand right now, and so are all kinds of support staff in hospitals, from the janitor to billing coders.

I’ve also seen some enterprising therapists who are doing home deliveries for people who can’t get out…doing errands, going to pick up groceries or to the drugstore for the elderly or immune-compromised. Some are even doing it as volunteers. If you are in the position of being able to do that, what a service to your fellow inhabitants of the planet.

Now that schools and day care centers have been shut down in many places, it’s possible that neighbors who are still able to work may need reliable temporary child care.

  • Unless you are 100% self-quarantining, there is hardly any work situation we can be in where we will not be exposed to someone. Social distancing is the best way to flatten the curve. It gives us the best chance of not passing this on to anyone. Going out anywhere to work is a risk, but again, those who work outside of licensed health professions do not swear that they are going to uphold a code of ethics to first do no harm. If you are a license therapist, you took that oath. Uphold it.We cannot maintain any social distance with our hands on unclothed bodies and our face inches away from theirs.

Be creative. You may possess skills that other people need that you can do at home, such as website building skills or baking bread (since there seems to be a run on that at the grocery store), proofreading, sewing, preparing taxes if you’re that savvy, or any number of things.

  • If you are a member of a professional massage association, contact their leadership and ask for their assistance in getting unemployment coverage for massage therapists during this unusual circumstance. They pay lobbyists in nearly every state. You will find the links to their leadership on their websites.

ABMP has a link on their website supporting the effort to obtain benefits for massage therapists. It allows you to send a pre-written letter that they have supplied to your congressperson by filling in your info and submitting a form. PLEASE take advantage of this call to action. They also have updates on their website about the actions in different states as far as shutting down or limiting massage therapy. ABMP also has a link to state shutdown orders on their website. 

AMTA has a link on their website supporting the effort to obtain benefits for massage therapists. It allows you to send a pre-written letter that they have supplied to your congressperson by filling in your info and submitting a form. PLEASE take advantage of this call to action. AMTA also has a link to state actions on their website. 

Keep Up with the Latest Updates

PLEASE keep abreast of your state’s situation by checking the website of your governor, your local health department, and your state massage board. There has been a lot of criticism of state boards, due to confusion that state boards have the legal authority to shut down the practice of massage on a statewide basis, which is not true. They are regulatory boards, not legislative. They can and should make announcement once your governor has signed an executive order to curtail massage, or order the shutdown of anything in your state, but they cannot personally mandate that massage therapists have to shut it down.

City councils have in some cases taken it on themselves to shut it down on a local basis. Here in my state of NC, Asheville’s council has shut it down. Other places may do the same.

Some state boards have extended the deadline for CE/license renewal and/or made allowances for taking your CE, due to the cancellation of massage meetings and conventions. In my state of NC, we are allowed to do all 24 hours online this time, instead of the usual 12. Check your board website for info.

Professional association members can get CE online at no additional charge; it’s included in your membership dues.

Centers for Disease Control

World Health Organization

 

Wise Words from Massage Therapists that I Listen to:

From Ruth Werner:
Ignore My Earlier Advice. Shut It Down.

My friends and colleagues, it’s time to shut it down. It’s past time to shut it down.
I wrote a piece two weeks ago that provided some ideas about how to take care of your practice, assuming you were still seeing clients. I hereby rescind that advice, and I apologize to anyone who was misled.

Close your practice.

For how long? Who knows?

If it were me, I would start with four weeks and re-evaluate after three.
Wouldn’t it be great if we had all the information we needed to make informed, non-panicky decisions that we knew would maximize effectiveness against the spread of COVID-19 virus, and minimize financial hardship? Sadly, we don’t have that data.

No one is going to make this decision for you. Not your membership organization, not your state board, only you.

No one is going to make this any easier for you.

This is your call. And if you want my opinion (and presumably you’re interested, because you’re reading this), here it is: close your practice.

Here are some things we know that have led me to this point of view:

1. The time between exposure and symptoms can be up to 14 days.

2. The virus is contagious for days before symptoms develop, so your “healthy client” might not be.

3. The virus stays intact on surfaces for several days; it stays intact in the air for several hours (at least).

4. COVID-19 is extremely contagious, and it doesn’t take a lot of exposure to spread from one person to another.

5. The virus appears to be contagious after symptoms subside—but we don’t know how long.

6. At this point, older people and those with impaired immune systems are not necessarily more likely than others to catch the virus, but they are more likely to need extensive medical interventions. (Although that may be changing. In some countries the number of people in hospital care are skewing much younger.)

7. We don’t have enough medical capacity to manage what’s coming—which makes it even more vital not to add to that load in any way.

There are so many things about this situation that should have been different. I could list a bunch, but (A) it wouldn’t help and (B) isn’t our blood pressure high enough without recounting all the ways our systems have failed us? And this frustration doesn’t even include some of the nutso crazypants stuff I’ve seen on Facebook and other outlets. For the record, keeping your throat moist will not prevent you from getting sick with COVID-19. Neither will holding your breath for 10 seconds.

But if we all commit to extreme social isolation, it is practically for sure that the impact of COVID-19 in this country will be less extreme, at least in the short run. While roughly the same number of people will get sick, it will happen over a longer period of time. This “flattening of the curve” means our health-care facilities might be able to keep up with our needs (see link here), which means the mortality rate will fall. And the day will come when we might be able to look back and say, “Wow, that wasn’t so bad—weren’t we silly to over-react?”

This will demonstrate that we did it right.

The naysayers and virus-skeptics and my-immune-system-is-strong-so-I’ll-do-what-I-want folks will point fingers and scoff and say we all fell for a huge hoax. Let them. They are wrong.

There’s a parallel in our recent history. In the 1970s, massive changes were put in place to limit the type of air pollution that caused acid rain. At that time, rain was literally melting our forests and corroding our buildings, not to mention what it was doing to groundwater. The changes, while expensive and inconvenient for many industries, worked. Acid rain is no longer considered a threat. And the result: some people (including some politicians who should *swearword* know better) suggest that the changes were unnecessary, because look: acid rain isn’t really a problem! Argle bargle. You can’t *swearword* win.

Let’s Make Some Lemonade!

The financial burden of losing several weeks’ of business is undeniable. I’m sorry, there’s no easy way out of this. Once this crisis has passed, it will be important to plan ahead for the next one. Financial planners recommend having at least a month’s worth of expenses put in an accessible savings account—just for events like this.

That said, having some dedicated but unscheduled time to devote to business holds a lot of potential.

This is a great time to do a really thorough cleaning of your office. Go in when it’s empty, and disinfect your equipment and surfaces. Do a top-to-bottom refresh. Dust, launder, swab, decontaminate, and shine up all your stuff. Listen to loud music while you do it. It will be fun. And when you go back to work—oh, such a joy it will be to enter your gorgeous, sparkling workplace!

This is a great time to take some continuing education online. Go shopping in the rich ABMP collection of online CE classes, here. You could take some business classes, and use this time to make plans for a grand re-opening. You could take some research literacy classes, and go on a PubMed.gov treasure hunt for articles that are up your alley. Have you always been curious about a certain technique or approach to bodywork? Here’s an opportunity to explore it to see what you might want to pursue in live classes.

Do you send out blogs or newsletters for your clients? Get ahead on your writing, and put some pieces away for later. It’s more important than ever to keep those lines of communication open, so this is a good investment of your energy. Let your clients know that while you can’t see them in person, you’re thinking of them.

It’s tax time: get ahead of your taxes for this year, and set up your books for easy use next year.

If you are caring for children during this time, include them in appropriate activities. Make them your model while you watch a technique video. Learn, or re-learn, some anatomy together. Make this time a gift.

Most of all, breathe deeply and be kind. Let’s take care of each other and help each other through a scary time. We’re going to be OK. We will emerge, poorer in money, but richer in experience, because we took the right actions. And we will be ready to help our clients and our communities come back up to full speed when the time is right.

From Cal Cates: 

Dear everyone who offers a service or type of care that is (when we’re being truly ego-free and honest) non-essential, but who is still staying open and touching/interacting in close proximity with people, but who is “being careful” and “prescreening”,
I have taken the liberty of creating a simplified form to support said caution and prescreening.
1. Please use the space below to list every surface you have touched, every place you have gone and the names of every person who has been within 6 feet of you over the last 14 days.
2. Please use the space below to do the same for each person that you listed above.
When you’re done thoroughly completing this form, the COVID-19 crisis should be over and we’ll be cool to proceed.

From Tracy Walton:
I understand that professional organizations are finding it hard–really hard–to discern right action right now. I have compassion for them and for all of us.
At the same time, this directive falls short (note–she was speaking of the original statement from AMTA, which did not advise therapists to stop doing massage).
The guidelines and messages from other countries are crystal-clear:
Social distancing now. Not tomorrow, now.
Massage is not in accord with social distancing.
Massage therapy may be health care, and important and essential, but it is elective and requires close contact by its nature.
Asymptomatic clients and therapists can and most likely are transmitting the virus.
We cannot afford to miss this. The stakes are unfathomably high.
My practice is closed for 3 weeks and probably longer.

About Me
I started taking bodywork classes back in 1993, finished massage school in 1999, and was in the first wave of people to get licensed in NC. I taught Ethics and marketing classes to my own class in massage school. They needed an instructor and I was qualified, so I was hired. I love massage therapy. I received my first one over 30 years ago when I woke up one morning and couldn’t turn my head. My enlightened mother took me to get a massage. After spending over 20 years in the restaurant business, I sold out and started massage school. I became an Approved Provider of Continuing Education, and since that time, I’ve taught more classes than I can count, mainly in the areas of Ethics, but also teacher training classes, marketing, and massage classes.

I also spent several years volunteering as a Unit Coordinator, and later as the administrator of all the coordinators for the NC Chapter of AMTA. I spent five years serving on the North Carolina Board of Massage & Bodywork Therapy, and was twice a delegate to the FSMTB. I’m the author of Heart of Bodywork, the Ethics column of ABMP’s Massage & Bodywork Magazine and the author of numerous books. Most are massage related; a few are on other topics, including one on the state of healthcare in every nation in the world.

I spent 13 years as a clinic owner employing a chiropractor, numerous massage therapists, a naturopath, an acupuncturist, an esthetician, and at various times, other practitioners. I closed it in 2016 when my deceased husband, Champ Allen, was sick. I spent three years working as the Massage Division Director of Soothing Touch, the massage product company, and for a little over a year, I have been working for CryoDerm, the pain relief and massage product company. They are a family-owned company located in FL; I live in NC. I am fortunate to get to work from home. I was recently promoted to President of Sales & Marketing there.

I have also maintained a very small client list for massage that I see in a local spa, usually about 6-8 clients per month. I am not seeing anyone at this time, and don’t intend to until I can be sure it’s safe to do so. I don’t know when that will be. None of us do. I am practicing social distancing and as close to self-quarantine as I can get. My mother, who lives a few miles away from me, is 81, in compromised health, and needs help at times, so I will continue to go there as needed. She has a  home  health care aid most days. I will run necessary errands to keep her from going out. Otherwise, my husband James Clayton (I remarried last year) and I are staying at home with our dogs. Even my brother, who lives directly behind me, and I are maintaining 6 feet between each other. He was injured in a serious accident last year, has had 7 surgeries as a result of that, and has implanted antibiotics. James is a two-time cancer survivor who has had a lot of chemo and radiation, which does a whammy on the immune system, so I certainly don’t want to bring anything home to him.

I wish you all the best in these trying times and I hope you all remain well.

Laura Allen Clayton

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The Financial Health of Our Organizations: NCBTMB

I’ve been on hiatus from blogging about the politics of massage and the massage organizations since 2016. It’s time-consuming, and I was just too overwhelmed during the sickness and subsequent passing of my spouse. Plenty has happened in the interim; on a happy note, I got married on July 5 of this year. In February of 2019, I accepted a job as VP of Sales & Marketing at CryoDerm. I also still do a couple of massages every week to keep my hand in, so to speak. During the past few years while I was on break, people have continued to contact me almost daily to report something going on and encouraging me to blog about it. I will probably never be as prolific a blogger as I once was, but I feel I can take a little time to jump back into the fray.

For several years, I reported on the financial status of our massage organizations, which except for ABMP, are all non-profit organizations that are obligated to release their 990 filings. Non-profits are on a different filing schedule than the rest of us, so this report is based on their latest filing for the year 2017. I thought that was a good place to begin again, so I’ll start with the finances of the NCBTMB, which I haven’t reported on since 2014. Click here to read that blog, as it will give you further insight into where things have been, and the direction it appears to be heading. As most of Massage Land is aware, the NCBTMB got out of the licensing business after the MBLEx nearly obliterated their status as the sole path to licensing, except for the few states that had their own. They now offer Board Certification, several specialty certifications, and still administrate the Approved Provider program as sources of revenue.

No announcement has been made about it by the NCBTMB, but Steve Kirin, CEO for the past 8 years, departed in October and has not been replaced. Portia Resnick, the current president of the Board, is acting as interim CEO. Kirin’s salary was reported less than $150,000 a year, which was a very big come-down from some of the previous CEOs. In 2007, when the NCBTMB was in its heyday, the CEO was making over $250,000 and the organization’s revenue was over 8.6 million dollars. Things are obviously not what they used to be back when they were administering thousands of National Certification exams every year. The figures don’t lie, so any comments or criticism from me seem extraneous at this time.

You can set up a free account at Guidestar to see 990 filings from any non-profit (or pay a premium to get more information).

2018 filing (for the tax year beginning 03/01/2017- 02/28/2018)Note that the NCBTMB filed a change of accounting period in 2017. This return covers only two months from 01/01/2017-02/28-2017. 2017 filing (for the tax year beginning 01/01/2016- 12/31/2016)2016 filing (for the tax year beginning 01/01/2015-12/31/2015
Program Service Revenue1,324,304225,7751,509,4902,015,353
Investment Income34,2151,84815631,568
Other Revenue21,3523,86631,118188,939
Total Revenue1,379,871231,4891,540,7642,235,860
Salaries, other employee compensation, benefits838,837136,246897,2061,066,871
Other expenses689,053188,0391,031,6861,137,897
Total expenses1,527,890324,2851,928,8922,204,768
Revenue less expenses-148,019-92,796-388,12831,092
Total Assets885,018964,5001,006,4541,338,085
Total Liabilities265,700245,257218,547221,017
Net Assets or Fund Balances619,318719,249787,9071,117,068
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I Had to Go There to Get Here

On September 5, I’ll be 60. I look in the mirror and think “When did that happen?” Although I have a few more lines on my face, and a whole lot more gray hair that I refuse to dye, I think I look younger than I did 5 or 10 years ago…or maybe I’m just in denial! I took this picture yesterday morning while I was sitting in the dark  having my coffee. No makeup, I hadn’t even combed my hair. My sole adornment is the look of peace on my face.

It’s been a hell of a decade since I hit the half-century mark. It was filled with accomplishment and failure, sickness and death, and loss and sadness. It was filled with love and support from family and friends. It was filled with travel and work and writing and playing music. It was filled with drama that I have separated myself from. It was filled with coming out of the darkness, finding new gloriousness, and landing in a place of comfort and joy and gratitude.

I’m grateful for my parents and my three brothers. I’m grateful for the lifelong friends I have, and some that aren’t lifelong but are family of selection all the same. I’m grateful for my work and that I’ve been able to make a living doing things I love. I’m grateful that I spent 25 years with a good man until death did us part…tomorrow would have been our anniversary and I know he is smiling down on me. I’m grateful for the little house in the country I’ve lived in for 33 years, and my dogs, Fido and Queenie. I’m grateful that I have found love again in the form of James Clayton, whom I married on July 5…I consider myself twice blessed. He makes me think. He picks flowers for me and leaves me cards at random times in random places. He makes me laugh when he sings. He loves my dogs and they love him. He is a gardener and a woodworker and a hell of a harmonica player, and a strong, stubborn survivor. We’re both moody as hell. He puts up with my moods and I put up with his. We’re figuring it out one day at a time. 

I don’t regret much in my life; in the general scheme of things, there’s very little of it I wouldn’t go through again, including the hard times. I figure I had to go there to get here.

 

 

 

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Lynda Solien Wolfe, Massage Icon, Needs Our Help

Disclosure: I am employed by CryoDerm, a company that makes pain relief products, as does BioFreeze.

I first met Lynda Solien Wolfe a few years ago, in Florida at one of the best massage events ever, when Angie Patrick of Massage Warehouse organized the Massage School Makeover contest that was won by Educating Hands in Miami. We instantly hit it off. We were sitting outside chatting and relaxing when Lynda spontaneously gave me the best foot massage I’ve ever had. How are you not going to like someone who volunteers to rub your feet? We’ve been friends ever since, usually catching up with each other at conventions around the country. A couple of weeks ago, I visited Lynda at her home in Merritt Island, FL.

Most people in the massage profession know Lynda as the face of BioFreeze, where she has worked for many years. She has long been known for her distinctive laugh. I’ve always said if I was in a stadium full of people, I could hear Lynda laughing above anything else. Even though she is in very precarious health now, she still laughs at every opportunity. She was laughing during our visit because Toby Keith, her bulldog, was all over me, even following me to the bathroom. He’s a hoot.  Just a few days after our visit, Lynda was hospitalized for ten days due to having her gallbladder removed. While a lot of gallbladder surgery patients get to go home the next day, that wasn’t the case with Lynda, as her diabetes and kidney failure exacerbate any other health problems that might crop up.

A few months ago, Lynda was dismissed from her job as the Vice President of Massage and Spa at BioFreeze, just a few days before her medical leave was to begin. When I saw the GoFundMe page for Lynda with the story of how this unfolded, I was shocked and dismayed. BioFreeze is a division of Performance Health, who states on their website that their products are sold in more than 100 countries. They are not some fly-by-night, rinky-dinky company. A statement on their website under “Our Values” states “We always operate with the highest integrity.” How is eliminating the job of a person who is in serious need and who has served this company in the way Lynda has for many years a sign of high integrity? I doubt if their bottom line would have been greatly affected if they had given her the medical leave.

Lynda continued representing BioFreeze right up until the day they eliminated her job. I saw her at several massage events last summer when she was obviously ill, but she was there doing her job for them, laughing as usual, and maintaining her positive attitude. She is still maintaining a positive attitude in the face of her illness. She is running the Massage Makes Me Happy campaign from her bed. She wouldn’t let me leave her house until she gave me a bag of stickers and a bag of pins to take with me.

If you’d like to send Lynda a card of encouragement, you can send it to Lynda Solien Wolfe, 176 Via Harvarre, Merritt Island, FL 32953. And if you’re able and led to, please donate to the GoFundMe campaign.

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New Year, No Fear

In a few more hours it will be 2019. The year that I’m going to turn 60…when did that happen? I’m just grateful to still be here. The last few years have been kind of rough, but I’m still kicking.

I’m not making any resolutions this year. I’m just carrying on with the mantra I’ve been repeating to myself for the past few months: No Fear. 

I’ve taken a few leaps of faith in my lifetime, some of them during the past year. I gave up a lucrative job because I felt isolated working from home all the time, and I had the desire to get back out there and do massage. I was a little concerned about walking away from a regular guaranteed paycheck, but I’m getting along just fine. I also allowed myself to fall head over heels in love with someone new, and so far, that’s working out, too.

The thing is, fear creeps in when you don’t expect it. I’m not talking about fear of the things that go bump in the night…that happens when you live in an old house. I’m talking about insecurity-type fear. Fear of not being everything everybody expects me to be. Fear of not being a good enough partner, a good enough teacher, a good enough writer, a good enough musician, a good enough friend, a good enough human being…fear of just not being good enough, period.

I’m trying hard to let go of that, because I am the only one I have to face when I look in the mirror. The older I get, the more I realize that I am not obligated to live up to anybody else’s expectations of me, and maybe I’ve been too hard on myself, and take too many things personally. As someone dear to me who is gone used to say, “What you think of me is none of my business.”

I may never write a best-seller. I’ll keep playing music in local bars…I won’t ever play at the Coliseum. I might teach classes that attract 20 people instead of 200. But I realize that I’ve had the same core group of good friends for most of my life…a few of them since childhood, others for 3 or 4 decades, and some newer ones who think I’m worth their time, and money can’t buy that. I am blessed with someone who knows my shortcomings, and loves me in spite of them. I may not have everything I want,but I do have everything I need. And I’m good enough.

Happy New Year to one and all, Peace on Earth, and I wish you a 2019 with No Fear.

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