Picture yourself waking up on a monday morning, making your coffee, cooking breakfast, and just preparing for your work day. After you slowly start becoming an adult for the day (showering and what not), you throw on your work cloths, grab your cup of coffee, your lotion bottle, notes, car keys, and head out the door to work. When you arrive at work you go into your office to set your stuff and grab the lotion out of your bag, turn around and see a naked person laying on a table with a thin sheet and blanket covering them saying, "I am ready for you to begin."

Right now you probably have an interesting picture forming in your head and honestly I can't blame you, it sort of sounds like I just described a brothel up in Las Vegas, or one of those store front sex places in Amsterdam. But, I assure you I was not trying to describe either location. My name is Leah Richards; I am a Licensed Massage Therapist at a Chiropractor's Office and I was describing a typical work day.

So now that everyone is up to speed, yes I am a massage therapist; so yes I essentially rub naked people for a living (yes, I am aware of how wrong this sounds). Do I love my job? Yes, absolutely 100%! Are there parts of my job I dislike? Yes, of course there are. At the end of the day I couldn't see myself doing anything else. But, working with people or a person can create some awkward situations and thoughts that only massage therapists would go through.

So, here are five thought bubbles that go through a Massage Therapist's mind

*I can not speak for all LMT's of course. These thoughts and opinions are my own and no one else's*

1. "Be careful not to touch the nipple, am I to close to the nipple? Oh man where is the nipple in range of the breast tissue? Wait!?!?! is he getting an erection? What do I do? Should I put my elbow in his shoulder, will that make the erection go away?!?! Is he going to fall in love with me now?"

While people get massage they usually get either half naked or all the way naked. This for therapist is fine; we can work into the muscles easier. But, there is always the change of touching or seeing something you don't want to see.

2. "Did you shower today?"

Sometimes the clients that therapists get are either coming straight from work or they didn't have time to shower before the massage. Pro tip: make sure you have a diffuser or oil buring in your massage office. It is a nose life saver.

3. "Please don't hit on me, I don't like you."

After a massage is finished, the client's brain produces oxytocin in the brain making them think their massage therapist is the greatest thing since sliced bread. This can just become a bit awkward for both people.

4. "Their calf muscle is swollen?!? Could it be a blood clot? Should I cancel the massage? Is the Client going to yell at me?"

Unfortunately this is a very true statement. There are a lot of things that can pop up during a massage that would cause the therapist to end the session for health or liability reasons

5. "I hope they liked the massage. I hope they come back."

You want to be able to help people, but there is always a nagging thought in the back of your mind that you didn't do the best job you could have done. But, I feel like that is true in all jobs (give or take).

Just remember that your Massage Therapist is a person that went into this profession to help people live a better life. So, the next time you get a massage, remember to be nice and tip your therapist!