No, not a hot tub machine. Just a regular one. But it’s still great.
You see, if you’re anything like me, you don’t even know you are stressed out. You’re moving day to day at lightning speed, trying to fit in everything before you put your head on the pillow. And then suddenly, you are crying in a fetal position, wiping your eyes and feeling a giggle rise up in your throat as you realize that you need to take a break. (And you need to do more than eat a kitkat.)
So, what do you do? Read a book? Listen to music? Take a walk?
Perhaps. But in essence, you need to submerge yourself in something other than your daily life. For me, it is more literal. Because there is nothing lovelier than submerging myself in a hot tub. The wind and the water are enough to bring me back to where I need to be.
But a hot tub, I’ve realized, is only a giant metaphor for how you are actually feeling. When you get in, you don’t realize how hot it is after you’ve been swimming around. This is the same with your stress: you don’t realize how anxious you have been feeling because it is your norm. Then, as you sink in, the water starts to evaporate into the air, and so do your worries. And of course, you have stripped down to your bathing suit or shorts. This is also a metaphor: when you are at your most vulnerable, you can start to heal.
But getting into the hot tub is not enough. You need to let yourself relax. Convince yourself that you actually deserve to put your feet up. Without that, you will literally feel like you are drowning in the very hot tub. The heat will feel too close instead of melting into you like a second skin.
So, do you need a physical hot tub to have a good time? Of course not. But if you don’t let yourself into the mental one from time to time, if you don’t let yourself let go, you will become clogged and full of stress. Open up your jets, and let the relaxation flow.
Bailey Dailey 