In 2019, I went back to school to study psychology.
At the time, I had been practicing massage for about 9 years and was very burned out from working in the wellness industry. I was doing 6 to 8 massages a day 5 days a week... while navigating a recent diabetes diagnosis. I craved helping people, but I was exhausted all the time, and I wasn’t sure how much longer my body could continue working the way I had been.
Going back to college felt exciting. I was ready to learn something new and imagine a different future.
I had dreamed of becoming an addiction counselor with my own office: Sitting one-on-one with people, listening to their stories, and helping them work through their past and navigate their daily lives. I had overcome an addiction in my early 20's and I wanted to help others do the same. I loved studying the brain and found myself fascinated by the ways our experiences shape our thoughts, behaviors, relationships -and bodies. For about four years, I balanced school part-time with working full-time, and caring for my daughter.
I’m especially grateful to my family for being there to help every step of the way. I truly wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.
I moved very slowly through the college curriculum, taking 1 or 2 classes at a time, but I kept going. I was proud of myself for continuing to learn while carrying so many other responsibilities.
Then life changed again.
I found out my son was on his way into this world. At 8 months pregnant, I closed my business- Then called: Intuitive Massage and Bodywork, I stepped away from school (I felt I no longer was able to focus), and I focused on another dream: building my family.
But bodywork is more than just a job for me. It feels like a calling. While I was away coping with postpartum life, I realized how much I missed my clients and working. So when my son was four months old, I returned to massage.
But I didn’t come back as the same person who had left. A new spark had ignited in me.
While I was home with the kids, I continued studying herbalism, something I had been practicing for household-use for over a decade. Herbal medicine is particularly meaningful to me because it helped support me mentally, physically, and spiritually after overcoming opioid addiction. I felt ready to bring more of it into my work and I realized how much I loved running my own business. So, a new vision for my career began to emerge. Sammi Jo's Massage and Apothecary was born.
I could use my psychology background to create more intentional one-on-one experiences with my clients. I could draw from my herbalism education to incorporate holistic healing - and TEA! I could use my continuing education and knowledge from working in a chiropractic office to offer more medical massage. I could draw from my years in the spa industry to create treatments that feel calming and supportive of the nervous system. Along with the interesting new classes I have scheduled coming soon- I could bring all of these modalities together to create a unique and restorative experience for each client. I’m grateful that my work can hold all of these parts of me.
It all fits together.
I didn’t finish my psychology degree, but college helped me feel capable and the education I received continues to shape the way I work. I’m more interested than ever in the relationship between emotional well-being and physical health.
Maybe this is what growth looks like: not becoming someone entirely new, but gathering everything you’ve learned along the way and allowing it to become part of the work that blooms and spreads hope to others.
