As a massage therapist, you incline to help others. But as a small business owner, it can be challenging to make time for self-care, especially if you’re a one-person shop. If you don’t carve out time for yourself, your massage career and business could stall from burnout.

What is burnout?

The Mayo Clinic defines burnout as “a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity.”

When you’re busy juggling all the roles you’re responsible for as a massage therapist and business owner, burnout can creep up on you quickly if you’re not putting self-care first.

Some symptoms of burnout include:

• Exhaustion
• Fantasizing about escaping your responsibilities
• Severe procrastination
• Frequent illness
• Using food, alcohol, or drugs to cope with work-related stress

Here are some of our favorite tips to help you stave off burnout with self-care:

Start with your sleep habits

Getting good sleep is one of the most important things you can do for your body. If you don’t mind sleeping with something on your wrist, wear a smartwatch or monitor to track how well you’re resting. You may have heard that REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is the most important phase, but all sleep phases have their benefits. For example, during non-REM sleep, your body builds bone and muscle, regenerates and repairs tissue, and strengthens your immune system.

If you have trouble getting to sleep, create a routine and aim to go to bed around the same time every night. Put away your phone, close your laptop, turn off your TV, and dim your bedroom lights thirty minutes to an hour before jumping into bed. Then, dive into a good book to help put your mind and body into a state of relaxation.

If you wake up at night and think about everything you must do the next day, try writing down a to-do list or journaling before bed. This exercise will help your brain “empty” those thoughts and set you up for a solid night’s rest.

Show your feet some love

You’re on your feet all day, so a foot soak or long bath is a great way to soothe those aching joints and muscles. You probably practice self-massage often, but if not, hug those pressure points!

Schedule time with friends and family

We’ve all been there. You try to connect with friends or catch up with family, but life gets in the way. Before you know it, you realize it’s been weeks or months since you last saw your loved ones.

Try scheduling a little time to spend with your friends or family each week. Maintaining and building relationships will keep you feeling present and mindful.

Get outside more often

You probably know that walking outside lowers cortisol levels and blood pressure, but did you also know that being in nature has been shown to improve focus and concentration?

Maybe it’s time to take a short walk outdoors before you sit down to update your SOAP notes or review your sales activity.

Create a workspace you love

No matter where you practice massage therapy, you likely have a desk (or kitchen table) where you do everything from filing paperwork to scheduling appointments. If your space feels makeshift, invest a little time and money into making it your own.

If there’s anything that the work-from-home trend has taught us, having an inviting and dedicated workspace can increase your productivity and job satisfaction.

Automate and streamline your massage business

Automating and streamlining your daily tasks can free you up to be a better, more focused massage therapist. The right piece of business management software can help!

MassageBook is an easy-to-use business management software that simplifies the work you’d rather not be doing and makes your days more productive. Manage scheduling, clients, SOAP notes, marketing, payments, and more with an all-in-one solution built specifically to keep your massage therapy business thriving.

What will you do with the extra time and energy you save each week with MassageBook? Practice self-care daily? Put yourself first more often? Keep burnout at bay?

Now’s the perfect time to find out! First, try every feature in MassageBook free for 30 days. Then, pick the best plan for you—including the free-for-a-year Transition Plan.

Get Started Now to Kick Off Your Next Stage of Self-Care