Confessional

What is it about hair stylists, physical therapists, massage therapists, and any other personal wellness professional that makes you want to bear all? I swear, when you get in the chair or on the table, things just come spilling out of your mouth and after you say them, you just think "why did I just say that?" Yet, you continue. It's like these people are experts on slyly probing you for information. It usually goes something like this. The other day I went to get my hair cut and the hair stylist and I were just making small talk. She asked if was married and I said, "no." She responded, "really...you are so cute." It started as a trickle-"Well, I just recently got divorced." She said, "Oh really I am sorry to hear about that. That must be really hard." Then the whole dam broke and before I knew it I had shared my whole life story. Starting with when my ex-husband and I met, all the way down to when our marriage dissolved. She never asked me to tell her the whole story, but all the affirmations, exclamations, and clarifying questions worked as a catalyst.

This is not my only experience with this. The other day I was talking to my massage therapist and she asked me about my relationship status and the whole thing happened all over again, except she asked me questions. She asked me, "So what happened? What do you think it was?" The hardest thing about the reason behind my divorce is that I'm not sure what it was. It was so abstract and somewhat incomprehensible to me. went through all the list of possible reasons and before I knew it I said something like, "Well, I don't know. Maybe the intimacy wasn't good for him." And immediately I thought, "WOW! Did I really just say that? WHY THE HECK DID I JUST SAY THAT?! Am I really telling my massage therapist about my love life." I wanted to die! Right at that moment my physical therapist walked in and he said, "Oh honey, there's no good or bad sex for guys, there's just sex." I am pretty sure I turned all the shades of red. Luckily my head was shoved into that little hole, so no one could see the humiliation on my face. Although I have to say, the comment from the physical therapist was quite humorous.

So, why do people in these professionals inspire you to confess everything? Do they receive some special psychological training while they are school? Is it because you are trapped on a seat or table for an hour or two and there is no where to run or nothing to distract you? I don't know what it is, between getting my hair done and getting PT appointments 2 times a week, who needs a therapist? I work on all my issues while I work on my split ends.