Another season of new beginnings

The weeks seemed to be piling up, one right on top of the next. With the time ying by so fast, it also seemed as if the to-do list grew longer while the things checked o kept getting shorter or couldn’t keep up with everything that needed to be done and the additional things being added to the list. As they woke up to start another day, she asked her husband, “Why does everything have to be so di cult right now?”

She moved across the country with her 4-year-old son to start a new life and to reconnect with family. Her son was having a hard time adjusting to the new time zone, new surroundings, and new family members he had to get to know. His lack of sleep meant that she wasn’t getting any consistent sleep either, and the vicious cycle of no sleep and stress be- gan. Additionally, she started a brand-new job, and he started school for the rst time, causing even greater disruption and stress. She looked in the mirror one morning and asked, “Why does everything have to be so di cult right

As a career leader and salesperson he knew how large and complex deals could take longer than others. He had started the process on a new opportunity many months ago. As with any sales role, pressure comes when deals slip or push month-to-month and quarter-to-quarter. He was doing everything by the book, awlessly following the process and aligning with

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

MICHAEL DE YOANNA Editor-in-Chief michael@coloradocommunitymedia.com

THELMA GRIMES

South Metro Editor tgrimes@coloradocommunitymedia.com the buyer’s journey, yet the deal kept slipping. Finally, almost at the nish line to win the business, a week of discussion with the customer’s legal team forced more delays. He asked some of the people on his team, “Why does everything have to be so di cult right now?”

We all know stories like these, don’t we? We have all felt like this at times, haven’t we? I could add several more just like the ones above, but instead, let’s focus on what happens next.

Here we are in another season of new beginnings, and for many of us it is because we associate it with Easter as we celebrate the Risen Christ. In the week and weekend ahead, hope lls our hearts, and our outlook becomes elevated as we have new encouragement and inspiration. For some, it’s just about springtime and the budding of trees, grass turning

CHRISTY STEADMAN Editor csteadman@coloradocommunitymedia.com

LINDSAY NICOLETTI Operations/ Circulation Manager lnicoletti@coloradocommunitymedia.com

ERIN ADDENBROOKE Marketing Consultant eaddenbrooke@coloradocommunitymedia.com green again, more sunlight pouring through our window, owers beginning to bloom, and the start of baseball that gives us a new and positive attitude.

Another season of new beginnings. So I say to the couple, the mom and her son, and the professional salesperson all mentioned above, as well as any of us who may be saying the same thing right now, “Let today be a day of new beginnings.” If what we are doing right now isn’t working, let’s start over and develop a new plan that aligns with who we want to be, where we want to go and grow, and what we want to enjoy in this life. Everything will get better for you as a couple, a new, safe, and happy new life awaits you mother and child, and that deal will close as will many

SEE NORTON, P9

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FROM

PAGE others for you in your brilliant sales career. is season of life will pass just like every previous season. If we hold on to the yesterdays of life that have caused us stress, fear, worry, and doubt, we are only anchoring ourselves in that negative cycle of gloom and doom. As Zig Ziglar said, “Failure is an event, not a person, yesterday really did end last night.” It’s time for another season of new beginnings.

Editor

FROM

So, now I am conscious about making sure there’s not too much tape securing the paper or too many ribbons to untie.

Parkinson’s is weird because some changes in my dad happened slowly while others seemed to come about all of a sudden.

For instance, ve years ago, my dad could still take the family out for a day of boating on Chat eld Reservoir. And, just one year ago, he was driving his truck with no problems. Today, my dad cannot do those things. He cannot walk up stairs alone.

Falling is one of the more serious complications of the disease. Falls can be fatal if they happen at the wrong time in the wrong place, like on a staircase or slipping on ice somewhere on the ve-and-a-half acre property in Bailey where my parents live.

He did experience a couple of falls this winter. Both were serious enough that they required hospitalization and surgery, followed by weeks of rehab in a nursing home.

During one of our visits in the nursing home, in the metro area, my dad said he’s doing OK. en he said, “I want to be closer to the mountains.” I told him he needs to try to remember not to fall so he could be at home in the mountains again.

Now he has a walker, but his Parkinson’s makes him forget that he needs to use it. e dementia seems to be coming faster. So, it’s a cycle: he tries to get up out of his chair and walk somewhere and somebody, usually my mother, has to stop him or he likely falls again. Falling is now part of my dad’s life – and our family’s.

How about you? Are you asking yourself why things are so di cult right now? Would it be helpful if you could see the light and love at the end of the tunnel? I would love to hear your story at gotonorton@ gmail.com, and when we can prepare our hearts and minds for our own season of new beginnings, it really will be a better than good life.

It is still unknown why or how people develop Parkinson’s. Research on the causes and e orts to lessen the severity are making progress. According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, “scientists believe a combination of genetic and environmental factors” are to blame. Still, there is no cure for Parkinson’s. I like to think that someday there will be one. Science is already going in the right direction, with rst-of-its-kind surgeries already developed and being perfected, and new movement-based therapies that directly target the parts of the brain that help people with Parkinson’s gain control of their movement.

If a big breakthrough on Parkinson’s comes, it probably will not be in time for my dad, maybe not even for me if I ever develop the disease. I hold hope for the possibility for big improvements, or even a cure, in the lifetimes of my nieces or their children.

Awareness months o er us all a time for re ection. ey give people hope and motivate them and, perhaps most importantly, create the opportunity to share knowledge and personal stories, like mine and my dad’s.

April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month. It also happens that it is the month of my dad’s birthday. We’ll all get together, I’m sure. In my mom and dad’s mountain home.

Christy Steadman is the editor of Colorado Community Media’s Life on Capitol Hill, Washington Park Pro le and Denver Herald newspapers.

Area massage therapists laud the benefits of the practice on their clients’ ailments, stress

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Caring, compassionate hands — and sometimes feet — are used by massage therapists to help improve the lives of their clients. Massage is an ancient practice, and there are more than two dozen types throughout the world, therapists say.

Four massage therapists interviewed by Colorado Community Media say massage has become more accepted by the public, and more scienti c research is being done to document the health bene ts.

Massage can help with pain and injuries; decrease muscular tension; reduce blood pressure, swelling and in ammation; release endorphins; and much more, according to massage therapists.

“Even people who don’t have speci c problems can bene t from massage,” Destine Robertson with Alpine Medical Massage in Centennial and Conifer said. “Everybody has so much stress, and massage can help relieve that.”

People’s perceptions of massage have come a long way, the therapists said.

“A lot of people think of massage as pampering and relaxing,” Ti any Shocklee with Hearth re erapeutics in Golden said, “but it can help people who have many other issues, too.”

A blend of massage styles

Massage therapy is not an easy profession, requiring hours of training, a certi cation exam and licensing in Colorado.

“It’s become a more regulated eld,” said Mary Davis with Healing Traditions Bodywork in Evergreen, “which I think is best. I think it’s needed and necessary to protect people when they are potentially vulnerable going in for a personal treatment like massage.”

But education doesn’t stop at the 600 hours of initial training for most therapists. ey continue to learn di erent techniques to add to their repertoire.

“ e single most popular, most widely done type of massage in the U.S. and maybe in the world is Swedish massage,” Davis said. “ at is part of your basic training. It is a bit lighter, more relaxing, with long strokes. en what I do and what a lot of therapists do is integrative massage. We have received additional training in areas that have spoken to us.”

Davis said most of the time she’s integrating di erent styles and techniques in one massage.

“I have a toolbox, and I pull di erent things out based on what I’m feeling that day in their tissues and what they need,” she explained.

Jenna Courage of Littleton erapeutic Massage Center said she has blended together many styles to create her own technique.

“I make each session specialized for each client,” Courage explained. “Some techniques I use on one client but not another. I feel like I am learning from my clients. ey come in with something new, and I gure out how to work with it, then take that knowledge and use it on someone with a similar issue.”

A satisfying career

Some massage therapists like Shocklee chose the practice as their rst career, while others nd massage therapy along their career paths. Davis and Shocklee have been massage therapists for 19 years, while Robertson has spent 22 years in the profession and Courage 31 years.

“Massage is important for me,” Shocklee said. “It’s what I’m meant to do. It helps me stay connected to myself. For me to go to work feels very focusing and a relief from other parts of my day that may be chaotic. It’s doing something that is single-minded by working with one person.”

Courage was working on a premedicine degree when she realized she had a strong interest in alternative health care. She visited a massage school and signed up the next week.

Robertson, for example, worked in a bakery before moving to massage therapy, quipping that kneading bread dough helped pave the way to her next career. However, she said she should have known that massage therapy was her calling because as a young girl, she rubbed her grandmother’s shoulders. Her grandmother suggested massage therapy as a career.

Davis had a 20-year career in the nonpro t sector rst.

“I like doing things that help people,

Types Of Massage

Some of the many di erent forms of massage, including some employed by the massage therapists interviewed for this story. Definitions are provided by healthline.com.

Swedish massage: gentle full-body massage that’s great for people who are new to massage, want to release tension and desire gentle touch. It can help release muscle knots, and it’s also a good choice for when you want to fully relax during a massage.

Deep-tissue massage: uses more pressure than a Swedish massage. It’s a good option if you have muscle problems, such as soreness, injury, imbalance, tightness, chronic muscle pain. The massage therapist uses slow strokes and deep-finger pressure to relieve tension from the deepest layers of muscles and connective tissues.

Sports massage: a good option for repetitive-use injuries to a muscle such as what you may get from playing a sport. It can be used to help prevent injuries. Sports massage can increase flexibility, improve athletic performance, relieve pain, reduce anxiety and release muscle tension.

Trigger point massage: best suited for people who have injuries, chronic pain, or a specific issue or condition. Sometimes, areas of tightness in the muscle tissues, known as trigger points, can cause pain in other parts of the body. By focusing on relieving trigger points, this type of massage can reduce pain.

Reflexology: a gentle to firm pressure on di erent pressure points of the feet, hands and ears. It’s best for people who are looking to relax or restore their natural energy levels. It’s also a good option for those who aren’t comfortable being touched on but I didn’t want to make the commute and sit in an o ce,” Davis said.

Helping others e massage therapists agree that they continue to practice massage therapy for so many years because of the relationships they have with their clients and because of their ability to help others with a multitude of issues.

“It’s a pretty amazing feeling to have somebody come in (for a massage) in pain or with an issue that is a big problem in their lives, and you’re able to gure out how to work with them to help either greatly improve or resolve that issue,” Courage said. “Just the feeling of seeing them