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"Invades Quiet Touch – The Story of a Massage on a Ordinary Day"

It was a day as usual. From the morning to two meetings, work deadline, and constant messenger notification. When I put my laptop on, I felt all over my body. Especially, my right shoulder is stiff and my neck is turning in only one direction. My head was heavy, and my eyes seemed to be burning.

I shouldn't be living like this...’

Suddenly, a friend of mine said a few days ago, "Getting a massage is part of self-care these days. It's not just that you're sick, it's that you're tired."

The words suddenly shook my heart. So on my way home from work, I stopped by a small massage shop near my house. It's a place I used to pass by, but suddenly I wanted to go in today. When I pushed through the small front door, the subtle aroma and quiet piano music welcomed me.

"What kind of massage do you want?"

After a moment of contemplation, I chose a full-body aroma massage, complaining silently of my tired shoulders and back. The light was guided into a slightly dark room, and I left myself on a bed covered in soft linen.

As I lay face down and closed my eyes, I suddenly felt disconnected from the outside world. There are no familiar noises, no notifications, no need to care about anyone. Only my breathing, the warm touch of a stranger, was felt.

When I first received the massage, I was a little nervous. However, as the oil slowly flowed through my back and constant pressure from my fingertips permeated deep into my body, my tension gradually eased. The feeling of pressing along the spine and the movement of gently relaxing my stiff shoulders. I felt tiredness in my body as I felt, "Oh, it hurt here."

Especially when I was closing my eyes, I suddenly felt emotional at the temperature of my warm hands behind my neck. For no reason, I just felt that quiet touch was sweet. The tiredness that I couldn't tell anyone, the feeling of the unexplained emotional debris being washed away without words. It seemed like someone was saying, "It's okay, I've endured it well."

When I received the foot massage, it hurt more than I thought, but it was strangely refreshing. I unknowingly sighed at the smooth release of my hands, from the soles of my feet to my calves, which I ignored as much as I used often. It was not an exhausting sigh, but a sigh of release.

When the massage was over after an hour, I quietly lay in bed and opened my eyes. The heavy shoulders became a little lighter, and my neck turned smoothly. There was still noise outside, but the inside of me was a little different.

The sun was already setting when I came out. The air was cool, but my heart was strangely warm. For the first time, I felt that getting a massage was not just about relaxing my muscles, but about listening to myself for a while in my daily life.

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And I thought, I'm going to listen to my body's signals a little more from now on. Don't hold it in, let's look back before we hold on.

It's okay if someone doesn't console you. My body, my heart, can console me.

The reason why the massage of the day was special was that the touch did not just press the muscles, but hugged me affectionately.

In that quiet space, I felt 'I' for the first time in a long time.