Defenseman No. 9 - Xavier Neal Page 0,59
punished will be over.
My inability to speak up about his social media groupies that are crossing several lines doesn’t feel like it ever will.
New persistent buzzing informs me an alarm is going off.
That life is continuing despite my brooding.
I relocate my attention to my device and turn off the announcement. Afterwards, I stuff down my vexation and reply the robotic way I’ve programmed myself to.
Me: Have fun, baby. Be safe please.
Crash: Always. C U tom after
Seeing that he won’t be coming by tonight – or before my game in the morning – adds another reason to be grateful for my reflexology appointment that I need to get to.
The benefits and best methods of practice for this particular type of massage vary vastly. Some therapist’s support is from a scientific standpoint alone relying on the data of how stress can physically harm the body, some focus on wanting a well-rounded experience of the treatment they are executing, and some are heavy into the spiritual aspects.
Personally?
I guess it’s a compilation of all three.
Hockey provides continuous strain on the body. Those muscles need to be nourished as well as soothed and properly pampered. This ensures optimal performance and can expose areas that may require more attention I wouldn’t, necessarily, know I need from my day-to-day experiences. I believe emotional and mental tension are reflected in our physical forms, too. Bad moods can lead to stress eating or headaches. Anxiety can lead to upset stomachs or vomiting. Anger can cause a person to tense unconsciously, while sadness can lead an individual to slouch or hunch, providing agony to their spine or lower back. Those two aren’t great for a person’s physical health. Your body breaks down much faster when you don’t provide what it needs. And, the only way to give something what it needs is to listen to it. To learn to listen to it. These sessions, which started shortly after my last growth spurt during high school, have taught me the communication Dad preaches about having from person to person starts within yourself. Being able to understand that when your emotional side is imbalanced, your physical side will be pulling the weight, or vise-versa, is incredible. It’s also had a crucial hand in shaping the way I think.
The way I approach living.
Dad initiated the sessions as a way to help me cope with being humongous in comparison to my peers. It was one of his exercises that he insisted could help me understand that my body is mine. That what I choose to do with it, how I choose to see it, how I choose to treat it are all in my control. Having a massage was meant to get me to connect to that line of thought and sense just how much of me there was to love and understand.
Mom backed the play by adding – from a scientific standpoint – there were over eighty genetic variants that have an effect on height and growth hormone production, all of which were not necessarily in my control, but what I do with what I know is.
I have – hands down – the best parents a person could ever want.
They’re a little odd at times, but always loving.
That’s really all a person wants anyway, isn’t it?
Post my session with Inga, my dainty-looking therapist, who actually possesses the force of a freight train with those thumbs of hers, I head over to the Game Galleria.
Game Galleria fits its name. From the moment you walk in, they want you to know this is the place for fun and literal games. Somewhere you can escape from the stress of your “adult” life or amplify the enjoyment of your adolescent one. The employees are allowed to wear fun shit – like Superhero t-shirts or costumes – even outside of Halloween. They high-five and fist bump us regulars, yet always make sure to try to welcome the obvious newbies to give them that “hang-out” vibe many people don’t realize they crave until they’ve tasted it. On the gaming menu, they’ve got pretty much anything a person could dream of. There are throwback arcade games, pinball machines, and car racing. There are places for people to shoot everything from ducks to space pirates. They’ve also got an insane range of sports from offbeat shit, like skee ball and cornhole, to more traditional, like air hockey, bowling, and basket shooting. It’s a staple for those of us who were born and raised here in Vlasta. The majority of us have