Melissa and Loralie have partnered with Advocate Condell Medical Center Centre Club to spend the next year working to achieve their health goals. They’ll be documenting their steps to get Movin’ and Improvin’ and be fit by 40. This is not a weight loss series, this is a journey towards health. Read the series introduction to learn more. Today we hear from Melissa…
Phew, it’s the end of October, finally.
I don’t know about you, but October has been insane for our family. If I thought that summer was hard to find time, having four kids in school and traveling for a team sport made it look like a vacation.
Ahhh a vacation.
What I wouldn’t give to go to a nice spa. Sit in a steam room, get a massage, maybe a facial, close my eyes and just listen to silence or some quiet chime-filled spa music?
Ahhhhh… if only.
What I have learned through this journey and partnership is that self-care cannot fall to the bottom of my to-do list and that sometimes self-care looks like sitting in a quiet steam room, alone, with no one talking to me.
I can find an hour, and if I can find an hour, you can!
Centre Club offers Wellness Services at both of it’s locations. One of those services is massage. Now massages used to seem like a super luxurious thing that I would splurge on. Now that I’m getting…cough cough, older, cough…I’m finding that a massage is just as much an act of self-care as a trip to the gym.
Raising small children is hard. Small children that do not sleep, throw tantrums, need to be carried or require you to shoot soccer balls with them are not only hard to keep up with, but are hard on your body. As Barb says above, a massage is not only relaxing, it can help you recover from a workout and reduce stress and it can also help you sleep and actually finish a thought (that could be the quiet, too).
After a particularly grueling week with the kids that included an eight-hour drive in the car, I booked a massage at the Centre Club Libertyville Location. The cost was very reasonable compared to other local providers–in fact, I thought it was a great deal! Oh, and I didn’t need to hire a sitter! I just dropped my son off at KidsTown (which he is already familiar with) and loves playing at. It was me time that didn’t require (too) much planning and almost no thought.
After dropping off my son, I checked in at the front desk and was given a plush robe and headed to the locker room to change. Both clubs offer massage and it’s accessed from the locker rooms. No worry about wearing a robe in a public space or who you will see in the waiting room. You can relax and wait for the therapist to come out and get you. When you finish, the showers are right there.
The massage was amazing and I walked back out in a little over an hour ready to tackle all that I had to do. Are their higher end spas, could I have planned a day long pampering somewhere with exotic procedures that ooze zen? Yes, but I wouldn’t get around to it. Self-care doesn’t happen if it’s out of the way; this was part of our routine, in a place we were familiar and where it worked into our schedule.
In addition to the massage services, each club has a whirlpool, sauna, and steam room. They also offer Wellness Services available to both the community and Centre Club members that are run by Condell Medical Staff. These services help you develop and maintain healthy lifestyles drawing on not only the services of Centre Club but the on the medical resources of Condell Medical Center.
So while I haven’t made any amazing or drastic transformations in my #fitby40 quest since my last installment, I’ve been reminded (again) that it’s about taking care of myself–and that means all types of self-care that fits in our schedule.
Advocate Condell Medical Center – Centre Club is a Hospital-based health and wellness club owned by Advocate Condell Medical Center and operated by Midtown Athletic Clubs. They offer a choice of group exercise, basketball, racquetball, weight lifting, swimming, indoor track and more. They also offer various health programs, personal trainers and massage therapy.
Connect with Advocate Condell Centre Club
200 W Golf Rd, Libertyville | (847) 990-5750
AND
1405 Hunt Club Rd, Gurnee | (847) 625-4750
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Disclosure: Loralie and Melissa have received a one-year membership from Advocate Condell Centre Club in exchange for sharing their journey and progress with our readers. All thoughts and opinions belong to the writer and no further compensation was received.
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