That's what we all want, right? A chance to build a career, make money, live our lives in our grand houses, driving our awesome cars, and to be happy.
I think, if I had the chance, I'd be an entrepreneur. I feel like I have a lot of good ideas, just don't have the cash to fund those ideas, you know? I'd love to start my own business. But it would have to be a business that I know I could live on. I'd love to be a wedding planner or have my own interior design company. But for me to do that, I'd have to know I'd succeed.
So, I guess, I'm not sure if this post is out of jealousy or if I really am kind of wondering what the hell The American Dream is coming down to.
I was alerted to this new "business" starting in Madison. It's a Snuggle House. Yep. A Snuggle House. Nothing inappropriate (allegedly). I had no idea there was a market for such a thing? Sure, touch therapy is a real thing. I was advised by a nurse that when I had anxiety attacks I should have my husband massage my shoulders or legs in a circular motion because touch is proven to help anxiety.
There's even a form of "therapeutic touch" (that isn't actually touching, but a transfer of energy)
that is used in cancer treatment as an alternative therapy.
"Therapeutic Touch (TT) is a technique in
which the hands are used to direct human energy for healing purposes.
There is usually no actual physical contact.
The practice of Therapeutic Touch is based
on the belief that problems in the patient's energy field that cause
illness and pain can be identified and rebalanced by a healer. Harmful
energy is believed to cause blockages and other problems in the
patient's normal energy flow, and proponents of TT claim the treatment
removes those blockages. TT is promoted by some to improve conditions
such as pain, fever, swelling, infections, wounds, ulcers, thyroid
problems, colic, burns, nausea, premenstrual syndrome, diarrhea, and
headaches. They also say that TT is useful in treating diseases such as
measles, Alzheimer's disease, AIDS, asthma, autism, multiple sclerosis,
stroke, comas, and cancer. In practice, TT is generally promoted as a
complementary therapy, to be used with standard medical care."
However, I would like to talk to said owner of Snuggle House and ask him how he came up with this idea and his intent. I would also like to talk to said clients of Snuggle House and ask them what makes the idea of being snuggled by complete strangers appealing to them.
This is America. You can open whatever business you choose. That's why we're America. But, hey Americans? I feel like, you know, just as one American to another, since we're kind of on the outs with the rest of the world, we should bond together against ridiculous things like this and focus on being semi normal.
I mean it's just a thought, but maybe we could spend our money on making our homeless not homeless. Or feeding our hungry. Or building transit systems across the United States to reduce our carbon footprint. Or maybe you don't even want to help anyone else. That's cool too. Maybe you want to save your hard earned money and travel and see what else is out there! Broaden your horizons, educate, learn about different cultures!
Good on ya, Snuggle House. You're living The American Dream. Can't hold that against you. Or can I?
Well, since you asked:
ReplyDelete-First, I'm not very comfortable around either dogs or cats. I'm equally as put off by the idea of owning or snuggling a dog or a cat as most people apparently are by cuddling with another person who you don't know at first. I guess if I wanted to get really snarky about it, I could say, "Hey, our society wastes a lot of money on pets that could be better used to fight homelessness or for building public transit." I honestly don't understand the appeal of pet ownership. I understand the fact that a lot of people like having them around, and I have no problem with that as long as they train their pets not to bite or jump on strangers, and they clean up after them. It just seems completely foreign to me, just like snuggling with someone you don't know very well is apparently foreign and odd to most people. But I understand that not everyone has to be the same as me. I suppose I could just try to get more comfortable with dogs or cats but it honestly doesn't sound very appealing to me and would most likely just dramatically INCREASE my stress level until I gave up trying to have one.
Second, not everybody has a significant other like you do. Some people have a very hard time forming even platonic friendships with other people, much less finding a romantic relationship. This could be for various reasons, some of which are actual medically diagnosable conditions, such as autism spectrum disorders, etc. However, as long as we obey the law, are able to find jobs, didn't suddenly lose a family member, weren't abused as a child, and aren't a danger to ourselves or others, etc., it's kind of hard to get a psychologist to take us seriously when there are so many people who are even worse off, and it's also hard to find someone that actually understands how to help. Maybe you'd like to start a business that would actually specialize in helping people form more effective personal relationships, and provide an environment which would help people build self-confidence. That would certainly be more productive than mocking us, or, for crying out loud, "bonding together against" us.
Third, I don't see this as all that different than going to a regular licensed massage therapist, except that you have the ability to reciprocate the physical touching. Getting massages has been a pretty decent way to help with the lack of physical touch in my life, except that I often wish that I could give the therapist a hug, or just hold them for a while, but I understand that isn't really considered acceptable within the professional constraints of massage therapy. This is a situation where it would be acceptable.
Fourth, I think something like this could actually be helpful in terms of forming relationships with other people, because I wouldn't feel as desperate for physical touch and might come across as more relaxed and confident.
I'm not ordinarily one to go around complaining or feeling sorry for myself... but I have to say that it's been pretty disheartening that people are more disturbed by the existence of something like the Snuggle House and not disturbed by the fact that there are actually respectful people who feel lonely and touch-deprived enough to patronize such a business. If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem, and the Snuggle House is at least trying to be part of the solution, even if they're mainly addressing the symptoms and not the root issue.
Obviously, my name is not Dilly and I am not a duck--but I did not want to post this under my real name.