You feel like you are completely ready. Ready and waiting for that call to come back and reopen. Besides, you have been preparing and working with like-minded colleague in the same situation, through multiple Zoom calls for months. You have everything in line, laser organized, spreadsheets, manuals and SOP’s galore and all you need to do is push the button and you’re ready to go!
Then that call comes, “it’s official, we are opening next Thursday”, six days from now! Six emotions Later, I sit here today with a great sense of accomplishment. Opening up a spa after a pandemic mandated closure, did not come with a rulebook. So naturally emotions run high and six emotions later, I realize for the first time in a while, I was truly in tune with what I needed to do, as the clarity after a long reprieve, was palpable.
EXCITEMENT
This is what I hoped for over the past few months. To reopen and get back to work. To bring my team back together and offer our services to our guest once again. So naturally I was thrilled and the adrenaline was high and the mood was positive.
FEAR
Am I going to be able to pull this all together by myself? I lost my entire front desk team for other opportunities, my second in charge cannot be called back yet and I only have one day prior to bring back who I have left on the team and train on new protocols!
STRESS
Naturally the fear leads to a bit of stress and doubt, which I immediately replace with a reminder of my excitement about being fortunate enough to reopen. Therefore, I do not allow my self to linger in this state for more than one brief moment. I push this doubt and stress aside and remember I am in a world of wellness and balance. I hold strong to live my truth and maintain my positive mindset.
GRATITUDE
To learn I have help as some of the former team starts to confirm their return, new-experienced talent comes onboard with a book of business, and a fellow Spa Director waiting for her spa to reopen joins me in the interim to assist. Grateful to rebuild a team once again and excited to embrace what I love to do most, building something new, positive and meaningful.
PRIDE
Proud to be in the industry of wellness and seeing what we have built before Covid-19, is coming together again in a slightly different way, but yet still in a way that lends an environment of comfort, care and luxury.
ACCOMPLISHED
That we did this in 6 days and actually exceeded my already meticulous expectations! The spa is ready to open and seeing our first wave of customers delighted to return to their wellness lifestyle has put a smile on our faces. To see the need and pent up demand, was a refreshing and hopeful embrace.
Going through six emotions and having only six days, seemed like a lot in the beginning, but the feeling of putting this all together and doing what we do best leaves you with a sense of accomplishment that is all worth the effort. No matter how hard something may seem in the beginning, focusing on the end result and that feeling it ensues will make the process that much more enjoyable. To all the Spa Directors out there, I wish you well and, in the end, remember our world of wellness, is a gift to all!
By: Linda Higgs, Director of Spa & Wellness, Auberge Beach Resort
Florida Spa & Wellness Association Board of Directors – Chair