Thursday, January 22, 2009

Why You Should Be Going to a Korean Spa


Korean spa. Never been? Here's the gist: you hang out with other naked individuals of the same sex, you sit in various hot/cold/wet/herbal/clay pools and saunas, and then you go in a big room to get scrubbed raw by a women in her underwear. A little awkward? Definitely. Totally random? Yeah, if you're not Korean. Nothing more than a masochistic indulgence? Not exactly.

The truth is, going to Korean spas can do wonders for your career. Here's how:

  1. You're naked. Uncomfortable in your own skin? Meek and quiet at work? Not for long. Shower, lounge, explore, and get scrubbed and massaged naked around other people is a sure way to get pretty darn comfortable in your birthday suit. Translation: more confidence in the office.
  2. Everyone else is naked. A lot of people hate networking events because they're shy, nervous, or just not really used to starting conversations with people they don't know. At the Korean spa, you're sitting in a hot tub full of naked ladies (or guys, depending on your chromosomes). You have to make eye contact with those naked spa-ers to avoid looking elsewhere, and you'll end up making conversation just to feel more comfortable. You might even have fun... when you're already naked, there are really no limits to the conversation! At that next networking event, you'll be a pro... because everyone there will probably be wearing clothing.
  3. You have to acknowledge your limits. A huge part of the spa experience is all of the different pools and saunas available. However, to prolong the experience, you have to listen to your body and alternate between hot and cold, wet and dry, etc. Learn to listen to your natural limits here, and you can better analyze your work load and effort levels.
  4. You are not perfect and never will be. You are dirty like everyone else. A lot of us deal with a crippling case of perfectionism. I'm one of those people. So, naturally, going to the Korean spa I figured they wouldn't be able to 'scrub' much off of me because of course I am a clean individual. As it turns out, Sarah, the elderly woman in the black lace underwear set, scrubbed a disgusting amount of dead gray skin off of my pasty, naked body. I asked her if I'd ever get to the point where she couldn't scrub anything off; she said NO. I will never be perfect, but I can do the best I can. That's all you can expect yourself to do in the workplace and in your career.
  5. New experiences give valuable new perspective. I enjoyed this spa experience because novelty gets you thinking in a broader spectrum. Are you boxed in at work? You should be trying new tasks and projects, reading different topics, or maybe finding a new job. Perhaps as a scrubber/masseuse at a Korean spa?
  6. You never know where the next opportunity lies. Perhaps that naked chick across the clay sauna is actually looking to hire someone like you. Or perhaps you just really like being naked and need to find a job that lets you wallow in your nakedness all day. You never know until you try, so why not try everything?

1 comment:

Sarah A said...

Thanks for the post, Victoria! You might like Juvenex, a Korean spa in NYC that I wrote about recently:
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/getaways/2009/jan/Juvenex-Spa-New-York.html