Should Healers Get Paid?
Someone told me recently that part of their dream is to hold charity events to demonstrate the benefits of holistic health.
I said, “Drop the charity! Do you not want to be paid?”
A day later, I heard someone say, “If you’re a healer you shouldn’t be compensated for what you do otherwise that makes you a business person and not a healer.”
I said, “What?! Do you think that healers shouldn’t get paid??”
What the actual fuckety-fuck?!
I bet you’ve guessed already that both of these people who said these things are women. Broke women.
And it’s certainly not the first time I’ve heard this garbage; women basically saying that they don’t deserve to get paid.
Where are these ridiculous stories coming from? Are they making it up or is being taught in schools? Is it in a book somewhere? Wherever it is, set fire to it because it’s a load of crap.
Look, if you think it’s perfectly OK to go waltzing into a car mechanic’s garage and expect him to spend several hours fixing your leaky radiator for love instead of money, then feel free to go to a healer (doctor, massage therapist, psychologist) and expect the same.
But if you think a car mechanic should get paid for his time and expertise, then so should you and everybody else!
If someone calls themselves a “healer” – let’s use “massage therapist” as an example of a healer – if someone is a massage therapist, they deserve to be appropriately compensated for their work, and here’s why…
If a massage therapist only gives massages for free, then they’ll have to do something else in order to get paid so that they can pay their bills. This means that at least half of their time is going to be taken up doing something they’re not necessarily great at, something they don’t necessarily enjoy, something they’re not really designed for, in order to meet the bills.
But, more importantly, that gift they have, they can only do for small fraction of their time, meaning that those who need massages are missing out!
Do you get it?
Would you go and work in an insurance company for 40 hours a week without payment?
No, you wouldn’t. And just because you enjoy your work doesn’t mean you should do it for free, either!
Or is that some sort of measure in your mind of whether you should get paid? If you love it you should do it for free, if you hate it you should be paid? Is there a sliding scale in your head: if you kind-of-don’t-mind-it, you should get 50% of the pay of someone who hates it?
Think it through. Get out of cloud cuckoo land.
Unless you live in a free community – and the likelihood is you don’t and you have to pay for rent, food and electricity – then you need and deserve to get actual money (an energy credit note) for the energy you expend providing a service.
Want to get paid to do what you love? Come and learn how in my fun, friendly and helpful Facebook group Work Happy.
