I spent 15 years in the Air Force, and if you would've told me back then that I'd end up running a wellness studio, I probably would've laughed. Self-care wasn't exactly the vibe. Early mornings, physically demanding days, schedules that did not care how your body was feeling — you just showed up and did the thing. Pushing through wasn't just expected, it was kind of the whole culture.
Here's the thing nobody tells you, though — you don't just stand down from that mindset the day you get out. Your body never actually got the "at ease."
What all those years actually leave behind
I don't know a single veteran who doesn't carry tension somewhere — shoulders, neck, low back, you name it. Not always from one big injury, just from years of your body adapting to way more strain than it was ever really built to hold, and never getting permission to fully relax.
And honestly? A lot of us were never trained to prioritize ourselves in the first place. The mission always came first — your needs came last, if they came up at all. So even once you're out, that habit doesn't just switch off. You have to relearn it on purpose, and that's a lot harder than it sounds when "push through it" has been your default setting for years.
Then there's getting care through the VA
If you've been a VA patient, you know exactly what I mean when I say it's its own kind of endurance test. You wait for the appointment. You wait in the waiting room. You explain your whole history again to someone new because your last provider transferred. And by the time you're actually being seen, a lot of us have already talked ourselves out of half of what we came in for — because we're used to it taking a while, and we're used to making do.
None of that is a knock on the people working there — I've had genuinely good providers at the VA. It's just the reality of the system, and it's exactly why so many veterans end up putting their own care on the back burner. When getting help already feels like a process, "I'll deal with it later" becomes the default.
Why I built Zenergy around this
When I became a Certified Neuromuscular Therapist, this was exactly the pattern I wanted to work with — tension that's been sitting in the same spot for years because your body is still standing at attention, still bracing for the next thing.
Why the veteran discount actually means something to me
Every veteran who books with me gets 10% off with code VET10, and it's not just a nice little marketing perk. I know the "embrace the suck" instinct because I lived it. This is my way of making it a little easier to finally stand down and let someone take care of you for once.
What that looks like here
Zenergy Wellness is my little studio at Suite Society in Sandy Springs. I'm a Georgia-licensed massage therapist (MT015740) and Certified Neuromuscular Therapist, but I'm also someone who spent 15 years learning the hard way why rest matters — and built this place so other veterans have somewhere to finally be at ease.