Am I wrong for wanting my wife to leave my self care spots just for me?

Question

Hi there

So I’ve been pursuing more self care, specifically in ways to relax and find ways to relive stress. My body is broken (multiple surgeries over the years) so I have found a little kitschy, old school Chinese massage and nail spa (not that kind, to be clear) where I go twice a month for massages and once a month for a pedicure and manicure. I love to chop it up with the older ladies and get advice - super sweet and kind and just have about an hour to myself to decompress. They give brutally good deep tissue massages and crack up after every pedicure when I get my toes painted.

Anyway, I’ve taken my wife a couple of times for a couples massage, and she’s jokes that these ladies are trying to “steal her man.” Mind you, most of these women could be my mom. I’ve mentioned, respectfully, that I kind want some spaces that are just for me to have - I regularly work 10+ hours a a day in a high stress job, and having this small thing for myself, is sort of important. I spend all my time with my family - I don’t go to bars or happy hour with coworkers, and my wife and kids are my life and I do everything with them. She was kind of irked that I said this, and maybe that should be expected.

But today, she made an appointment there and it bothered me. She’s a homemaker, and there’s a ton of massage businesses near our home (this one is 20-25 away) and I feel like she did it just because I said this. I only mentioned the homemaker piece from a logistics perspective - it’s not on her way home from work or anything, not near the house, etc

Am I being selfish, being stupid, just plain wrong for this? The is a completely innocent experience here, so the stigma of Chinese massage parlors is NOT part of this and I don’t even like she jokes about that. Tons of people come here - women, men, all ages, etc

Some input would be appreciated. Sorry for the exhaustive post. I can’t help but ramble.

Posted Apr 9, 2026, 7:56 PM UTC

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