This story originally appeared in the September/October issue of Capital Region Living, Saratoga Living‘s sister magazine.
Is stress weighing you down? Do you ever just want to let it all out? Thanks to Stress Fracture, a Capital Region–based mobile stress relief room, now you can.
It all started when Jacky Vimislik, now a Rensselaer resident, was living in Binghamton and working in a lab. She and her coworkers were doing a laboratory cleanout day, getting rid of old glassware and anything that was lying around unused, and Vimislik had her eye on a huge, round-bottomed glass flask that had been sitting in a corner for years. “I was like, ‘Wouldn’t it be awesome…we’re just throwing it out in the dumpster…I really just kinda wanna break it,” Vimislik says. To her surprise, her boss gave her the greenlight to do so, as long as she wore safety gear. “As that glass was dropping, and it hit the ground, the noise of the glass breaking had this profound effect on me,” she says. “I had this sense of excitement and exhilaration and this holy-cow-I-just-did-something-I-wasn’t-supposed-to-do feeling, and it felt awesome.” Vimislik’s coworkers joined in on the fun, and after their smashing session, not only was there a renewed camaraderie among people who didn’t normally interact, but the entire lab was also as productive as it had been that entire week.
Years later, when Vimislik found herself annoyed with a coworker, she remembered the feeling of that flask hitting the ground. “As terrible as this is to say, I visualized this person and threw some glass in my basement, and really that’s the day Stress Fracture was born,” she says. Vimislik created an LLC; designed a logo (it’s a cartoon version of her dressed in a lab coat, pulling out her hair with one hand and dropping that glass flask in another); and had the back of a box truck tricked out with electricity, speakers, a specially made wall for throwing stuff at and a raised roof that allows even tall people to properly swing a bat.
But a mobile stress relief experience isn’t a one-size-fits-all operation. Vimislik offers a variety of options for letting out your frustration, from “Take the Edge Off” (a short session when you just need to let off a little steam) to “It’s Personal” (one in which a specific person, such as an ex, is the focus of your smashing energy). “People that are either just going through a divorce or a breakup like to bring pictures of exes or the china they got when they were married,” Vimislik says. “I want to help people break through issues. I often have people write a word on a piece of glass and then visualize it and break it with intention. So when they bring their old china, they’re actually ridding themselves of the emotion of the hurt from the divorce or the death.”
Vimislik also offers custom rooms and scenarios, where customers’ imaginations can run wild. To book a smash session, visit stressfractureny.com.
