Thirty plus years as a recovering alcoholic have shaped my point of view. If something isn’t working, change it. It’s basic math.

When my life began spinning out of control, drinking and getting high only made everything worse, so those options had to be removed. It sounds easy but it was not. Has my life gotten better? Absolutely. The combination of sobriety and therapy have allowed me to be present for my life in a way that was not possible while I was using. In fact, everything in my life is better without the substances that exacerbated my shortcomings. Like Dorothy falling from her crappy, sepia life in Kansas into a fabulously vibrant technicolor Oz, my life has been made richer, fuller, and much juicier. Sobriety has given me clarity, and while that doesn’t make everything perfect, I have a healthier point of view. Most of life is lived from our individual points of view. I still have my fucked up shit like anyone, but it’s manageable. I no longer let “things” get in my way. The possibilities continue to feel endless.

Why is okay to tell a person abusing drugs or alcohol that they have a problem but not a person abusing their body with junk food or sugar?

My theory, my belief, is that if you have disease, you need to do whatever it takes to mitigate the progression or at the very least the symptoms. Even though I visit and consult with my doctor every year, I recognize that I am responsible for my health. If my sugar is high, I change the intake. Age related illness? I do the things I really don’t want to do like improve my diet, exercise and strengthen my body. Things I know I need to do to feel good. To feel good.

Mitigation efforts need to begin early. Daily squats while watching Netflix, toes raises while doing chores or standing at the kitchen counter. Every day I take a different route to work, learn something new, read a book. Scrolling the news will rot my mind as much as just sitting on my ass watching tv diminishes my soul. When I drop dead I want it to be while standing, doing something useful or fun, and laughing at myself in the process.

we all have our shit. nobody is perfect. if we want more out of life we have to put in the effort