Phat Tuesday

Nobody likes a quitter. Quitting is for sissies. Why quit? Why give up? Why surrender?

In the recovery community, the hook is a "life that is Happy, Joyous & Free."

Conventional wisdom in America believes that happiness, joy and freedom come from a life filled with luxury, leisure and consumption. The catch with these pursuits/cravings in life is, they always require MOAR (more with a roar) to produce the same satisfaction. It is often suggested that any attachment to stuff is for pride and pleasure. Feeding pride & pleasure feels so good. It must be happiness & joy, right?

So it is suggested that a life of freedom, happiness and joy is devoid of attachments that seek to satisfy pride and pleasure.

Taking a day off feels so good. Being lazy, sleeping in is very pleasing. A glass of wine is nectar from the Gods. A cheese burger with french fries and a cold coke taste soo good. A bowl of chocolate ice cream is like sex. And sex...

On another religious holiday, The Grinch who stole Christmas took everything from the Who's. He found out that Day:

And the Grinch, with his grinch feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling. "How could it be so?

It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
It came without packages, boxes, or bags!"

He puzzled and puzzed till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more!

Giving up stuff IS freedom. Freedom from cravings, attachment & desire requires us to drop the bottle, the box or the bag. Living without stuff during Lent teaches us that a Happy, Joyous & Free life is really an inside job.

Also, if you want to rock the pool this summer, make the f-ing workouts and quit being a lazy, booze guzzling, sugar addicted fat bodied pig. If you can't be disciplined for 40/365 days a year, you have a problem.

Drinking

I successfully drank alcoholically for over 30 years. I won foot races drunk. I got high the night before running 14:56 in the Turkey Day 5K. I also hit the pipe 30 minutes after anchoring the DMR at The Florida Relays with a 4:10 mile. We hadn't even left the Gator's Track. No one on earth could have stopped me when I was partying. I thought I was winning in life. Running with the Devil was a Hell of a ride.

Every year I would dry out when I was training for a big race. Even as a high functioning alcoholic, I knew drinking wouldn't allow me to train at the level I needed to win.

I would have never believed I could live a life without alcohol. It was a ridiculous notion. What's the point?

I am nearly 8 years sober. I've lived two lives. The second one is better.

It doesn't take much to sabotage your fitness and beauty.

One third of the American population does not drink at all. Another third drinks less than one drink per week. 

Alcohol makes you fat, old and slow.

Alcohol will steal your good looks.

Elites don't drink