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WEATHERING STORMS
What happens when vital tools for recovery are taken away during times of adversity
During my most formative years in school, I hated jocks. In hindsight, it was wrong of me, but I was an insecure kid, and the other kids that hung out at the smoking tree hated jocks too, so at least I had a support group. I did play basketball during my senior year at an alternative high school, but I wasn’t very skilled, just tall, and it was a small school. Other than jogging for about a year after I graduated, I didn’t do anything else athletic until I reached my mid-20s. That’s when I started to appreciate the notion of being more fit. Because I’ve recovered from several serious injuries and surgeries, I also learned how being in shape can reduce or completely eliminate chronic pain. And there’s no way I can understate the value of fitness in my recovery from alcohol addiction. Being fit makes me much stronger emotionally. It has become as important to me as music and also helps with nausea I deal with from ulcerative colitis. I’m a little too old and banged up to get natural highs during every session I have on the elliptical, but I enjoy the grind. Occasionally everything lines up with my body and the rhythm of the music, and I snag a musical/physical endorphin rush, where it feels like the music allows me to run on top of the machine. Elliptical machines are my thing.
