SELF CONTROL

iS THERE NOTHING SACRED?

Is there nothing left in life that I can abuse? First there was drinking, which I quit 8 years ago because of the trouble it caused me, and the sad state of affairs in my life then. Then it was smoking, which I gave up 7 years ago because I didn't enjoy it if I couldn't drink. Now it is my size!

Having hit the rather grand weight of 240 lbs., which frankly scared me, it was decided (by me) that I would have to go on a diet.

You will probably know how important eating is for the recovering alcoholic. It is a supremely enjoyable pastime. It is also most important because it is the last thing that one can abuse, without a nasty hangover, and a feeling of shame and remorse.

Odd jibes from my wife, and comments from friends that I seemed to be getting larger every day, did not deter me from enjoying seven slices of bread a day, along with five cokes , with full sugar, and all forms of food heavily laden with calories. I went merrily along and over the period of the past five years put on an additional 25 pounds.

With self-righteous indignation I regularly told my wife to go to the blazes, and my friends to mind their own business whenever they mentioned my expanding mid-section.

Until, alas I hit the magic number of "240". Recently I had been finding myself short of breath, and unable to last very long bending over in the garden without getting dizzy spells. It was time to do something! But, to give up my beloved eating! That would be Hell on earth - or so I thought.

Actually, it was easy. Six weeks ago I started a strict diet with my doctor's blesing, took off eight pounds in the first two weeks, and two pounds each week following, until I am now down to a much more comfortable 224 pounds. Now, I still don't look like Charles Atlas, there is still 30 pounds to take off, but I can see my feet again,bend over without straining, and, miracle of miracles, I can run up the subway stairs at Finch without feeling weak, puffing for air, without heart racing.

The thing that surprised me the most was the ease with which I started, and maintained the diet. Also I feel confident that I will keep to it.! But where would an ex drunk like me get all this magical will-power? In retrospect I believe that I learned it at the Donwood Institute. I learned to overcome my addiction, and in doing so learned that I was strong enough to control my own destiny (waist-line) if I chose to!

I believe that anyone who can overcome drinking to excess, can do anything humanly possible on the earth. We from the Donwood learn to control our urges, do what we want to in life, not what our bodies urge us to do. We are the bosses of our own individual destinies, and to Hell with anything or anyone else that gets in the way of our well-being, be it physical, or a healthy mental attitudes.

So I am now not surprised at my ability to stick to a diet, for I am master of myself and nothing can ever change that attitude except a drink.

That is what I learned at the Donwood.

DON FELSTEAD

DON SAYS: This was written in the 1970s, and it is now 2008. My weight has bounced around the figure of 205, and I haven't had a drink since 1969. I feel good about myself, and I know the gentle reader could do the same.