Week of January 22-28 2007

Firstly and most importantly I would like to state that this is a God-given week because it is actually the first week in my life that I am really conscious of well being in terms of my eating habits and all the other things that affect my wellness like the factor of social wellness in that I have to begin being a full time Christian and commence going to Sunday school instead of just showing up for Sunday service and playing church.

After seeing and experiencing the benefits of the program I am only be telling the truth when I say I feel lucky and most of all saved and owe my life to the path that I have taken, more like how a rock climber who has been desperately hanging on a cliff for hours with no hope for survival would feel when just after the letting go and getting ready to succumb the fall, a hand grabs hold of him while hen is in mid air and pulls him to safety. Only difference with me and the rock climber is that the rock climber could hear fate knocking on the door and had an educated idea of what was to follow whereas I was in the dark with no vision of what unpleasant surprises awaited me. Phew!

Thanks to this program I can now put into frame things that I had seen as an imposition on my time and effort and be responsible in doing all that is in my power to increase my days on God’s green earth. After some intensive self introspection (which is what this course will get a student doing) it begins to unfold before me that as much as I feel that I am saved from leading an ignorant unhealthy lifestyle, there are however some things that I have fallen into and that do not trouble other peeps and moreover some people find difficult things to be easy while it is vice-versa for the other parties as it is that ‘one man’ meat is another man’s poison. So all in all I am content that I was ‘saved’ on time but there are some pitfalls I have that fallen into that I am not proud to mention. But only because you ma’am as my instructor are sssso open, I feel I can be personal and upfront with you and now that I have overcome. But there was a stage in my life where I was battling with drug addiction and I had to take time out of school in order to get rehabilitation and become a better person because there is no right minded institution be it a school or a company that would tolerate drugs or drug takers in their social structure. I’d like to compare this problem that I had with other factors that might affect other people, like being obese even though I do not know of a case where someone has been fired from their job “because they were overweight”. Both of these problems however do share some things in common as both of them can lead to shortened lives due to the health risks that one exposes themselves to and most of all people do not pay attention to them because in some cases they would be having an external locus of control. This is what I noticed after the dust from my battle with drugs had settled and I asked myself , like “ what the hell was that all about”-How a young ( I was 16) Christian, innocent boy like me would do some destructive things to myself and realized I had an external locus of control. I remember I would see good people die in war or due to sudden sickness and not forgetting the fact that I watched the events of September 11 and in retaliation to the unfair ways of the world I laid aside all the rules and developed a self destructive, care free attitude towards life and my well being. Regardless of the magnitude of the external locus of control that I too could die anytime, all my actions there after had been defined well before my birth and they simply fell in the broad category of bad behavior. I realized that the reason of my actions was a combination of peer pressure and that external locus of control when I read the book-‘Aphrodite’s revolt’ by Lawrence Durrell when he stated that:-

“Casualty is an attempt to mesmerize the world into some sort of significance. We cannot bear its indifference.”-L.D

Since I now want to have wellness in all dimensions, including emotional wellness which I failed to display during my whole ordeal as I failed to satisfy my relationship with my Mother I am now frightened for myself and the whole world with things I did not even realize were not as good they seem to be like eating at a fast food restaurant. I remember how happy I would get and also how special I would feel when I ate out because it made me feel like I had some social status to be eating out at a burger place or Mc Donald’s in South Africa not knowing the fat content in the foods I was consuming was actually bad for my well being. These are usually what are rewards to children and mates for good performance in school or at work and really need to be reconsidered. As a fast food fan and am not that overweight I do however pray that intentionally spoiling myself once in a while with some junk food is still allowed and won’t have some adverse effects on my health.

Also as soon as I learnt about the effects of eating lots of meat and the fact that the animals are stuffed with hormones that are passed on to whoever consumes them I cut down on my consumption. I publicly announced at home in ignorance of the fact that we were going to eat at my Aunts’ place that night that I was not going to be eating meat after 6pm.I told everyone that I heard on radio that because of the little activity that mostly goes on after the night meal the carbohydrates will just be stored as fat so when we got to my Aunt’s place I had to publicly announce my new diet for the second time to all guests present. I did get teased and people warned me not to be sneaking into the kitchen late at night so I can get my hands on meat, and I assured everyone that I won’t be tempted in any way of any sort. But because my mother is a meat buyer and eater I then reverted back to eating meat but only for the taste and so it does not go to waste. One would say so much for self- efficacy but this was a different situation and the excuse is quite acceptable………Is it ?