Making sense

SAW this on a billboard: “When life doesn’t make sense, surrender all to God.”

That would have been the most appropriate message for the Holy Week when I was too busy going to the gym, buying groceries, working, I had no time at all to reflect and meditate.

On Monday morning after Easter Sunday, a gym coach caught me staring at nothing and said, Gahinuktok man. I said, Oh, I’m resting in between sets. I was then doing 20 reps, three sets, on the rowing machine, one of the five exercise machines I’ve been using at the gym since I began working out there more than a month ago.

Healing is always a long journey that begins with that one step. So, from the no-red-meat diet in January 2021 to the low-carb diet in February 2022 to the on-off laban-bawi kuarta-o-kahon relationship with the carnivore lifestyle, here’s the gym to complete the picture.

In our low-carb group chat, a group member posted that she enrolled in the hypertension masterclass in 2021 and she still has high blood pressure until now. Oh. That’s like expecting to lose weight by merely watching a Zumba YouTube video for three years.

Hypertension is tricky since stress, sleepless nights, and other factors can affect the blood pressure, aside from carbs. That’s why the hypertensive is better off living in “Lost Horizon’s” Shangri-La where he can sing, “Have you ever dreamed of a place/Far away from it all/Where the air you breathe is soft and clean/And children play in fields of green/And the sound of guns/Doesn¹t pound in your ears (anymore).”

Other diseases, such as diabetes, can be easier to heal since its cause is carbs. The food addiction may have a deeper reason, though, so, that includes other factors, too.

I used to munch on Chippy, potato chips, and peanuts, paired with Coke Zero, while watching TV. Since I don’t watch TV anymore, the munching and soda-drinking went away.

Following that connection, does it mean that if ever I’ll stop reading books, I’ll also stop writing? Hmmm.

Some habits are connected with each other. Reading and writing. Dancing and singing. Karaoke-singing and annoying the neighbors. And these are the good ones. With one progressing—or regressing—to the other.

Habits can also be binge eating and couch potato-ing, drinking and smoking, gossiping and backbiting.

The combination of karaoke-singing snd annoying the neighbors is still way much better than drinking and smoking. Although all four habits can be rolled into one since a higher alcohol level usually gives people the nerve to sing “My Way” their way.

Smoking, though, can also be paired with coffee which is, of course, better than alcohol.

But singing while under the influence of coffee may not make “My Way” sound like the wannabe singer’s way. There’s something about alcohol that loosens vocal cords until neighbors are throwing empty beer bottles at the wannabe singer’s house which he may not appreciate because, Hey, they’re empty!

Choose your habit and your life will behave accordingly. And once you’re looking back, you’ll realize that life does make sense.