I have treated my body (and mind) as more of a amusement park instead of a temple. I have done that for almost half my life, searching for the next hedonistic experience and by the time I realized that you can’t just do that and expect to live forever, it was too late.
You see, I used to have nothing to live for (or thought I didn’t). In my short sightedness, I have taken various interesting pharmacological agents to excess, damaging my kidneys in the process. I even needed an emergency dialysis and nearly didn’t make it – the doctor fully expected me to die and I was obstinate enough to recover.
I have so much to live for now. My mom has passed but my dad is still around and I want to take care of him. I also have the best partner ever, which I’m very lucky to have. My better half is the best thing that has happened to me and she really set my life on the straight and narrow. I have two kids that I love to bits and I like to be there for them too!
I am starting to live a very healthy lifestyle now and part of that includes exercise. You really can’t have a healthy lifestyle without exercise. I run, swim and play badminton with the kids (and sometimes my better half, who is, naturally, better than me).
We Malaysians like to eat (a lot) and most of the time, the food that we eat is superbly unhealthy. That’s all fine and good but it needs to be balanced out by having an active lifestyle.
The 1 thing that matters to me is being healthy enough to take care of all my dependants and to give them a happy life.
#matterstomeMY
I can’t very well do that if I die of obesity related complications like heart disease or diabetes and I don’t want to give up eating well so I have to exercise a lot. It’s the best way to have a healthy lifestyle.
I swim…
I cycle…
I run…
It doesn’t really matter what kind of exercise you do as long as you do it – but if you run, you might want to download the Allianz Pacer app from Google Play or iTunes.
Allianz’s priority is to help Malaysians to start taking care of what matters to them most, with a special focus on your health. They’ve set up Allianz Pacer – which is a social running community. It’s really quite interesting.
Go and Like the Allianz Malaysia Facebook and participate in the sharing now!
#matters2meMY
Yes , man! Exercise is a must!! I heard from a study that exercise regularly can help prevent a lot of old age diseases like those you mentioned. And, eat healthy by investing in some good supplements, think positive, enjoyed what you are doing, have fun and support your loved ones, turn negative thoughts into positive ones (CBT, you know what’s that , I guess), always try to earn more to support the family and sleep well!! Not forgetting to pray and serve God as frequent as you can! 🙂
Yeah, exercise has been shown to help in both physical and mental health! 🙂
It’s the easiest way to get your health back on track. Renal damage can slowly heal – it’s a frequent problems with IDU (Injecting Drug Users) and I was doing a lot of intravenous methamphetamine back then using the “cold shake method” *and* mineral water (instead of distilled/sterile water – mineral water is harmful to your kidneys for injection purposes).
That’s all in the past now though – I quit meth and never relapsed – not even once. I was on opiates after that though but totally clean now and leading a healthy lifestyle. I’ve seen soooo many people get dragged down and I guess I’m lucky to have survived that part of my life.
Nothing beats living healthy and having someone to love and to care for, that totally changes ones perspective. The only people I know back in the days who have successfully quit and stayed clean are the ones who are in healthy, happy relationships.
I love this post. Glad the way things have turned out great for you.
Everything in moderation – even exercise…and yes, insurance is good. I am a firm believer even though people kept telling me it would be better to just put the money in the bank. For one thing, I don’t think I am that prudent and disciplined and if not for my insurance policies, among other things, I don’t think I would hvae enough to get by now…if I were to just depend on my measly pension.
Thanks buddy! 🙂
Yup, everything in moderation! I agree with that – exercise can turn into an addiction too! I’ve seen (and you probably have too) a man running about town the entire day and then swimming after that! He used to run around our housing area and when I moved back to work and started swimming in Bukit Lima, I realized that he was running to Jalan Alan and over to the swimming pool (not the Delta one, the further one) *and* swimming after that.
A diversified portfolio is always good! I’m trying to rearrange that too, savings are pretty static but I do have other bank portfolios (shares, mutual funds etc) and insurance would be great too!
Glad you are back on track now. It makes a difference when there are people that are depending on you.
Work hard, play hard and exercise
Thanks Kathy! 🙂
Yup, I agree, it makes a whole lotta difference when there are dependants. I need to be healthy to raise the kids too, last time it was only me and I didn’t think much of wasting my life but now I have my better half and the kids. Cheers!
This post is a great motivation! Yes, I’ll exercise. Working hard to dicipline myself. It looks an easy routine to follow, yet the famous Penyakit M always winning. Hehe.
Thanks Azura! 🙂
Haha! Penyakit M – that’s a good one, I’ll credit you when I use that. Yeah, I know what you mean, I also always kena penyakit malas when I’m about to exercise too – best thing is to just get it on and start with a routine – it’ll be easier when a routine is established. Best of luck!
I’ll definitely download that app; it is useful for someone like me. I mean, weekend mornings are dedicated to the visiting the hills, but my exercise regime stops there. >_<
I'll definitely need health insurance after university graduation, that's for sure. =)
Thank God that you’ve turned your life around now. I’m sure that with you and Ling as the parental figures, the kids will grow up to be the successful people that they will be.
Forgot to add this part in my preceding comment. =|
Thanks Ciana! 🙂
I appreciate the kind comments and the vote of confidence! Yup, we’re doing the best we can and giving the kids all that they need so they would not be lacking. We’re learning from how we were brought up too and there’s so many articles on raising kids right now that I’m reading up on.
Hey, at least that’s exercise! 🙂
The fresh air would do you wonders too, I’ll like to start trekking through the hillside instead of running in the city too, at least the air is better.
I think health insurance is something everyone needs – just in case something happens. Not the investment kind (that’s for investment purposes) but health coverage but I think most companies will provide you with a package too!
What a great post! I love the way you speak up and share your happiness. I was in your shoes and hope you will keep up this way, after all life is just a journey for us to shape it the way we want. I remember I read earlier that you had similar wild days like mine or maybe I was wilder! It has been some 15 years I have stopped nicotines and alcohol binge. Oh those days I loved to challenge at beer yard sessions! What glory was that? It was a moron idiotic me then. I know you need to put in more effort but with your darlings around, you can do it!!
JUST DO IT!!!
Thanks mate! 🙂
I think President Bush was wilder than you, at least he used cocaine. Haha!
Nowadays, binge drinking, smoking and even a little bit of weed is completely normal behavior growing up. Nothing to be proud of, but nothing “wild” either.
We did a lot of drugs back then, most of which you haven’t even heard of and the common ones (meth, opiates, MDMA, ketamine) are a daily use thing to poly-drug abusers like us. I think even my old female friends can drink you under the table – they not only binge drink, they *owned* the clubs.
However, since a lot of the drugs we took are not just psychologically, but physically, addictive, we eventually got dependant on them. I was injecting meth and opiates for a long time, the former was what caused the kidney damage (used the cold shake method and mineral water in the syringe, which is bad for the kidneys). It’s something you need to experience to understand, people who smoke a joint or two on the weekends wouldn’t understand what true addiction really is and how destructive it can be.
People casually use the word “addicted” and most of them don’t even understand what it means to really be addicted to something. Smoking weed, snorting ketamine, popping Ecstasy pills, those aren’t addictive, not at all. It’s when you get down to injecting methamphetamine and opiates with benzodiazepines (the good ol’ OxyContin and Xanax cocktail) that you really see the horrors of addiction.
It’s not something to be proud of at all.
Anyway, that’s all in the past now. It’s something everyone does at one point or another, perhaps I did it to excess and so did a lot of people who hung out with me. I know people from our bunch who got out faster than me, and I know people who never even got out, I even know some who died.
I guess that’s just the luck of the draw but one thing I know for sure is that the only common pattern I see in the people who got out and stayed clean is due to the fact that they have someone they love and are happy in their new lives now. Actually the first one of us who got out, a lawyer (hey David) was the first to enlighten me about this.
Yup, exercise is important, I’m sure you can do it too!
Hi HB,
Haven’t dropped by your blog in some time and am so happy to read this post. As I clicked to congratulate you and glanced through your comments I saw a possible reference to me?? Hahaha, sweet synchronicity. Anyway, well done mate, but you’ve probably realised it’s not such a big deal. In fact, anyone with even a tiny morsel of intelligence would come around one day, especially when you have a family and young children. I’ll PM you on FB to chat further but for what it’s worth, congrats, am genuinely happy for you.
Hello David! 🙂
Good to hear from you again! Yeah, I was referring to you. Haha!
I had a lot of trouble with opiates and benzodiazepines, quitting those two was the hardest thing I ever did in my life. Methamphetamine was relatively easy to quit in hindsight, although it does have a powerful psychological addiction potential – that was the drug that messed me up the most.
However, benzos and opiates were truly hellish to get off, was on the Suboxone program for a long time (which IMHO is twice the money for none of the high, but at least you don’t get sick).
Thanks mate, it’s always good to have someone else to live for, never did think much of my own life in the past. Heh.
Great to catch up on FB, good to hear that the kids and your wife is well, all the best to your family mate!