My last job was in the wines & spirits industry … for a few years I was marketing a popular brand of whisky. The job was fun … entertainments, night clubs, grand events, fine dining, overseas trips and of course, plenty of alcohol. I must say I did enjoy the few good years and when I left the industry, some of my friends were quite surprised why I gave up a good job. Well, there were many reasons … it is a long story so to speak. But I can tell you one of the many reasons was my health.
You see, I used to be a person who tends to over indulge … to me whatever worth doing is always worth over doing. And working in the wines & spirits industry, I frequently went across the line, over indulging myself in alcohol. When I start to drink, somehow I just cannot stop … really, I only have myself to blame for not being able to exert strict control on my drinking habits. Away from work, I always kept myself active in competitive racket games, swimming, running as well as other outdoor sports. I used to run 12 to 15km non-stop easily … but at that point of time, I could barely do 3km. My physical fitness was affected and my health began to deteriorate … slowly I felt that I was not as fit as I want to be.
Something was wrong … a medical check-up soon showed that apart from losing my stamina and experiencing sporadic irregular heartbeat, I also have an enlarged liver … a lot larger than it should. Somehow it reminds me of an article I read about foie gras … the fat juicy liver, a gourmet cuisine that melts in your mouth. Hey, do you know that people in this business force-feed the geese with high carbohydrate feed and cramp them in cages so that their livers swell up with fat, growing to a few times its normal size? The liver is then harvested and expensively served in fine dining. To many it is a delicacy but really it is just basically a disease-damaged organ called fatty liver (just like my liver at that time). Though I was not cruelly force fed but high alcohol consumption was the main culprit of my enlarged liver. You probably read about it before … something called alcoholic fatty liver disease.
I knew I have to get back in shape … I have already lost capacity of one of my lungs (smoked one of my lungs away) and the injurious effects of alcohol started affecting my liver. I had another good reason to quit the wines & spirits industry … and I did. It has been more three years now and a recent medical screening showed that my liver is working just fine now without the alcohol (well not totally without alcohol … occasionally a couple of beers) and my lungs capacity increased. I am glad I am physically better now to be actively playing competitive badminton, trekking and other outdoor activities. This old car may have a few loose screws here and there after running for almost half a century but overall, (after a bit of overhauling) the major parts of the engine are performing just fine.
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Good for you Sheik! Bravo.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you realised, stopped the drinking and smoking and got yourself back in gear before the effects of over-indulging became too late to reverse. I hope you have recovered well from the accident. Take care.
ReplyDeleteHi Dave ... yes, it really good that I quit soon enough :)
ReplyDeleteDonna ... I am now up and running already ... but not riding the motorbike anymore. See you around Donna :)
Yay for your good lifestyle choices! Sometimes quitting a job is hard, I did it too once, but for my mental health - which sooner or later will result in poor physical health too.
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