Health crossroads
I was in my 20’s in the 90’s, and was working at my first big therapy clinic. Some of the other therapy assistants that I worked with used to frequent a certain social club after hours. One night, they took me with them as a guest.
I recently looked up the description of these clubs, and they were as follows; “A generous charitable foundation that each year gives millions in scholarships, an inspiration to youth, a friend to veterans and more” and the mission statement was “To inculcate the principles of Charity, Justice, Human Love and Fidelity; to recognize a belief in a God; to promote the welfare and enhance the happiness of its Members.”
I’m not disputing any of that. But that wasn’t my experience that night. For lack of a better term, we were going to a bar. I couldn’t get in without being invited by my coworker, who was a member.
And what a fine bar it was. A square bar with stools all around. $1 long necks. Yes, you heard that right. What’s a beer cost nowadays?
The other members were so friendly. “Hey, what’s your name young man? Have a seat up here.”
We talked for hours. It’s so easy to make conversation after a few beers. Eventually the subject of membership came up.
“Hey, you should join the club!” And I’m thinking, Yes!, this is awesome. The beer is cheap, and people are friendly!
Well the next day I woke up with the worst beer and second hand smoke hangover ever. I decided at that point that I did not want to join this club. And this is probably where the personal trainer is supposed to lecture you against having any fun whatsoever.
But wait. The fun wasn’t the problem. The problem was that I was unable to safely limit my alcohol intake. Moderation? What’s that?
I’m supposed to lecture against cigarettes, and I will in a minute. Though no lectures, just observations.
Is one cigarette going to kill us? No.
Thousands will, over many years. That’s pretty amazing really, to think about how resilient the body is, and how our systems can fight toxins.
I do have a strange relationship with smoking. It reminds me of my grandmother when I was very young. So it has this weird connection, that for me, isn’t all bad.
After working in healthcare for many years, I have noticed that smoking is way worse for our health than is even mentioned. Chronic smokers that I have seen, have more pain, less strength, less flexibility, more specific low back pain, worse shoulder pain, and overall much worse surgical outcomes. Although one surgeon did say his smokers do better, because they are getting up every hour to go smoke outside.
I was afraid that if I joined that organization/bar, that I would be drinking and smoking all the time, and that would have been detrimental for my health.
I will advocate for something there that I think is extremely important for our health, and that is social interaction. That was a great bar for social interaction and making friends.
This social bar was far better than a typical “stranger” bar, where you may not meet anyone. Since we spend so much time on our phones, a social bar, with “moderation”, might be the way to go.