Remaking Myself — The First Two Weeks

A New Window into Self-Perception

Posture is everything.

I’m now convinced that two weeks is too great a lag to write something like this. The memories of yesterday overwrite what happened earlier. In subsequent pieces I need to get closer to real time to render my account. But as it only occurred to me to start writing about this stuff on day twelve and there was the introduction to write first, this is the best I could do under the circumstances. Today is day sixteen. I write both with a reflective mind and an eye toward what will come next.

Day one began the new regime with a reduction in food intake. I would not call it a diet because in the morning I was having a sweet roll with my coffee most days and the rest of the day I was still eating food that was high in fat — a bisque made with cream and a roast beef sandwich with plenty of meat and melted Colby cheese as well, just to illustrate. But it marked the first day of not eating between meals and at night knowing to say enough is enough. The reason wasn’t my health. Had that been the reason I might have started this regime long ago. No, the reason was that day one coincided with the first day of our house renovation. During the day I was on campus to avoid the construction noise. That evening we went out to dinner, something we only did that first evening. Initially, I found the construction quite disorienting. Reduced food intake was only one of the many adjustments I was to make.

The evening of day two was the first night I didn’t drink. This time it was a health reason, but only a near term one. The regime with prednisone had started that afternoon and I was aware that prednisone and alcohol together is a big no-no. So it was to be a short term thing, nothing more. Even when the pain from the arthritis would subside (on the zero to ten scale that the health professionals seem to love but that drives me batty because I was taught there is no such thing as interpersonal comparisons of utility, I never reached a zero while awake but did occasionally experience a one or two) knowing I wasn’t drinking provided a steady reminder that I have health issues afoot.