LAST week, I asked for forgiveness. I should have confessed first. So here it is. I confess I fell off the wagon. I’m not proud of it. But that’s what happened.
Early this week, I casually remark at the dinner table that I desperately need to return to the gym. (And I have.) You see, I took a sabbatical from the gym two days before Christmas and returned only a few days ago.
Every year, the Christmas frenzy (shopping, packing, organizing) delivers me to the point of exhaustion that by Christmas, I’m completely washed out. Soon after, I get sick so that I usually greet the New Year, not in the best of health or spirits.
This year, I decide to do things differently. No. I didn’t stop working. But I took a two-week break from circuit training and Netflix breaks in between year-end reports and Santa duties.
Many moons ago, my niece graciously gives me access to her Netflix account. Probably because she knows I’m a cheapskate. I was ecstatic. But I never got around to watching more than two movies since my niece opened heaven’s gates. Well, at least—not till the holidays.
The bad news is that I traded the treadmill, the cross trainer and the exercise bike for the couch for more hours than what was good for me. The good news is that I did not get addicted to Netflix. Well, at least—not yet.
Here’s more bad news. I fell off the wagon in the healthy eating department. I was surrounded with so much food during the holiday season that I began to stuff myself silly with all the sinful delicacies I could get my hands on.
“I truly regret all the food choices I made during the holiday season,” I tell my sister.
“Oh, so that’s what the ending of your article was all about last week. But I didn’t see you eat that much,” she tells me.
“Believe me, I know what I put inside my body. You didn’t see all the chocolate I ate every day during the holiday season.”
Her jaw drops. “You should repent!” she admonishes me.
I’ve always believed that God is the biggest jester of all time. He constantly makes me look like a complete fool—in the hope, I believe, to humble a smart mouth like me. Well, it’s working.
I say I make mistakes but I don’t expect to be forgiven. Well, today, I humbly ask God to forgive me for bingeing during the holiday season. I am currently doing penance in the gym.
I beg God’s mercy. The fruits of my sins stare back at me each time I look in the mirror—more prominently, each time I sit. I swear the fat in my belly has multiplied faster than bacteria in the last two weeks. And I don’t need a microscope. A caliper can confirm what can be seen with the naked eye.
So there. I confess I fell off the wagon. That’s the bad news. But you know the good news? I didn’t get sick all throughout the holiday season. God jests. All the time.