How to Defy Fate
Our generation knows the saying which, although it’s awkward for me to use the crude word in it, simply wouldn’t hit the mark without it:
“Everything is crap, except for bees — they make honey, and that’s crap too.”
It’s a quote that, when heard at the pub Na Růžku, always pleased the bartender the most. It was often followed by a larger order of alcohol — a meter of beer or a round of rum. I have no idea what the order would be today. Nor do I know what catchphrases dominate bars these days — I haven’t been to one in twelve years. In any case, the quote illustrates how fatalism speeds up the decision to sink deeper and give in to hopelessness. That nothing matters, no matter what you do. That it’s all already written in the stars — so why bother? And that becomes a reason to drink.
What’s interesting is that when you start running with music every morning, you gradually lose not only excess weight, type 2 diabetes, and the urge to drink — but also the philosophical views typical of bar culture.
During my morning runs, I realized that what I’ve discovered about myself at a mature age can be best expressed by another saying. Nearly two thousand years ago, it was written by the Roman satirist Juvenal. It probably never echoed from the mouths of regulars at Na Růžku. And if it ever did, it was likely just to amuse the crowd. And what would the bartender think? He might consider throwing the troublemaker out into the fresh air.
The saying goes:
“A healthy mind in a healthy body.”
I’ve experienced firsthand that when someone changes their lifestyle and turns it toward health, the body itself begins to express that each person’s fate lies in their own hands — and legs.
There are, of course, some genetic predispositions that can influence a person. In my case, for example, my grandfather — my mother’s father — drank away an auto repair shop in Sadská during the First Republic. My mother wasn’t troubled by alcoholism, but the problem skipped to me. I discovered that for myself. Only when I stopped drinking at the age of 56 did I come to a simple realization: with a genetic predisposition, the best way to defy fate is to stay far away from alcohol.
But perhaps the most profound change that came with a healthier lifestyle was the way I saw the world.
When, in your senior years, running up and down the escalators in the metro becomes not a problem but a joy, when you can catch a bus without getting out of breath, and when you realize that this shift in lifestyle means you’re not even bothered by andropause — and therefore have no need for pharmaceutical support of your manhood — the world looks completely different than it does through the eyes of the regulars at Na Růžku.
Here I must mention the recently deceased Professor Cyril Höschl, who referred to the part of the population that doesn’t pay much attention to their health — and therefore tends to view the world in darker tones — as negative readers. It’s been exactly two years since I responded by email to his interview on Czech Television’s ČT24. Among other things, he discussed this very group — those who go out to protest in the streets instead of staging a revolution in their own lifestyles. When I sent him a text with a similar message to the one I’m sharing now, he surprised me by replying within five minutes — and enthusiastically approved what I had written. He even allowed me to publish our exchange on my website, where it remains available. I’m very glad I managed to meet him in person later — and that someone of his stature in Czech science confirmed the value of my activities.