In early sobriety Bill was a computer programmer (a mentally strenuous job).
He asked his sponsor if he could take tranquilizers to relax. Bill's sponsor said that he wasn't
a doctor, but did Bill want to live the rest of his life in a fog? He also told Bill that the Oxford Group
had three ways to overcome stress and anxiety: prayer, music, and exercise.
Early in sobriety Bill got into the habit of swimming 1 mile every other day. Sixteen
years later, he had swam 1600 miles and could swim a mile in 32 minutes.
His prognosis was 7 months to live. At his very first prayer meeting after that prediction of death, sitting to his right was an oncologist research specialist (what are the odds? Thank you, Jesus). The doctor told Bill to not take any chemo--the chemo would just run down his immune system and kill him. He said that Bill should run for his life, and run extreme distances--that during extreme distance runs, his body would release massive doses of endorphins and they are cancer-killers. Bill became Forest Gump. He was running everywhere, including the 10 marathons to the left, where Jesus was with him in every race, every step of the way. Bill, now in his seventies, still believes in exercise--he works out at least 3 times a week and does over 180 pushups a week.