Photo Finish

“You are not stuck unless you decide to be.” – Wayne Dyer

As a born and bred New Yorker, I’m accustomed to strangers approaching me to make even stranger requests.

People tend to be begging for money, asking for directions or trying to save your soul.

I usually give folks in that last category directions straight to hell.

These stranger interruptus experiences have been severely curtailed by COVID-19, as it’s kind of hard to run into people when you hardly run out of your house.

And it’s really tough to rattle a tin cup on Zoom.

While I’ve saved a bundle in small change during this freakish time, I’ve also been so hard up for human contact that I’m tempted to allow some religious loon shriek bible verses at me—as long as he’s wearing a mask.

The other day I was caught completely off guard when I walked into my gym’s locker room and this shirtless stranger actually…spoke to me.

“Excuse me…can you take my picture…?”

I paused for a moment as I slowly realized that a live human being was addressing me. Yeah, we used to do a lot of that kind of thing, didn’t we?

Perhaps I should say something back.

“Your picture…?”

“Yes,” the fellow said. “I’m trying to lose some weight.”

This gentleman was a bit on the heavy side and he explained that his diet had gone off the caloric rails during the Covid-19 shutdown and he wanted to get rid of the excess baggage.

The photos are intended to help him track his progress.

Watch the Birdie

I’ve done gym photo requests before. A dude at the City Hall location once asked me to record him as he pounded out a bench press and I was only too happy to comply.

But while the City Hall dude was in tremendous shape, this fellow before me needed a lot more work—and a lot more support.

He had gotten lost during a very trying time and now, as the world inches toward normalcy, he wanted to regain his health and improve his life.

The least I could do is snap a few photos.

I grabbed his camera and had him pose for front, back, and profile shots. And I encouraged him to stick with his diet and exercise program.

I had dropped some weight a few years ago and I know how difficult it can be to keep it off even in the best of times.

I’ve been trying to make some changes in my life, too, only this makeover can’t be captured with a camera.

Hostility, regret, depression, all these toxic emotions that suppress happiness and stifle my progress. It been rather difficult trying to corral these feelings during the Plague Year.

The great philosopher David Bowie, who gave us “I am the DJ,” also sang about putting out fires with gasoline. Isolation can really torch up your mind if you’re not careful.

I know that I admit defeat far too easily. I’m ready to shout “all is lost” even before the ship has even left the harbor.

This is another path to the comfort zone, since giving up guarantees nothing in your life will change.

I’ve been trying to give my language a makeover as that’s where a lot trouble –or success begins.

A couple times in the last month, I’ve loudly declared that “I’m having a bad morning” when things didn’t go my way at the office.

Now, I immediately stop and revise my dialog to say “I’m making it a bad morning.”

The implication here is that if I have the power to make something bad, I can make it good.

I hope my gym buddy meets his goals. I want to be there to take those “after” photos.