(00:43):
All right. My friends. Good afternoon. So if somebody can type whether or not you can see me because my camera is not functioning properly, but I do believe you can see me can one person please type whether or not you can see me. Hey, Steven. Steven, can you see me or just hear me? Okay. Awesome. Thank you, Rita. All right. My friends. So no question about it. This is a super challenging time in the history of our country, in the history of our world in the history of our community et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I don’t think too many people have a good at this moment. Okay. But what does that mean? Does that mean we give up, does that mean we quit? Does that mean? We say, screw it and give up and start smoking again. Stop exercising, start eating Twinkies, every meal fight with as many people as humanly possible stop taking our medications.
(02:22):
Absolutely not. And it’s actually quite the opposite. So for most of us, when we are under stress, those are the times that we are the least likely to take care of ourselves. Those are the times that we are likely to work the eight hour week sitting at the office, drinking a martini or a beer, eating a bacon, double cheeseburger and fries and not exercising, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But these are the times when and things will get better. Okay. Things always do get better. I don’t think this is the end of the world. I don’t think this is the end of humanity. I hope. But it is discouraging and it is disheartening. And currently I’m in Santa Monica, California, and I just walked through downtown where essentially there are armed service members all over the place.
(03:19):
There is graffiti everywhere. There are stores that have been busted into and alluded. And I hear from my friends in New York that we’ve seen a similar type of situation in New York city. Now that being said, okay, there’s a saying that says you can roll around in the mud with a pig. And I hate the saying because I like pigs. So it’s, it’s, it’s actually a derogatory statement against pigs. So I hate to use it, but I’ll use it. Cause you’ll get the idea. You can roll around in the mud with a pig, but the pig likes it. Okay. So what do I mean by that? What I mean by that is that for all the people that liked chaos for all the people that like destruction for all the people that want to see things burn to the ground, this is what they like.
(04:13):
This type of situation is what they like, okay. This is the kind of situation they thrive on. Okay. And they are trying to get us out of our element. Right. They are trying to mess us up. And if we let them it can happen. Okay. But what we have to do is we have to consistently remind ourselves that this is an extremely small minority of people. Okay. Here in Santa Monica, the overwhelming majority of people that were protesting were peaceful. Okay. There’s people that come from outside looters, criminals. Okay. Again, people who thrive on chaos, people who specialize in throwing us off our game. And in this moment, it is so much more crucial than our everyday lives. Living with a chronic illness. It is so much more crucial that we protect ourselves. Okay. We protect ourselves, physically. We protect ourselves emotionally. We protect ourselves nutritionally.
(05:23):
We protect ourselves spiritually. And we do the things that really will fortify ourselves and do the things to avoid the things that are messed up. Okay. this goes for Facebook. This goes for every other form of social media. This goes for watching the news. This goes for the people in our lives. Now is the time for cleansing. And now is the time to keep out the, to keep out the toxic energy and to reinforce. And people may knock down the walls. But no matter how many times the walls get knocked down, we must continue to rebuild. No matter how many times the walls get knocked down, we must continue to rebuild. And what I’m talking about is you get a COPD exacerbation. Guess what? You get back to rehab. You start taking your meds, you start exercising again, you start eating better. Okay. And ant gets his hail knocked down.
(06:28):
He starts building again immediately. And right now is the information right now, the things that we need to do are we need to keep out the negative. And I have to tell you, keeping out the negative is in my opinion, even more important than putting in the positive right now, but we have to do both to balance it out. Okay. but now is the time for ultimate pulmonary wellness and not to make it all about ultimate pulmonary wellness, but these are the keys to living your best life. Okay. We can sit and we can watch TV and we can hear the hate. We can hear the division. We can hear the rhetoric, the negativity, the, he said, she said, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But what is that doing to us? It is causing our hearts to beat faster. It is causing our blood vessels to constrict.
(07:20):
It is causing our airways to constrict. It is causing adrenaline to surge around our system and it is not helpful to us. Okay. So again, I know it’s discouraging. I know it’s disheartening to see everything that’s going on, but we have to keep our eye on the ball. We have to not let these distractions take us off of our game. Okay. Because we need to continue to play the game that we set out on. We need to stay on the path that we set out on, and that is taking care of yourself by continuing to take your medications properly, exercising, eating, healthy, managing your stress and anxiety and preventing infection. Okay. So preventing infection has taken a walk out the window over the last several days because there’s a ton of other things people are talking about. However, okay. COVID is still here. COVID is not going anywhere.
(08:21):
Okay. COVID is not going anywhere. And in fact, COVID is looking at this as a beautiful opportunity to make a resurgence. Why? Because there’s people congregating in mass amounts, not masking, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Okay. Again, we’ve been underground for three months. I get it. It’s a lot. Okay. But think about Anne Frank, who was not home in her comfortable recliner with her Netflix with her food. She was in a wall for 700 plus days. Okay. So we have to be strong now we have to be strong. Okay. very, very, very, very important. All right. Question. Can you speak to alcohol and CLPD? There have been a few posts regarding the effect alcohol has on breathing. Okay. So alcohol in moderation. Okay. Is something that can be helpful to people. Okay. What is the physiologic impact of alcohol? Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, right?
(09:30):
So if we think about it, when we talk about the central nervous system, the central nervous system you know, the, the central nervous system is divided into sympathetic. Parasympathetic. Sympathetic is fight or flight. Parasympathetic is rest and digest. So sympathetic is go, go, go. Parasympathetic is calm. Okay. Now that doesn’t mean we want a central nervous system depressant. So in other words, the central nervous system being suppressed will potentially suppress your breathing. So it might make you sleep, breathe slower. It might make you breathe more shallowly, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So I’m not a complete teetotaler, although I don’t drink I, I don’t drink. I really actually, I could, I’m not a teetotaler, but I really don’t drink much. I have my reasons. But the thing is that it’s not absolute. Okay. So it’s not an absolute, yes.
(10:31):
It’s not an absolute, no, like everything else. I think that if you are thinking about doing something, you start with a half a shot, you start with a half a beer. Okay. And see how it affects you. If you want to do that, don’t start with a six pack because then you’re going to drink the six pack. And you’re going to say, you know what? I knew that a beer and CLP deal don’t go together. Okay. So take things little by little in moderation. So again, in conclusion, okay. This is a super tough time for our country, for the world, for our community. Okay. Now is not the time to throw caution to the wind. Now is not the time to sell the farm. Now is not the time to quit. The game now is not the time to go back on all the positives that we have been working on for all this time.
(11:23):
Because guess what? As hard as it is to get our car up the Hill, if you stop pushing, you’re going to start rolling up down the Hill and then the world will be the world and you will be worse off for it. So continue to stay focused. Keep your eye on the ball, continue to take your medications properly. Exercise daily. It will help with this. Okay. Nutrition management of stress and anxiety prevention of infection. Okay. And again, eliminate the positive. Don’t sit down and watch and, and don’t get me wrong. I’m guilty of it myself too. Okay. Cause I’m like a news junkie, but don’t sit down and watch eight hours of people fighting with each other. Okay. Think globally, act locally. Think community, act individually to do the things that are going to be helpful to you. And we will get through this. But we want to get through this in good shape, not get through this. Like we’ve gotten our asses kicked and dragged through the ringer for 64 years. Okay. So hang in there, stay tough. We will get through this. Keep doing the things that have been helpful to you get rid of the stuff that is toxic to you and shut it out at all. Costs have a great day. My friends tomorrow night support group 7:00 PM Eastern time.