How do you resist temptation and step out of an unhealthy habit? “I was caught up in the lifestyle of drinking to the point that I’d drink regardless of whether I was sad, angry, stressed or celebrating something,” says dental surgeon Clement Ong of his old days. “Nearly everyone around me loved alcohol too, so it was hard to abstain from it.”
Clement constantly tried cutting down, but it was difficult to keep it up. But through a strange incident – an allergic reaction that forced him to take a week off work and to cut his alcohol consumption to zero – Clement experienced a booze-free week; and the rejuvenating feeling that caught on. “I’d had one too many hangovers – enough was enough,” he declares.
Once the alcohol stopped, out went the cigarettes, junk food and excess weight – Clement lost 14kg in total. “For the first time in my 38 years, I can see my abs!” he says.
An avid dragon boater with a penchant for competitive sports, Clement is a nine-year veteran of the sport. “Though I’d trained up to three times a week during competition phases before, I feel I’m at my fittest right now,” he says. He currently works out at the gym, runs, swims and has also enrolled in a mixed martial arts class.
Clement has also garnered valuable insights into teamwork through dragon boating: If one person does not pull his own weight, the entire team suffers. And having had the opportunity to manage his team, he has realised the importance of setting a good example. In his career as a dental surgeon, he puts effort into every single aspect of his work, including the way he approaches his patients. “I treat every one of them like my family or close friend,” he says.
But his guiding principle in life is to have purpose – without it you live aimlessly, he says. “I draw inspiration from work, family and friends.”
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