Newbie NFL football player Desmond Watson, just out of college and weighing in at a hefty 464 pounds, needed to lose weight in order to get off the bench. After a dramatic loss of 35 pounds of flab, he was asked how he had managed to reach that goal.

Mr. Watson’s response is loosely quoted, “I just had to learn to stay on the interstate. Stopping at gas stations and fast-food joints every few miles had put the weight on. Just gotta stay focused on my goal, and stay on the interstate.”

Well said for all of us, sir. Represents a bunch of people. There’s a lot of us with our own issues that are eating us alive, too. No pun intended.

We could learn a lesson from you. Everyone has their own interstate, with attractive pitstops just begging us to pull over and sit down for a while. Problem is, ‘for a while’ can easily become a semipermanent address. Whether it’s food, drink, temper out of control, gambling, cheating, laziness, depression, or drugs. Or something that I haven’t listed. Just name yours.

You have a tempting problem pitstop out there, just lurking. And if you make the decision to hit the brakes and swerve in to the parking lot, suddenly your personal battle begins. “How long will I allow myself to hang out in this place? Surely I’ll know when enough is enough. I can do this, this time.”

Then somehow you have to find the self-will to get out and find your interstate again. And you will drive along just fine, until you look over and there is another one alongside the asphalt. Just waiting for you look up and see it.

Folks, those places begging you to pull over are self-defeating. Attractive? Sure. Promising great results? Without a doubt. Lying through their filthy teeth? Absolutely.

Just stay on your interstate. doing what you know you should be doing. Getting off and entering your personal danger areas causes you to lose focus. Another dead end where you gain nothing and lose drastically.

Drive a lot smarter. Be brave. Acknowledge to yourself the thoughts causing you to want to pull over and indulge. Begin to memorize distraction methods and safety contacts. Focus on positive relationships, happy memories and an optimistic future. Equip yourself to be able to refuse swerving over every time a familiar pitstop appears alongside the highway.

Constantly leaving your interstate to spend some downtime in your favorite loser hideout is costing you way too much. If at the end of your life, you were to add up all the years spent in roadside dives attempting to avoid what hurts, you would very likely find an alarming amount of wasted time. You could have been much closer to your goals in life, if you would have just stayed on the interstate and inside your vehicle.

Stay on the interstate and drive. — Podcasts are available at Coffeetimecolumn.com. Send any responses to andybowman839@gmail.com.