Every day, Dash Michaels counts his blessings.
At least five days each week, Michaels, 60, heads to the Beach Cities Health District’s Center for Health and Fitness. There, he goes and visits his friends – trainers, staff, people he’s worked out with for years. “I’ll walk in at the end of my day – I might be a little tired – and within five or ten minutes of getting busy, it’s a joy,” Michaels said. “It’s kind of zen-like; I just fall into what I’m doing.”
This devotion to his health, which has earned him recognition during the Health District’s 2016 Spirit of Wellness honors, is a far cry from where he was five years ago when he felt he was a man with one foot in the grave.
That’s when he hit his rock bottom.
He had borrowed a car for a one-day trip to visit a friend. “I was drinking early in the morning until late at night, and had a situation where I lost the keys to the car,” he said. One thing led to another, and it was eight days before he was able to return the car and himself.
Alcoholism had already laid waste to significant parts of his life — his marriage, his career and his home, among them. But this, Michaels said, was his awakening after a lifetime of drinking that began as he grew up in Hermosa Beach.
It wasn’t long after that he joined a 12-step program that helped him turn his life around.
“I was ready — I was done,” he said. “I grabbed ahold of people around me, they grabbed me, and I went into a fellowship with both feet forward.”
A year into his recovery, he found the Center for Health and Fitness. “I couldn’t do a push-up,” Michaels recalled. Soon, he found a trainer; he began learning about nutrition, and soon, BCHD’s gym became an inextricable part of his life.
“It’s a sanctuary for me; it’s my place,” Michaels said. “I spend time working out, and I know a lot more today about what I’m doing for myself and my body. It’s baby steps.”
On Thursday, April 28, Michaels will be honored alongside 70 year old World Trade Center climber Paul Senior; breast cancer survivor Laura Ruiz; and John Niehaus, who lost 200 pounds over the past two years. BCHD will also honor Walt Dougher, for his work with the Blue Zones Project, and volunteer Stuart Joseph. The program will take place at the Portofino Hotel, 260 Portofino Way, from 6 to 8 p.m. For more information, visit bchd.org.
