Friday, September 15, 2000

He's a new man

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Seth Burgin didn't like his shut-in life, so he changed it

By John Johnston
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        Everyone has a story worth telling. At least, that's the theory. To test it, Tempo is throwing darts at the phone book. When a dart hits a name, a reporter dials the phone number and asks if someone in the home will be interviewed. Stories appear on Fridays.
       

Former couch potato Seth Burgin now plays on two co-ed softball teams. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        For a long time — years, really — he wished his life were different. What it finally came down to was this: Seth Burgin got fed up. With himself.

        “I just got tired of who I was,” the 38-year-old East Walnut Hills man says.

        He was overweight, lonely and lacking in self-confidence. Even though he was friendly and gregarious, his weight had hindered him in forming relationships. He especially felt uncomfortable around women.

        And so this University of Michigan grad would come home from work and plop in front of the TV. He might peruse his baseball card collection, or read. Sometimes he would go out.

        But more often than not he would spend his free time alone.

        I hate this, he'd tell himself.

        “I backed myself into a corner, and then I resented myself for being in that corner. I was upset with myself to the point that I felt like I had wasted a good part of my life, and then I realized that's the most important thing I have.”

        So one day about five years ago, Seth set about changing his life. He laced up a pair of Reeboks and jogged around his neighborhood. He went about a mile.

        “And I was dyin',” he says.

        But the next day, he did it again. He kept running, even when hecklers hurled insults, until he built up the stamina to go about 5 miles. In the process, he shed 40 pounds.

        About that time, he took another big step: He joined a co-ed softball league. That took even more courage than running, because it meant being with others.

        “The toughest thing was going there the first time,” he says. “And then once I did it, I loved it.”

        He now plays on two co-ed teams, one through his work at Duro Bag Manufacturing Co., the other through the Jewish Community Center. And he still runs, five or six times a week.

        He's a bit concerned that people who read this article will look at his photo, see that he's still overweight, and wonder what really has changed.

        Understand, a camera can't always convey an attitude. But the mere fact that he would tell his story to a newspaper reporter speaks to his self-confidence.

        “I'm not running kayaks down the rapids, and I'm not climbing Mount Everest, but at least I'm going out and making the effort to be with people,” Seth says.

        “Do I have a lot more weight to lose? Absolutely. Do I have a lot more things that I could improve on? Absolutely. (But) inside, I'm so much happier where I am today.”

        He credits his family, particularly his mother and father, for their emotional support as he transformed from the Old Seth to the New Seth. “They understood what I was going through.”

        His life took another turn when he met someone at work, and wanted to ask her out. “I was afraid to,” he says. “I don't like being rejected.”

        But Toni Greenwell made it easy for him. They joked back and forth until mutually agreeing on a first date. That was a year and a half ago, and they're still together.

        “She's very, very important to me,” Seth says.

        He enjoys spending time with her. He has re-established ties with buddies from college. He sometimes goes out with the softball crowd. He has opened doors he once kept tightly closed.

        He smiles as he talks about having a social schedule so full that he can't always accommodate everyone.

        “Now I've got people who are mad at me because I don't have time to go out. I feel like, who are they talking about?”

        They're talking about Seth Burgin, who loves being with people.

       

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