Bailout in Recovery is Not So Good

The old saying “attitude is everything” served me well this morning. I was awake very early with the mindset of getting my 10 mile run in before I had to venture off for a lunch meeting. Normally getting a workout in prior to a lunch meeting wouldn’t be very difficult but this lunch meeting was two hours away and I wanted to be home when the children woke up for their school day. I set my mind yesterday evening and in spite of having a very intense workout (in fact this was my last “intense” workout of my training regimen as I prepare for the Long Beach Marathon) yesterday I was mentally prepared to get to the gym and get in my run.

I was awake before the alarm went off and I wasn’t exactly in the “right” frame of mind to just jump out of bed but somehow I managed to get to my feet and once I was on my fight half the battle was over. I went about the early morning routine and was out the door before I could really think about anything. I was at the gym before I could think about anything and for the first 8 miles of my run I was preoccupied with my IPod. I finally purchased headphones that wrap around my ears as the ear buds wouldn’t fit in my rather smallish ears. I was eager to try out the new headphones while running but I guess my ears are “freakishly” small since these wraparound headphones kept falling off.

I had a pair of wraparound headphones while I served my time and these were the best $12 headphones I have ever purchased. The sound quality may not have been that good but these headphones were secure in my ears. Strangely enough I cannot locate these headphones (I guess they are only available to the “captive” audience!) and have struggled with the ear buds and now these headphones. There was a positive side to all of this finagling with the headphones because 80% of my run was complete before I realized. I guess it is back to the drawing board in search of new headphones but I must comment that it was very nice listening to music while I was running even as this music played in one of my ears!!

Nonetheless I got in a good workout and I returned home in time as the children prepared to go off to school. I got their breakfast ready and kissed them as they headed off to school. I had a few things to do before I joined a colleague for our drive to the lunch meeting. While I did these tasks I tuned into CNBC where all the talk was about the bailout. It is interesting because one of the Gamblers Anonymous principles talks about “no bailouts” and this makes sense for me a compulsive gambler. Does it make sense for a financial system that would allegedly implode without a bailout; I don’t know for sure but I taking the principles of the program to heart the reason for no bailout in GA is to stop the enabling of the compulsive gambler.

In my experience I was “bailed out” twice before my total fall from grace. The first time I was 18 years old and my father saved my “hide” from a bookmaker and the second time was 10 years later as I expunged all my gambling debt when I declared bankruptcy. No, I certainly didn’t learn much in those two incidents and in my third and hopefully final incident there weren’t any bailouts afforded to me. I have been blessed because of recovery but I lost 2 years from my family which I will never get back. Sure I lost many material possessions but these don’t mean a thing compared to the losing those two years of hugs, smiles, kisses and just general amazement of my family. This was the best medicine for me and as my father told me when I first got into trouble when I was 18, “don’t ever forget this feeling”. I did forget that feeling the first time and the second time but in recovery and as long as I stay in recovery I will not forget that feeling. The great thing is everything is working out for the very best.

I don’t know if there is a correlation to the proposed bailout but hopefully those in charge won’t repeat the same mistakes that were made and the economy goes into a recovery instead of recession or even worse a depression. Only time has this answer and if I had a vote I don’t know if I could vote for the bailout based on my recovery principles. Anyhow that is neither here nor there as I made my way to lunch appointment with a colleague. We did have a long drive and fortunately it wasn’t me who did the driving and the two hours passed so quickly as we talked the entire way. The talk ranged from the bailout to politics to work and everything in between. This colleague happens to be my boss and even though I am older than my boss I am learning a great deal about not only the recovery business but business in general.

We arrived at our lunch meeting and as fate would have it the restaurant which was not selected by me actually had options for my picky tastes!! I am a horrible restaurant date of any nature because of my limited selection of food; however this particular restaurant which was situated in the heart of the “granola” corridor in the Hollywood Hills had items I would never get where I live so I thought this to be a good sign. It was indeed a good sign as the meeting went very well and I think we made one of those “connections” I have been seeking. The meeting had to do with the “Intervention” show and yes, the details have been finalized but I am contractually bound not to mention anything about the content of the show. I can say the episode should air in either January or February of next year and everyone is very excited.

I had envisioned the lunch meeting and it was exactly to my expectation. The person who I had spoken with many times on the telephone was exactly as I pictured which doesn’t necessarily happen all of the time. My advice to my boss was spot on and everything went very smoothly. Yes, I do have a very cool job and as long as I keep doing the right thing everything will continue to fall into place very nicely. Today was another wonderful day and as we drove home through the Hollywood Hills I had to stop and stare at the picturesque canyons and take a deep breath knowing how far I have come in the past three years, wow recovery is so powerful!!!