Gratitude "Podcast" Interview: Gary Blackbourn

There you go

Well, hi, everybody. It's David George Brook, that gratitude guy with another interview on the gratitude podcast

the pandemic. And today I was just thinking about it with my good friend, Gary Blackburn, who I've known

a long time. I don't want to say how many, because as I've said before, you could do the math and

you can figure how old you were. But let's just say I've known him about half a century, for goodness sakes

But anyway, Gary, welcome to the podcast. Thank you, David. You bet

So, as you may know, one of the reasons I'm doing this is to really help people to get maybe some tips or ideas from other people that we're going through an unprecedented time in our nation's history and really the world, for that matter

And so a couple of questions. First one is, what is your best coping mechanism through this pandemic

Oh, boy. For me, it's probably been exercise, you know, whether it's inside exercise, you know, whether it's inside exercise

or outside exercise. There are still sidewalks and streets and so forth

or even trails that you can find that don't have a lot of people on them

And at different times of the day, it's a little challenging sometimes weather-wise

but I've found that if you just make a point of going outside, it really helps

That's really true. Now, now exercise, knowing you as long as I do or have, has been a part of your life for since you were in high school, maybe junior high. Do you find that during this time, do you dial it up a little bit more or is it just kind of depend on when you're going through something like this for your housebound

I you know I think it kind of like your highlight of your day to if nothing else to get outside And you know it kind of tough now

nowadays with working and talking to people and stuff. A lot of people don't move from a chair

for literally hours at a time. And if nothing else, get up and walk around the house or go outside

and just outside your own house and look at the flowers in bloom

and things like that. Yeah, that's a good idea. Just to kind of clear your mind. I think a lot of people are binge watching all sorts of shows

and having out of that chair and so forth. So this is a very uncertain time

And would you say now, as opposed to maybe before now, but what's your current thing you're most grateful for

Would you say in your life? All my family. Yeah. Yeah. And that's something that, you know

I think you kind of step up the effort. to communicate with them, whether it's a text or, you know, a Zoom

We had a virtual dinner the other night. Oh, really? It's pretty funny

Yeah. Yeah. You know, we're just like with the Zoom program that you have, you know what I'm talking about

Yeah, it's pretty cool. The two daughters and different families and things like that

That's neat. You know, you can comment on the meals and things like that

That's cool. That's cool. So you've been a guy who, all, his whole life's been very motivated

and very self-motivated and didn't need anybody else or keeping up with the Joneses or anything to get out there and do things

So for the person that maybe isn't quite as aggressive or as energetic as you are

do you have any ideas or thoughts or tips for somebody, tips for somebody who may not have the same level of imagination now that they're stuck in their house

things to do? Well I think this pandemic that we going through is a good way to take care of some things that maybe you put off and think about the things that we put off

For my example the other day, and I knew this was always a goal of mine, and I walked by a certain window

and outside is a little difficult because it's a little colder now

and we're still getting rain on the windows, but the inside. And I said, you know, I'm going to make a goal and I'm going to get that window clean

Oh, that's cool. And there were actually several windows, but, you know, all you need is paper towels and some windex on interior windows

And that was setting a goal of one type or another, whether it's reading a book or, you know, looking up

definitions of certain things. In my case, this particular day, it was washing windows

It's a good point because I think, and this has happened to me in these last few weeks

is getting to some of those things you've been meaning to do but never quite have the time to

because you're so busy with everything else. Well, now you're at home. And so it's kind of neat

And I'm sure after those things are done, you feel a great sense of accomplishment, which is

certainly kind of cool too. So last question, again, either before or

during what we're going through now, do you have sort of a quote or a philosophy or sort of a mantra

or something that sort of sustains you throughout your life? I know you did triathlons and a lot of

long distance running, biking, swimming, all that type of thing. But any kind of a quote or something

that you kind of use is sort of represents your mindset or attitude, if you will

Well for the things I gone through health on things that I like to do I guess the biggest guess the biggest thing is don look at ways for things to make things happen

as opposed to looking for excuses why you can't do this or you can't do that

And I guess that gets back to the, some of the things you talk about the glass half full versus half empty

there are always things that you can look at in a different light to make something to accomplish

And whether that's surgeries like I had on knees and things like that

or just a different attitude that you're going to go out every day and if, oh, gosh, it looks like it's raining here

I better not do that. Well, how about putting a raincoat on and a hat and then do it

That's excellent. And that goes back to something I bring up in talks from time to time

but it's a choice to go up or down, left or right. I had a father that I'd say, oh, gosh, it's sunny out today

He goes, it's going to rain tomorrow. Man, oh, man, I guess it's your choice

It's the glass half full or half empty. But you've always had a real positive attitude

And I think also something else has come out in a few calls is you're kind of known by the company you keep

and you're really aware of who you hang out with. You hang out with a bunch of negative people

There's a piece that's going to rub off on you, no matter how positive you are. So I think it pays to hang around people that have the right attitude

or as I like to say, an attitude of gratitude too. So, well, thank you, my friend

I appreciate that. And I wish you continue good luck as we go through this pandemic

Yeah, no kidding. We're a little, again, I think the glass is half full

We'll get through it. We will. We will. Thank you, Gary. Thank you, David. You bet