Gratitude "Podcast" Interview: George Saridakis

Well, hi everybody. It's that Gratitude Guy today again with another special guest for

the Gratitude Podcast interview. Today, my guest is George Saragacis, a good friend of

mine and a very close friend of my younger son, Connor. George, how are you this morning

Doing well. How about you? Pretty well. I think we're all holding up as best we can. I think as an example of these

kind of Zoom calls and FaceTimes and things, I think a lot of it has to do with connecting

via electronic and technology, which is helping to stay connected. I think one of the silver

linings that's coming up through this is the fact that we don't realize how important connection

is and that in-person connection. And now we're all standing six feet apart. So it's

kind of interesting. But on my podcast interview, as I call it, regarding the pandemic, I have

a couple of questions for you. And so my first question for George is, what is your best

coping mechanism to deal with this pandemic? I think reading. I think this has allowed, or the one good thing that this thing's brought

out is time for self-reflection and work. And I think that this is the best time to

work on yourself, read, try to do as much exercising as possible and eat healthy, because

that's definitely something we've been doing. Those are all good ones. And in particular with reading, the exercise and eating healthy

makes a lot of sense and maybe catching up on some projects and things. On the reading

any particular type of books, fiction, nonfiction that you're kind of using during this time

Yeah, I think we're doing some self-help. I just finished, I think, Supermarket, a nice

little novel quick read. And I'm switching to 5am Book Club after this

Cool. And that's literally reading at 5am? I hope. I hope. I hope I'll be getting up that early. But yeah, it just preaches about that

And isn't it the guy that's, somebody that you told me about that was, recommends getting

up at 5am and starting your day, or was reading or doing something at 5am. Isn't that what

you're doing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good concept. Getting off to a good start. So, okay, excellent. Next question

So during these uncertain times, what are you most grateful for? I guess my family, of course, that we're all healthy. But I guess the society that we live

in and I mean, luckily, everything's taken care of. The grocery stores are stocked up

We don't have to worry about our security. We're safe, you know, so I have no doubt that

we're going to get through this and America will make sure everybody does so

Yeah. And you know, knowing your family as well as I do, there's something about whether

it's the Greek culture or whatever that I think a lot of other countries can learn from

the closeness that you guys exhibit as a family. I think I'm pretty close to my family and

yet sometimes I look at your family and I think, wow, how did they get such a great connection? And certainly during a time like this, when there's a lot of negativity and

a lot of sadness and a lot of fear, that family and that closeness, that family really

pays off. So that's good. Yeah. That's neat. You guys have a great family. Lastly, so do

you have like a quote or a philosophy or something that kind of sustains George through something

like this? Yeah, it goes back to, it goes, can I look it up real quick? The full quote? Take me

one second. I think you'll love it. It's by Rabbi Halil. I don't remember the specific

date, but it's definitely a very old quote. And it goes, if I am not, if I am for myself

if I am not for myself, who will be? If I am for myself alone, who am I? If not now

when? And if not you, who? I like that. I think that's a quote that, that I think about

if not every day, it's many times a day. And I think too, it's, it's interesting. You talk about the most, I always tell in my talks

the most important relationship you ever have is that relationship you have with yourself

And it's interesting as you're reading about with this coronavirus and how, who it attacks

and elderly people and people that are, have preexisting conditions and aren't in the best

health. And I was thinking about something today. If there's ever a time to suggest why

it's not a good idea to smoke, this might be the time where it's like another reason

to take care of yourself. And I, as somebody who's never had a cigarette in his life, I

just think it's interesting. If you, if you take care of yourself, every one of us does

a good job of taking care of ourselves, think how much better we'd all interact with each

other and stuff too. So excellent. Well, excellent quote. So cool. Well, thank you so much. I

appreciate it. And as I said earlier, we're always hoping to pass on a few nuggets. I

love that quote. Hopefully people get some inspiration from that, but we'll continue

forward. So thank you so much, George. All right. Thank you. You bet