Gratitude "Podcast" Interview: Gina Marcell

Well, hi, everybody. It's David George Brooke, that gratitude guy with another special guest. So many, gosh, on the gratitude podcast interview regarding the pandemic. And today, I'm very blessed to have my baby sister, as I always call her, my favorite sister. I only have one, but nonetheless, she's my favorite. My sister, Gina, Marcelle, all the way from Salida, Colorado. Gina, welcome to the podcast

Hello. So we're trying to extend information and tips and tidbits and different things

You're a very motivated, aggressive person, always been very inspiring and so forth

And we'll get to that in a minute. But let me start out with my first question is that what is your best coping mechanism during this pandemic

certainly unprecedented in our lifetime? Probably just knowing that this two will pass

I've actually been reading a little bit about other pandemics, you know, from years and years ago

And, you know, they're not exactly the same as this, but we always end up getting through them

So that's probably that. And just I don't really, I try not to worry

I just try to stay busy. Yeah, that's, you've always been very busy

I know whenever I talk to you, I always have a thousand things going on. So obviously I talk about gratitude law

There's that gratitude guy. And during this uncertain time is, do you find what you're grateful for has changed

or are you still grateful for the same things you think about every day in your life

And really, what's at the top of the list, the top one or two things you're grateful for

Well, for one thing, I do think it's changed because I think, I mean

the older I get the more I realize it the simple things in life that that kind of makes us happy And so now I even more focused and grateful for those simple things in life

And I actually wrote down a few things. I'm starting to write a little bit more on paper and pen for what I'm grateful for

I know I've resisted in the past, but I'm trying to get better at it

So can I look at my list here? Absolutely. I'm grateful for the fact that I'm healthy. So obviously that's that's on everybody's minds right now

I'm also grateful that I have a certain amount of a good head on my shoulders and intelligence

Not that I had anything to do with it, but I was born with that. I'm grateful that I happen to love being domestic and I'm very domestic and I'm doing a lot more

of that now, obviously. And I know how to be domestic. I have a lot of those kind of classic domestic skills

like cooking and sewing, and I started knitting again, and I'm making some masks from the sewing machine

And so I'm grateful that I already know how to do all that

And I think these are just the top of the top the list. I've got tons of stuff here, but I'm grateful to have been raised by a woman who was

raised in the Depression. I think you know who that is. Yeah. And she kind of always raised us

at least with me, as if we were still in the Depression. Right. And so she taught me a lot of kind

frugal nice thrifty ways And I always kind of lived my life that way but now more than never I so grateful to have those habits and and and those skills like just today I was making a cake for my husband

birthday and I didn't have any brown sugar because I needed some for this cake and I went oh no

problem I've got white sugar and I've got molasses you know I'll just mix those to

together, now I've got brown sugar. So I know how to make those little substitutions and things like that

That's good. That's good. So being somebody who is so energetic, motivated, as I said earlier, I don't think

everybody's that way. In fact, I know not everybody's that way. But so during this really uncertain time, what are some tips or thoughts or ideas you

might have for things for people to do when they're basically housebound and staying at home

well that's a good one i'm so used to staying at home because i work from home so it's not a lot

different than what i normally do um i would say try to resurrect some hobbies um that's a good one

i know that a lot of people have started gardening for the first time or maybe you know

a renewed interest uh in gardening i know i've gotten more interested in gardening

this year. I mean, I've always been interested in gardening, but now I have more time

Right. So I'm really, that's my biggest thing right now is I'm just like nurturing these little baby plants

And like I posted the other day, I feel like if you saw the movie with Matt Damon

the Martian, where he has to grow his own potatoes. Right. And he's babying these little tiny plants

And that kind of how I feel right now It like they my little babies that I nurturing to grow But yeah and then like I mentioned earlier I started knitting again I haven knitted for years And so if you can find whatever

around your house, hopefully that you have, whether it's maybe picking up a book that you haven't

read for a long time or cooking or just calling friends that you haven't, you know, like that's one

thing I'm doing now is once a day I'm picking up the actual phone instead of texting and calling

friends that I may have not talked to. That's nice. You know, on the phone, actual phone. Yeah

that's great. And reconnecting to old friendships and so forth is a neat idea. And just I think a lot of

times it's things on the to do-list that we never get around to the famous go get around to it

And it just is a perfect time to do them because you're going to be stuck in your house or by your

garage or your basement or something. And maybe those projects. get done that have never gotten done. So last question is when you think about your life

do you have a quote or a philosophy or sort of a mindset that's kind of directed you your

whole life that is something. I mean, a lot of people say, yeah, my quote is such and such

or sort of just a life philosophy that you use to sustain, Gina. Where there's a will, there's a way

That's always been my favorite quote for me. Yeah. If I really want to do something

I'll figure out a way to do it and get it done. Yeah, that's true

I know just shortly before we started this, I was getting a little frustrated with some technology

And sure enough, I just stuck with it and kept powering through and finally got handled

So that's a good one. But, yeah, if there's ever a time where there's a will, there's a way it's this time

because we don't know how long this is going to last and so forth. So anyway, but well, listen, thank you, my dear

Those were tremendous tips. I so appreciate you being on the podcast. All right

My pleasure. All right. Take it easy. Yeah, see you soon. Talk to you soon

Bye-bye