Attitude is Everything!

Dean M. Gialamas, Principal and Leadership Consultant, Cardea Enterprises, Inc.

Attitude is Everything. [Long post but you'll find it worth the read.]

I was 25 miles into my road bike ride this weekend when I got a puncture flat with no spare tubular tire. Walking 22 miles back to my truck was not an option. I got a ride back to my truck, loaded up with a sense of relief and started my truck. It would not go into gear. My transmission electronics were acting up and not working. I had to get towed to a repair shop. What should have been a 2-3 hour bike ride for therapy turned into an all-day affair of 7+ hours and a yet-to-be-determined pocket book hit for repairs.

Question: Was this a good day or a bad day?

Answer: Neither! It was a GREAT day!!

Why on earth would I say that? Let me fill in the gaps. First of all, I woke up and rode my bike 25 miles to the beach with ease. That's at least two blessings, right? I am fortunate enough that my wife's best friend Kelle lives right where I was stranded, and I called her to see if she could help. She was home and was able to send her daughter to be my lifeline. That's blessing #3. She graciously picked me up and we had a great conversation in the car on the way back. We had so much fun talking that we even missed our exit back to the area where my truck was parked at the start of our ride. She's an amazing young lady who is staged for such a bright future. I have two boys and if I had a daughter, I'd want her to turn out just like her. Beautiful, smart, heart of gold, athletic, and just an amazing person. We talked a lot about stuff in life, school, sports, careers, boys. With her biological father no longer with us, and I felt like it was a bit of a bonding moment - almost father-daughter like. I felt like I was there at the right time for her for that moment. That's clearly blessing #4!

Well you can imagine my relief when I got back to my truck, loaded up and started off to just get home. The truck started but would not shift into gear. What? I could shift the gears but the transmission would not engage. How? After some on-the-fly google searches and multiple attempts to try and figure out the issue, I gave in and called AAA. Jon and his flatbed tow truck arrives and we now have to push my monster of a truck (full-size, 4 door, diesel 4x4 truck) out of the parking space so he can load it up. Greg, who leads our bike riding club, was still at the park and was gracious enough to help us with getting the truck accessible to the tow truck. Blessing #5 (or #6 if you count that I had AAA ??).

Jon the tow truck dude gets me all loaded up and we start talking on the way to my repair shop. I learn that he is a Baja racer and loves motorcycles. In fact, he's been riding since he got his license and had been involved in no less than 6 (yes SIX!!) major high-speed accidents on his motorcycle, having broken literally nearly every bone in his body (each of his arms and legs multiple times in multiple places), and both hips, his back, several vertebrae and his skull (twice!).  And yes, he still rides... and he always will. He began to tell me that people always say that "you only live once." He thinks it's bull. He had quite the comeback too, "You don't 'only live once.' You live every single day. You only die once... and I'm not afraid of dying." And damn he sounds just like Marine son, too. Little did I know Mr. Tow Truck driver was quite the philosopher - and I don't mean that sarcastically - I mean that seriously. Maybe I was there to hear that for where I am in my life. Made me think, how do I live every single day? Hmm, perhaps blessing #7...

We get to our destination to my repair shop and we then drop my truck off for her unscheduled transmission fondling by Mr. Mechanic. As we off-load the truck, Jon the Tow Truck Driver and I start chatting. Little did we know that we had so much to talk about that 45 minutes later we're still at it. I learn about his life, his childhood, his immigrant parents, that he's 25% Greek (which instantly makes him a great guy ??), he's sponsored by Monster Energy Drinks for his racing (honored by his tattoos), that he's taking care of his grandma, that he's saving for retirement, that he's saving for a house, that he makes more as tow truck driver than if he went to school and on and on. I began to share about some of my life and what I did right financially and where looking back I could have done even better with finances and investments. Ya know, kinda like giving him the "if I knew then what I know now" stories. He was about 20 years younger than me and he was attentive as little kid listening to his hero. He got a great deal of financial and business advice from me that he really appreciated. Before he left, he told me that he hoped to run into me to again sometime (come on, not like run into him on his bike and not with his tow truck, of course) because he enjoyed the conversation so much. Seems like the makings of blessing #8.

The day capped with attending church services with my life-long girlfriend, wife and lover (yes, the same person!) and festive Cinco de Mayo dinner with my younger son and my date. No doubt, more blessings!

You don 't 'only live once.' You live every single day. You only die once...

As I look back at the day, it really made me think, and this is the KEY to this LinkedIn novel, that maybe today was not about me at all. How easy would it have been for me to look back and just pout and moan about poor me and all that happened. I could have easily complained incessantly and whined, and to some rightfully so, about all that went wrong. NOPE! Not here, not me. I look back and realized that for me God’s plan today was two fold. One: I needed these events today in order to practice patience per His test and instructions. Two: I also needed "bad" things to happen to me today in order for the doors to open for blessings for two others, my friend's daughter and the tow truck driver. Sometimes, like today, we get to know why things happen the way they do, and other days we find out long after the event; sometimes we never even find out at all. We just have to trust.

So how was your day? Did "bad" things happen to you today and if so what did they mean to you? Is it even about you?

Yes, Attitude is Everything!