The Balance of Life: Gray Hair Dave Discusses Recovery and Resilience
This podcast episode delves into the personal journey of recovery and the importance of physical rehabilitation. I recount my experiences following foot surgery, emphasizing the transition from a cumbersome boot to a significantly lighter brace, which has markedly improved my mobility and comfort. As I navigate the challenges of rehabilitation, I express my eagerness to regain full function and engage in activities that enhance my well-being. Furthermore, I shift the discourse towards pressing political developments, highlighting the confirmation of key governmental appointments and the implications of current tariff policies. This episode ultimately reflects on the intersection of personal health and broader societal issues, underscoring the necessity of resilience in both realms.
The discourse presented by Gray Hair Dave unfolds a narrative rich with personal experiences and reflections on both health and sociopolitical matters. Following the host's recent foot surgery, he elucidates the gradual transition from a cumbersome boot to a considerably lighter brace, articulating the profound relief this change has brought him. The details he provides regarding the challenges of mobility and the psychological toll of physical limitations encapsulate a relatable journey of recovery. He expresses his eagerness to regain independence and engage in physical activities, underscoring the importance of movement not only for physical health but also for mental well-being. Through meticulous descriptions of his rehabilitation process, he resonates with listeners who may have faced similar health struggles, effectively humanizing the experience of recovery and the desire to reclaim an active lifestyle.
Transitioning from the personal to the political, Dave navigates the complexities of current world affairs, particularly focusing on the appointment of Mike Huckabee as the U.S. Ambassador to Israel. He highlights the significance of swift confirmations of key government positions, reflecting on the necessity of having competent individuals in place to address pressing international issues. His commentary reveals an astute awareness of the interplay between domestic politics and global diplomacy, as he draws parallels to historical contexts where leadership transitions were marked by delay and controversy. This segment of the podcast serves to enlighten listeners on the critical nature of effective governance during tumultuous times, reinforcing the idea that leadership is paramount in fostering stability both at home and abroad.
Conclusively, the episode encapsulates a blend of personal anecdotes and broader societal commentary. Dave's reflections on tariffs and economic policies reveal his engagement with the intricacies of international trade and its implications for the average citizen. He articulates the challenges posed by tariffs, employing illustrative examples that elucidate the impact on consumers and businesses alike. This pragmatic approach to discussing economic issues invites listeners to ponder the ramifications of governmental policies on their everyday lives, fostering a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of health, economics, and politics. Through this episode, Gray Hair Dave not only entertains but also educates, providing a platform for thoughtful consideration of the multifaceted nature of contemporary issues.
Takeaways:
- The podcast emphasizes the significance of physical therapy in the recovery process following surgery, highlighting the transition from a cumbersome boot to a more comfortable brace.
- Listeners are informed about the dynamics of tariffs and their implications on international trade, particularly how they affect pricing and sales in foreign markets.
- The speaker candidly shares personal reflections on the challenges of adjusting to life post-surgery, underscoring the emotional toll of limited mobility and the desire to regain normalcy.
- A discussion on current political events illustrates the importance of having confirmed ambassadors and officials in government positions to effectively manage international relations.
- The podcast explores the complexities of governmental budget management, noting the alarming statistic that the United States has not balanced its federal budget in over two decades.
- Throughout the episode, there is an underlying theme of resilience and the pursuit of improvement, both personally in terms of health and in broader societal contexts.
Links referenced in this episode:
https://www.5minuteswithgreyhairdave.com/
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- 11 labs
Transcript
Welcome to five Minutes with Gray Haired Dave.
Speaker A:He has gray hair, has a gray beard, and wears glasses like the guy in the artwork.
Speaker A:Oh, and the guy in the artwork's better looking.
Speaker A:Now here is Gray Hair Dave.
Speaker B:Here we go, folks.
Speaker B:Welcome back to another five Minutes with Gray Hair Dave episode.
Speaker B:How are you?
Speaker B:Gray Hair Davier.
Speaker B:I tell you, I do love 11 labs.
Speaker B:I'm gonna go in there today and among my many other tasks is maybe add a different voice, see if I can find somebody different.
Speaker B:Maybe not.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:It's working pretty good.
Speaker B:But how are you?
Speaker B:Hope you're doing well.
Speaker B:So I just got back from physical therapy today.
Speaker B:Now, you may not care about my physical therapy and that's absolutely fine, but this is the part of the show where this is what I've been talking about.
Speaker B:So I'm going to talk a little bit about my foot and I want to go into a couple of other things in life and then I'm going to go to politics.
Speaker B:Yeah, you know, politics.
Speaker B:But anyway, here we go.
Speaker B:So my foot surgery was almost 10 weeks ago, if it wasn't 10 weeks ago.
Speaker B:And they've got me weaning out of the boot into a brace, which is.
Speaker B:Kev, I can't, I can't say this enough.
Speaker B:It's fantastic.
Speaker B:I am so over that boot.
Speaker B:I can't tell you how much I'm over that dang boot.
Speaker B:For one, it's heavy.
Speaker B:I mean, it's not.
Speaker B:It probably weighs three or four pounds, maybe five.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:That seems heavy.
Speaker B:But it, you know, you aren't walking straight because your other shoe that doesn't match the same height means you're walking with a limp or you're.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:Which throws your back off, which throws your neck off, which gives you headaches.
Speaker B:It doesn't matter.
Speaker B:It's just a nightmare.
Speaker B:And so, you know, around the house, I.
Speaker B:I don't wear it unless I need to, unless it hurts.
Speaker B:But I've been wearing, you know, the doctor told me a couple weeks ago, start weaning into the brace.
Speaker B:Now, the brace weighs about half an ounce or half a pound.
Speaker B:I'm sorry.
Speaker B:It's nothing.
Speaker B:I mean, it's like putting on another sock.
Speaker B:And I found out, you know, through therapy that I haven't been putting it on tight enough.
Speaker B:He just cranked that thing right in there when he puts it on for me, but told me today I can go out without it or go out with it instead of my boot, which was fantastic.
Speaker B:Plus, in the boot you don't get any arch support where you do, you know, in my tennis shoe or any other shoes I would wear.
Speaker B:So it feels better on my foot.
Speaker B:And I'm not limping.
Speaker B:And he's in night to say this, but I'm.
Speaker B:I'm learning again how to walk again properly.
Speaker B:You know, heel, toe, heel, toe, make it go all the way.
Speaker B:And it was weird the other day when I did it.
Speaker B:Put one foot on the side of a treadmill that doesn't move in my.
Speaker B:My, you know, the injured foot on the treadmill itself.
Speaker B:And he put me on a really slow walk, just a heel to toe and then bring it up heel to toe.
Speaker B:And I tell you what, that hurt for a while, but it felt good to be using the foot again because I'm tired of being this invalid, you know, I wanna.
Speaker B:I wanna be able to go back out and start doing things.
Speaker B:And as my therapist and I were talking today and I said, can I start doing, you know, going for walks and things?
Speaker B:Because I'm not getting any exercise in folks.
Speaker B:The only exercise I get is climbing up and down stairs to go to bed at night, because that's, you know, bedrooms upstairs and, well, that doesn't do me a whole lot of good when it comes to exercise, especially if I'm in that darn boot.
Speaker B:So, you know, my roommate, she's got a treadmill downstairs, a bicycle downstairs.
Speaker B:He says, yeah, go, start walking a little bit, walk outside and walk around the block.
Speaker B:Told him how big my blood the block here is.
Speaker B:And he goes, okay, walk to the end of the street, turn around, come back, see how you feel, you know, And I love that.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And I'm happy about that.
Speaker B:So, yeah, that's one of the good things that came out of the day.
Speaker B:Now he tried something new.
Speaker B:Putting heat on it first and then doing the exercises, then icing as it went out.
Speaker B:And that felt pretty good too.
Speaker B:But, you know, here we go again.
Speaker B:We're trying different things and we're moving on, you know, but we are moving on now away from my foot, onto other things in life.
Speaker B:I do have to say these things.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I am.
Speaker B:I am missing work.
Speaker B:I've gotten a little lazy.
Speaker B:You all know that, because I don't always post when I should, and I'm.
Speaker B:I'm tired of that.
Speaker B:I got to get past that.
Speaker B:I've gotten lazy a little.
Speaker B:I almost feel a little depressed.
Speaker B:And I don't feel as depressed when I'm talking to you guys and I'm able to get out and I'M able to go do things.
Speaker B:So, you know, I, it's, it's time to start moving around a little bit, getting out and, you know, I, I can't go to the parks for two reasons.
Speaker B:One is that that's much too much walking yet.
Speaker B:I, I'm not ready.
Speaker B:I'm not ready for prime time.
Speaker B:But I, I also can't go because I'm on medical leave.
Speaker B:You know, I could buy a ticket, but I'm not buying a ticket when I got free tickets in my wallet.
Speaker B:So there's that.
Speaker B:And also, you know, it's, I'm just not ready for that.
Speaker B:So what's happening in the war?
Speaker B:We're going to change subjects now.
Speaker B:What's happening in the world today?
Speaker B:Well, I see that Mike Huckabee was confirmed as the U.
Speaker B:S.
Speaker B:Ambassador to Israel.
Speaker B:That's an important thing right now.
Speaker B:You know, I go and I, we need ambassadors.
Speaker B:And I noticed this time when Trump was elected, compared to the first Trump presidency, he's getting his people confirmed quicker.
Speaker B:Marco Rubio as Secretary of State was quick.
Speaker B:A lot of these secretaries of state and people who have to be confirmed by Congress have, you know, they were, they've been confirmed relatively quickly.
Speaker B:And I'm impressed with that and I'm very happy with that.
Speaker B:I think that everybody in government realizes that we have to have people in these important positions to take care of the country's business right now in other countries around the world that listen to me, your country may not be run the way ours is.
Speaker B:Elections every four years in this constant battle back and forth.
Speaker B:And I watch it on tv, I watch the battle we go through, and I pay attention around the world too, to what happens in other countries.
Speaker B:And, you know, if it's, if it's war torn or it's dictatorship type of leadership, boy, people, they really raise up and raise up in protest and that's what they do here too.
Speaker B:And the unfortunate thing that I see is our, some of our leadership on the democratic side creating the protests, going out and being a part of the protests and stirring things up.
Speaker B:Well, that's democracy.
Speaker B:That's allowed.
Speaker B:Is it a good idea to have them do that in an open forum, out in public, but yet not take any questions?
Speaker B:No, because then they're going to deny the questions and harass the person who asked it because we're still divided that way.
Speaker B:But I think it's, it's going to get better now.
Speaker B:There's also this thing going on out there about tariffs and I didn't explain it very well last week.
Speaker B:So let's just try one more time.
Speaker B:If I have a product that I want to send and sell in Japan, I'm just using Japan as an example.
Speaker B:I have nothing against Japan.
Speaker B:If it costs, if I want to sell it for a hundred dollars over there, I have to pay them.
Speaker B:If they're charging a 10% tariff, I have to pay their government $10 to do it.
Speaker B:So they have that option to either a sell at the regular price, take a loss of a 10% or add 10% onto the price.
Speaker B:Which means if somebody there in that country, in Japan, say, makes the same basic thing and they're selling it for $90, well, my product's not going to sell.
Speaker B:Why would it?
Speaker B:Would you buy it?
Speaker B:Oh, gee, Dave makes this product.
Speaker B:I should buy from Dave.
Speaker B:But it's $110 where, you know, the country of Japan produces this product and it's $90 and does the same thing over me.
Speaker B:I'm going with a $90 guy.
Speaker B:So it's going to take some time.
Speaker B:It's going to be a little pain.
Speaker B:And President Trump told us that.
Speaker B:Do I like that idea?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:I'm having a hard enough time getting by as it is.
Speaker B:Think about it.
Speaker B:I'm on Social Security, which, you know, Social Security is Social Security.
Speaker B:And if you hadn't figured that out by now, you found out that I'm at least of Social Security age and I have my, you know, I'm get what I'm getting from Disney and that's only at 66%.
Speaker B:So I'm not out here making a fortune.
Speaker B:I'm not, you know, living high on, high on the hog, as it were.
Speaker B:I'm just getting by, but we don't have a choice.
Speaker B:But I have noticed and I've been watching a lot of these countries, not the big ones yet, but a lot some of them.
Speaker B:But they're starting to get a hold of us in the US or the government and want to negotiate the tariffs because it's going to hurt their people too.
Speaker B:It is.
Speaker B:So if they want to sell here their $100 product coming in, let's say from Japan, it's going to cost 110 here because of the 10.
Speaker B:We're putting on a 10% tariff.
Speaker B:If Japan imposes a 10% tariff, we impose a 10% tariff on anything they important.
Speaker B:They import a lot.
Speaker B:All those cargo ships you see going into the ports, they've all got to start paying us extra money.
Speaker B:So this goes both ways, folks.
Speaker B:This is a good way To A, get rid of the tariffs upon us, and B, we could start making some money from them to start paying down some of the debt and maybe, who knows, balance the budget.
Speaker B:Oh, my God.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:That's how I'm curious.
Speaker B:Hold on, I'm going to look this up, folks.
Speaker B:Okay, here we go.
Speaker B:So I went to Google and said, hey, when was the last time the federal budget was balanced?
Speaker B:Here's the results.
Speaker B: balanced or had a surplus was: Speaker B:Believe that?
Speaker B:It's been 24 years.
Speaker B:We've been living on a deficit.
Speaker B:Well, let's get past that.
Speaker B:So anyways, that's about all I got for today.
Speaker B:I'm going to leave you with that thought.
Speaker B:It's been 24 years since the United States balanced the budget.
Speaker B:Don't you believe it's time we start working on that?
Speaker B:Alrighty, so I'm going to start ending my program here today by saying, folks, if you got a question or concern or want to leave me a comment, you can either do it in the app you're you're listening from, or you can go to Five Minutes with Gray Hair Dave.
Speaker B:That's the number.
Speaker B:Five Minutes with Gray Hair Dave.
Speaker B:Bottom right hand corner, there's a little microphone.
Speaker B:Tap that, it asks you for your email address.
Speaker B:Remember, I don't give away email addresses.
Speaker B:Leave me a voicemail or go to the Contact Me page.
Speaker B:Leave me a message there and I'll get back in touch with you.
Speaker B:Also, folks, if you know somebody who doesn't know what a podcast is, doesn't know where to find one, what genres there are, how to follow or subscribe, show them for me, please.
Speaker B:And don't forget, when you're showing it to them, tell them about five Minutes of Gray Hair Dave.
Speaker B:Sometimes I'm funny, you know?
Speaker B:Also, folks, it's a beautiful day outside today.
Speaker B:While you're out, smile at somebody.
Speaker B:You're gonna make their day, and they in turn will turn around and make yours.
Speaker B:So on behalf of Gray Hair Dave here at Gray Hair Productions, please have a wonderful day and I'll talk to you next week.
Speaker B:Bye.
