Fix Yourself Four-Day Bailout!

Dear Sandra,

I work at Citibank. For now anyway. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be laid off any minute now. They are literally stacking empty boxes in the hallways for people to pack up all their stuff! What am I going to do? I’m so mad at all the fat cats who are responsible for this. What am I gonna do next?!

-- Vexed in the Citi

Excellent question, Vexed. What are you going to do? Seems everybody is jumping into the “New Great Depression Game.” Even the actors want to go on strike! Why let poverty be the domain of the Wall Street wealthy?

What does one do when stock values plummet, unemployment zooms and recession looms?

You change your life, that’s what you do.

It’s time to take a good, long look at ourselves and ask, “How did we get here at the bottom of this well?” Sure we can point fingers and blame -- but who elected those officials? Who threw their money at financial advisers and didn’t keep track of what was going on? Who bought big fat trucks and cars and houses that they couldn’t afford? That would be us.

It’s time to get out of the “Blame Game.” It’s time to start fixing things, and we need to start with ourselves.

For a limited time I’m offering a no-frills “Fix Yourself Four-Day Bailout!” at O’Day Camp. It’s time to strip your comfort level down to zero and see what you’re really made of. It won’t be fun and it won’t be pretty. But once you experience how lack of heat can turn into abundance of heart -- you’ll know that this lean time of economic recession does not mean a time of emotional depression.

With my guidance you will rise like a Phoenix -- while raking and burning leaves on my 18 acre compound in upstate New York. And that’s just the beginning.

Teamwork-building fire walks will test you beyond any previous “work and finance related” challenge you have ever faced. And my “cross the freezing river” exercise will raise your personal awareness to a level beyond your expectations.

Ever caught a wild duck with your bare hands and eaten it for lunch? You will. My O’Day Transformation Techniques employ grueling assignments that will take you beyond your limited expectations of yourself. I will guide you to transcend any challenge that currently stands between you and the fulfillment of your highest aspirations.

You're stronger than you think. And I’m tougher, more resourceful, and more tuned in to what you need than you are. I’ll be there with support, encouragement, and inspiration. This will be the first step in a journey that will continue for the rest of your life.

Together we’ll make these lean times leaner and meaner. And by leaner and meaner I mean more inspiring. Sign up at www.sandraoday.com.

Change

Well, at some point tonight we will have a new president. (Hopefully.) Being a felon, and still on parole, I am apparently not allowed to vote. This discovery made me understandably furious when I went to my polling place at 7 AM and was loudly rebuked by the facially scarred woman with the speech impediment who screamed for the benefit of the hundreds of people in line behind me, "You can'th vote. You're a cwiminawl!" (Former criminal, thank you Scar Face.)

But instead of throwing things at her, as I so deeply wished to do, I went out and took three extra anger management classes, a yoga class, ran five miles and told the kid at Starbucks that I had gone to vote (I did go) so I could get my free coffee. Decaf.

While I can't vote to make Change happen for our country, I did make Change happen for myself, in my personal life. I did not attack the disfigured volunteer and wreck her pathetic face further. Instead, I worked out my aggression in a healthy way. And I ordered a decaf instead of a regular coffee. For Sandra O'Day, that's a pretty good start at real Change.

So, I have to ask you, people -- now that all the hype of "Change, Change, Change" will be quieting down, will you continue to Change? Or will you go back to being uninformed lemmings who let the newscasters and your neighbors tell you what to think? Will you go back to gorging yourself on cheese-stuffed crusts while popping pills to lower your cholesterol? Will you go back to watching junk on TV and complaining that you're gaining weight because you spend too much time on your patootie?

Or will you really do it this time? People, you don't have to wait until the New Year to start over. Do it now. CHANGE.

E-mail me at PowerofSandra@aol.com and tell me what you want to work on. Together we’ll make a plan for you, a rigorous program of transformation. Let's put you on the true path to Powerful Positive Change. You can do it. I'll make you do it.

PowerofSandra@aol.com