Resilient Life #192

Jim Godbout:

Anything can be achieved. There are ways to overcome any hurdle today in life. I just look around the world. Things are terrible in many parts of this world and we don't have it that bad here, folks. I mean, we really don't. We've got it really made. We need to talk to our youth and make sure that they're in a developmental stage to carry on with the community spirit that we have today.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to Love Maine radio show number 192, Resilient Life, airing for the first time on Sunday, May 17, 2015. We never know what silent battles those among us might be engaged in. Local businessman Jim Godboot faced a series of losses physical, emotional and social as a child. Through self care and healing techniques like acupuncture, yoga and healthy eating, Jim has created a full and happy life. Rising above problems like epilepsy, encephalitis and the loss of his twin brother at the age of five, Jim embodies the quality of resilience to which most of us aspire. Thank you for joining us. One of my favorite things about Love Maine Radio is the opportunity to spend time with friends of mine who I have known previously. Today I'm going to introduce you to Jim Godboot who owns Jim Godboot Plumbing in Biddeford. Jim was diagnosed with encephalitis at a young age and developed a seizure disorder. The condition is made worse by stress, so for his own well being, Jim created a healthy and regimented lifestyle which includes daily meditation, yoga, exercise and healthy eating as well as regular acupuncture, chiropractic and massage treatments. Jim lives in Saco with his wife and he has one grown son, Jim. It's really great to have you in the studio today.

Jim Godbout:

Thank you. Lisa.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I love this story because you're one of these people and we have quite a fair number in Maine that isn't exactly what he appears on the surface. You're the successful owner of Jim Godbout Plumbing. And thank you, by the way, for doing the plumbing on our house. You've done a great job and you're always. Every time we've ever needed to call you, even in an emergency, you're always there. I know why you're successful from a business standpoint, but I would never have thought about this other side of you.

Jim Godbout:

Well, I think they go hand in hand, to tell you the truth. We love servicing our customers because we love people and it's kept us successful for a long time, 30 plus years. But the other side of that, it's very stressful to run plumbing and heating business from the financial side to the demands of our customers because they're usually calling in a panic. So it's, you know, we have to calm them and get out there and take care of their plumbing, heating or air conditioning needs. Very early on, I figured out that we need to control stress in order to be successful in business and in life because you can't bring that home and you'll ruin your family life. So I've adopted many alternatives to traditional healthcare in order to do that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, tell me about this encephalitis. Tell me about that original story.

Jim Godbout:

Okay. The encephalitis was brought on from a scary disease that people think nothing of. But it was developed when I got mono at a very young age. I think I was maybe a freshman or so in high school. And the mono didn't get treated right away because the symptoms were not to a point where didn't think there was anything wrong other than normal school age problems. So the encephalitis developed, which was the swelling of the brain causing some brain damage and later a seizure disorder, which at first we had severe grand mal seizures and petite mal seizures, causing me not to be able to drive, difficulty working. Once we even got medication control school was definitely not an option. So my scholastic career was high school. But it was developed with a program called cooperative Education. So I went to one class a day and went to work. So I thus started my working career at a very young age, probably attributed to a medical condition from the monoencephalitis seizures. I felt that at the time we needed to do something different with my education because I was a little bit combative at the age with the sicknesses that I was having. So working seemed to be my outlet at the time.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

There's so many things as a family doctor that I'm sitting here thinking about. One of them is, you're absolutely right. When I have patients who come in who have mono, and I see this all the time, I think you're the first person who's actually presented in front of me that had this encephalitis as a result. I mean, it's something we learn about in medical school, but it's very rare. So what did that feel like to be like, the one case of this happening that you knew of and go from being like a freshman in high school, normal life, to this thing that shouldn't have impacted you so much?

Jim Godbout:

Yeah, well, I was fortunate enough to have a very good neurological team that. And I shouldn't say that. First off was my pediatrician at that time, Dr. Connor Moore, which was well known in the area and still is today.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

He's been on the radio show.

Jim Godbout:

He's a special person and a good friend of mine, and I thoroughly enjoy his company. As of today, Dr. Connor Moore directed me to some neurologists in the Portland, Maine area who were very aggressive in trying to find out what was wrong. I did go through some pretty extensive tests that would be considered primitive today, but they did figure out that there was some issues with my brain. The. And they thought it definitely was caused from the mono. They didn't figure out the mono. Then encephalitis. So the treatment of that seizure disorder, though, there's no real brain surgery at the time or anything to treat that. So it was medication, some aggressive medication that caused all kinds of side effects for me for many, many years. But I thank God that we had good physicians in the. In Maine, which we still do today. I think we have some of the best health care around. And I can attribute Dr. Connor Moore for really getting back, getting me on the right track to where I am today.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, those seizure medications, I have patients who have to be on them long term. And you're right, they do. They impact you in small ways and big ways. Your liver metabolizes them, and sometimes it can cause liver problems. Also, they can make you feel sleepy or a little out of it. So as a teenager trying to deal with those, it's sort of a balance because you don't want to have seizures because those impact you in a bad way. But also, you know, the medication itself is really tough.

Jim Godbout:

Yeah, absolutely. The early medications were Dilantin at the time, which had the sleepiness, was A huge factor. You couldn't function like you'd want to be functioning, like you had all this energy, but your body was just drained down. It also had an awful side effect as your gums would grow over your teeth. And talk about an awful procedure to go through as a young person to have your periodontalist take the gums away from you. Just an awful thing. Then later on, they brought us into a drug called Tegretol, which you felt loopy. I'm surprised they even let me drive back then, to tell you the truth. But I was able to function, work, and I always remained a positive attitude in life. My family was broken up at a young age. I had a twin brother who passed away of leukemia at 5. Family broke apart early, so I had some younger siblings, two of them that lived still in Saco, Maine, with me, and they kind of took them out of my way, and we cared for them, with my mom being a single parent at the time. So it was a lot of pressure on me to make sure that the family succeeded. And I was nothing but going to succeed, no matter what my health challenges might have been.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Are you the oldest in your family?

Jim Godbout:

I am the oldest, yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you are not only taking responsibility for yourself and for your younger brothers and sisters, but also helping your mom, who is a single parent.

Jim Godbout:

Correct. I was pretty much a breadwinner at a very young age, and that's why the co op program actually helped out with keeping the family, you know, financially stable at that time. And that's where I learned to cook, too, because I had to be the chef in the house at that time. So I learned at a young age how to cook with very little and make something very nice.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And I think about also as a teenager, I mean, we already know, you know, having had three teenagers myself, we already know that. There's just a lot going on. There's a lot going on socially, a lot going on emotionally and physically. And add on top of that sort of the brain issues that you're describing, and I don't know what those were for you, but often I know people have issues with anger, judgment, like impaired judgment, you know, and for you to be doing all of those things you just described for your family, but also dealing with stuff that you can't really help that's happening inside your head.

Jim Godbout:

Yeah, it was extremely difficult. There were some. I don't know a better term for it, but it was motor issues that I had. You know, some of it was reading, was difficulty reading words and actually absorbing them. I Would have some petite mal seizures, which would cause a lot of fluttering in the eyes. So I'd have difficulty concentrating on. Especially school was very, very hard. So the seizures were a real challenge. But I got to say this, I think they brought character to me and learned to overcome pretty much any obstacle. And as you said earlier, life has so many. Everybody's in warp speed today with their lifestyles. And I take a deep breath and sit back and go, not worth it, folks. You know, put the phones away, enjoy your family, take a deep breath, enjoy a meal and conversation together. It brings so much to you. It brings so much life to you. And if that's not there for you, go give to your community, because that's another portion that I do. It's just a huge Rotarian, which our group is always supporting our young and old and needy in our community. And it just, it brings so much nourishment to my body to do that for our community.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We've talked about the, the neurologist that you work with, the neurologic team that you had. We've talked about Dr. Moore, the pediatrician that you had. At some point, though, you began to integrate other things personally into your regimen and a lot of them. I mean, I'm impressed that you. How old are you now, Jim?

Jim Godbout:

I'm 53 this year.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

53. I don't know that many 53 year olds that have daily meditation, yoga, exercise, healthy eating, regular acupuncture, chiropractic and massage treatments all in their regular lives. That is an enormous commitment. So tell me how you started becoming interested in these things.

Jim Godbout:

Well, I have to say some of it was brought on by my networking of business. You, you meet so many people, and over the years, I've always recognized chiropractic being the care. My uncle's a chiropractor, so I had chiropractic care at a very young age. But I had clients who were acupuncturists, which I just were blown away. She could barely speak English. She's a young lady and I couldn't even tell you her age. She looked young to me, but she may be older. Young Chinese lady in candy bunk. She started acupuncture on me many years ago, and I just could not believe it. The value of it. My body, from taking all the medications over the years, has developed issues with my liver, issues with disc degeneration, the medication. So I have severe back and neck issues with degeneration. So the only way I can keep up the lifestyle that I'm leading and I love to be active, golfing and walking with my wife and my dog and enjoying life physically. Is that to have the chiropractic care, the massage therapy and the acupuncture therapy, which is over the last 10 or 15 years, has been a routine every month I have to have. It's every other week or so. And my wife is great at organizing that for me. So I commend Lynn for doing that. So she does a great job at it. But it helps with, you know, as I went a year ago, I had some severe back issues where the nerve was impinged to the point my leg would not shake. The pain was incredible. I had to have surgery. There's no other way around it. But the doctor, the neurosurgeon here in Portland, fantastic guy, said, jim, you're in fantastic shape. You're flexible. You have severe degeneration of your disc, of your neck and your back, but you take care of yourself. So he says, we're not going to fuse your back. You have four discs. We're not going to fuse you. We're going to take care of the one disc, get you back on your regimented routine. You're in fantastic shape. You're not overweight. You're my, you know, my prodigy. I love seeing, you know, people like you because you can make me look good and I have. It's really worked. I had the surgery back on my feet in no time and continue with the chiropractic care from a good friend of mine in Biddefit on a monthly basis, sometimes more often, depending how much I beat myself up. The acupuncturist is a sweetheart of a friend in Benefit as well, Lisa Bouchard, who does a great job of dealing with specific aches and pains I may have. She can target those areas and I'm just blown away at that type of medicine. If nobody's ever experienced that, they really need to open their eyes to it because you don't need to take pills to cure everything. I don't take an aspirin other than some blood pressure medication. Probably business related issues, but that's the. I don't take aspirin on a daily basis for pain or any other pain medication. And we could all learn from these alternative methods.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What about your healthy eating? This is something you told me that you learned how to cook at a young age and that became important to you over time. Tell me what types of things you try to do to stay in a balanced way.

Jim Godbout:

Well, again, goes back to our clients that we have you know, we've done work for many, many restaurants over the years and developed relationships with chefs and farmers locally. And we found my wife and I have eaten healthy probably since we were married. I mean, it's incredible actually. So everything is fresh. Fresh vegetables, fresh meats, lots of fish. We're big fish eaters. And what a great place to be in southern Maine here to have great fish and produce. And I love trying different things. So it could be from last night's dinner was a baked haddock with a kale and broccoli rabe stir fry. That's our staple of the evening. And then tonight may be another protein with vegetables. I mean it's just so when it was fresh market we go for it and I enjoy trying different things and we have fun and conversation during the meal which is really important for me for releasing stress for the whole day, the cooking and the conversation at the end of the day.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

and you mentioned walking. You walk your dog, you mentioned golf. Tell me about what other things you like to do from an exercise standpoint.

Jim Godbout:

I think walking is probably my favorite, especially when you're walking with your wife or your dog. I go out in the morning about 4:30 quarter five with the dog and this morning it was 17 below zero. And she and I just had a fantastic time on the beach watching the sea smoke coming up. You talk about starting a day on the right foot with a dog that's wagging yellow Labrador, just wagging the tail. You swear to God she's smiling at you and it's just, it just brings so much to you. It really does. Then you look at the ocean and how clean and free spirit that is with the sea smoke coming up and you go, nothing's that important to be upset about during the day. So it's just a great start to the day. My wife and I will walk every evening together with great conversation, get the heart beating a little bit and chat about the day and enjoy the company of our dog which is, she's, she's very special. Obviously. My son's grown now so we have another child in the house, a little three year old lab, which, she's my best friend. She's awesome. So my Wife and I enjoy her company constantly. I try to make time every week to say, all right, Jim, we're not going to work 70, 80 hours a week, which is not uncommon for me to do. Especially my wife will remind me, jim, you got to go golfing. You know, whoever heard of a wife go golfing? But it's a good stress relief. So on a Wednesday night or a Saturday morning, I'll go out and go for a nice casual walk and have a great conversation and don't get stressed about the game, because it's just the game. So I enjoy the walk and the exercise and usually play pretty good golf, so it's fun.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Now, a good attitude is important to you, and that's pretty clear to anyone who's listening. Was there a time that you realized that that was going to be the case? Was there some turning point where one day you just said, I know I have this, all the stuff I'm dealing with, but I have to have a good attitude. Was there something that caused that to happen?

Jim Godbout:

You know what, Lisa? I'd probably go back to pretty young age where I realized that I've been a little. Our family's been a little unfortunate, having a lot of death in our family, people that were close to us. And I recognize that death is part of living. And there was a time where I actually needed some mental health treatment at a very young age, where my grandfather had passed, who was basically my father figure, very tight with him and taught me an awful lot about the trades and about people. He was old school, you know, World War II veteran, special person in my life. But I recognized I got upset and angry and depressed a bit. And I said, had a bit of a turning point there. Finally woke up one day and said, no, this life is too short to be carrying this way and to move on. Had many close friends die over the years, including my dad, who died about seven years ago. And the one thing I've always done since then is I said, I'm never going to get down and out or depressed or anything like that. I'm going to spend every minute I can with that person when they're alive and enjoy their company and listen to them, and I'm going to carry their thoughts with me forever. So I don't get as down on a person dying knowing that it's part of life and that remembering them in a good manner is perfect. So I have to say that was probably the turning point, having a bunch of death at one time in my life. I said, it's time to Be upbeat all the time, because life is very short.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It was your brother. You mentioned, your twin brother. My twin brother who died of leukemia when you were five.

Jim Godbout:

Five, correct.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So that's old enough probably, to have some memories of him, to have bonded with him.

Jim Godbout:

Absolutely. I have some visual memories of him. He had a few other ailments at the same. At the same time. He had a club foot, so I always remember a cast on him, if you can believe it. He was a little darker complexion than I was, too. So we were always paired together, and you could tell who was Johnny and who was Jimmy. And my son John was actually named after my twin as well, part of that. But we were identical, of course. Something that was found out later in life, too, is twins have a unique bond. I had some issues with going to a physician and my doctor thinking I had some issues with my thyroids, and they were checking things out and all of a sudden had a sonogram done and found out I only had half a thyroid, or one side was a thyroid. Never had surgery or any of that. My brother John, I believe, had the other one. So some uniqueness in a bond that we have even today that, you know, it was 30, 40 years after he had passed. You know, I have a connection still with him. You know, the doctor said, well, he had the other and never had to have medication for it or anything. So it was kind of unique. So. But I still remember him to this day, and his smile was probably something I still carry today because I love to smile, as you can see. I enjoy. And he died at Children's Hospital at the age of five. During that time, leukemia was not a really disease that was treatable at the time. They treated it somewhat, but it really wasn't curable. So being an identical twin, I had to go through numerous tests, you know, such as bone marrow and such. And those were horrific back then. So I still remember that as well.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And this contributed to all of these tragedies, contributed to your parents breaking up, which you grew up in Saco.

Jim Godbout:

In Sacco, yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

In Sacco, yeah. I would think that back then, during the time that you were growing up in that part of Maine, parents breaking up, that was probably somewhat unusual.

Jim Godbout:

It was unusual at the time. Thank God we had some support from some great aunts and my grandfather, which lived nearby. So we did have some support at that time. My dad was French Canadian. He was born in Canada. He went back to Canada and hooked up with somebody there for a while, and then came back to the States later, retired, remarried I think my mom and dad did have a communicable relationship later on. They weren't battling forever, but I think during the death of my brother probably brought about a lot of that. I mean, it's turmoil for anybody, any family. My father and I did reconcile many years later, even though I still had an awful feeling from what he had done to us as a young. But I look at maybe help build the character that I am today by forcing me to do things at a very young age and be a strong person and create the networking that I've done about thinking everybody's a good person.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So when did you get back? When did you reconcile with him? When did you get back together with him?

Jim Godbout:

I would say it would be 30 plus years ago. We reconciled together. It was difficult at first, but it was typical of a divorced parent at that time where he may show up once a month or whatever and take the three boys out to, you know, bowling or something of that nature. So it wasn't really a relationship of any kind. Never went to any of our athletic activities or scholastic activities. So we really didn't see much of him. But I recognize again, he's my dad, he's my blood, and we had to make up my. So later in life when he, like I said, he passed away several years ago, we connected again and he had an awful disease called mesothelioma. He was a truck driver and I cared for him before he passed. It was my wife and I's 25th anniversary, so we said goodbye before we went our trip away. But a horrible disease that my grandfather passed away of as well. They called it lung cancer at the time. But he worked in the shipyard, so. But caring for him during that time, we reconciled and said our goodbyes and it was a good way to leave part ways.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I'm sitting here thinking about my own family because my father's side of the family grew up in Biddeford. My father's mother passed away when I think he was 13 or 14, also French Canadian. Also the family. Well, I don't know what your family's working background was, but his family worked in the mills. Everybody lived right around the mills. And when his mother passed away and he had, I believe, three younger siblings, the aunts, the great aunts, the grandparents, the extended family came in and they helped out. And it seems like that's kind of similar to what you're describing, that it's not just the mother and the father take care of the kids. There's something going on. We're all Going to step in, and we're going to help out.

Jim Godbout:

They all step in. And that is. That's a heritage thing, and that's a story. You should really think about Tallinn sometime, because the French Canadians are unique people. My father was one of 10, and his aunts are all still. I mean, my aunts, his sisters are all still locally. Matter of fact, we just had them over for Christmas. And they're the best people. I mean, they're so giving. They're so loving. And they moved down from Quebec. Most of them were a very young age. I think they had one pair of shoes between the 10 and 10, 10 kids. And again, the father worked in the mills. And they brought up some tremendous families. I mean, and to this day, they're the most loving, giving people you'd ever meet. And if there's a problem, they're there supporting him. I have an uncle who's sick right now. I can honestly say all my aunts are there, you know, probably daily bringing him food and caring for him and just nurturing him till his passing days.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And this is something that it seems like for you has not just been about the community of your family, but the community. You were talking about Rotary. So you're obviously kind of thinking of everybody as your family. The people that work with you, the people that are in Rotary with you. Why are these community connections so important?

Jim Godbout:

They are so important to me. It gives me so much joy to take care of people. I don't know, maybe that's my French Canadian background. I really. I have so much joy taking care of people. I could tell you some. I get so many stories I could tell about going out in the community. We have local relationships with police departments and fire departments and code enforcement officers. And they know what I'm like, so they'll phone me. And maybe in Kennebunk or Bideford or Saco, I can tell you of a gentleman last year that it just broke my heart. It was a man in his 86 or 87 years of age, had a trailer park in Saco. He was living. The police had notified me that he'd been without water for several days. The pipes had froze. He had no money. We went in and took care of this gentleman. World War II veteran, had some nice stories to tell me, which I really admired. Those people had no money. So I look out in the driveway. He's driving a 1986 Ford Explorer. As we're leaving, he wanted to pay us. He's got the title to this 1986 Ford Explorer. He Wants to hand off to us. I had tears in my eyes, and I said, no, Ms. Devalcourt, angels have taken care of you. This is on the angels in the area. So you can't believe how much joy that brings to myself. And I've been. I try to instill those values to my employees and to everybody around me, because if we all give a little something, it makes this place a better place to live.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You know, I have noticed that we've had people from your company, and I know they're from your company because they wear your name on their outfits, but they've been doing work on our house, and I have noticed this, that they. They genuinely want to connect, that they genuinely care about the work that they're doing, that they're out there making sure that the job site is clean, which. And I don't know that maybe everybody does this, but I've had some experiences where that's not true. There's some pride, there's some desire to be known for. I don't know, for good work, for good relationships.

Jim Godbout:

Professionalism. I mean, our trade needed professionalism. That's probably why I got involved with this trade, was I saw the lack of it at an early age, and I think it's come a long way. And we've tried to be leaders in that, in regards to being educated in what we do and carry a level of professionalism and communicate with our customers, because that's something that's been a difficult thing in all the trades, whether it be construction or electrical or such. If you communicate with your customers, it means so much. And so we try to instill those values with my employees to make sure they're communicating, talking to me and the customer, and make sure they're getting the best service possible. And it's really worked for us. We've created a huge network over the years, and we've never really advertised other than taking care of the Maine Magazine. We do our relationship thing with them, but we rely on the people that. That we've worked for before.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You haven't had a seizure for 35 years?

Jim Godbout:

Since I was 35. So about.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Since you were 35?

Jim Godbout:

About 18 years.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

18 years. Was there something that happened at that point? Was there some reason. Was there something. Some magical pill that you took or some magical thing that you did or what was the circumstance there?

Jim Godbout:

No, you know, I can't give an answer for that, whether I just outgrew the seizure disorder, but there was a neurologist that suggested that I get off the medication, which I did. I get off the Tegretol and the Dilantin, and I kept my normal lifestyle. I'll have a glass of wine a day or a beer or some, you know, just a moderate amount of alcohol seemed to dissipate all seizure activity. Even petite mal seizures I get. Sometimes you'll get a little fluttery in the eye and think, oh, God, are they coming back? But no, it may be just an age thing or, you know, the. A lot of different things that go on, but there was no spark or no stoplight that came on and said, all right, you're all done. Just transpired. We got off the medication, and it was scary at first, thinking, oh, God, I'm gonna have grand mal seizures. And maybe the fact that my lifestyle changes were taking place about that time. I was eating well, exercising. So maybe the combination of all these little elements, because that's about the same time I started doing a lot of these. These alternative health things. So maybe that was the turning point.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, that's actually the answer I wanted you to give, so I'm glad you came up with that. But I'm also thinking for such a long time, we've thought about brain damage and even physical body damage as being permanent and irreversible. But what we've started to learn is that neurons can regenerate and that there is a plasticity to the brain's body specifically, and even to nerves in the body that enables them to heal. So what I'm wondering is, with time and with all of these things that you've done to keep your body healthy, increase your ability to deal with stress, is that your brain somehow was able to heal itself.

Jim Godbout:

I totally believe that. And it may not be totally attributed to brain neurons coming back, but what made me think of this is the back injury I had where I had severe nerve damage in my left leg. My wife and I called it chicken leg because I was. Had a lot of atrophy there. Those two nerves that were dead in my leg have come back, which was truly amazing. It took about a couple year period. But through exercise and biking and good nutrition, I have, you know, almost gained full mobility of my leg again, which is truly amazing. So. And now thinking about how that works, I said, it's got to be something similar in the brain as well, because I can function or highly functional. I think running a business and organizational piece of the business is very challenging and takes a lot of mental skills. I don't feel like I have any deterrent at all from the encephalitis and Seizure disorder that I had previously.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What I don't hear you saying in any of this is I needed to get rid of the stress in my life. There wasn't really a way you could do that anyway. And there isn't really a way that most of us could do this. What you said instead was, I know that I have stress in my life. I want to be able to take care of people and take care of myself. So how can I do that? How can I deal with my stress? And that's really what you've done. You haven't pushed the world away, you brought the world in, but you've strengthened yourself, strengthen yourself.

Jim Godbout:

Stress management, I'll call it. I mean, it's not about eliminating, because we can't eliminate it. We live in a very fast lifestyle, especially here in southern Maine. If you look in other parts of the country, I go visit friends or talk to people around the country. We're very fast paced here in southern Maine and people have high expectations for us. So stress is that we're not going to get rid of that. How do we deal with it? And my way of dealing with it is using the alternatives, which, or some exercise, eating well, giving back to my communities, socializing. I think people become introverted, become a little bit angry over time. So I think you need to socialize. And giving back is probably one of the best things that relieve some stress for me, whether it's a local school or an elderly man who needed some help or through my Rotary Club, which touches people throughout the world, actually.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How did you get involved with Rotary?

Jim Godbout:

Good friend of mine brought me in a number of years ago, 10 plus years ago. Roland Eon. He was a fantastic friend and has had some challenges himself over time. And Rotary has been a big part of his life and I recognize that. And he asked me to join. And if people don't know what Rotary does, they really should reach out to somebody who is a Rotarian because we do so much for our communities and for the whole world. You know, from almost eradicating polio. If you look at what we do internationally, to sending crutches to Africa, to buying jackets and socks and mittens for kids locally here and doing a dictionary project. Most kids have never had a dictionary in their life. We go give them to the third graders every year in the local schools to bring in Christmas and Thanksgiving to their homes that may not have food on the table. Rotarians are, are special people. And whenever you see that pin on somebody, shake their hand because they're a good person.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As A physician and small business owner, I rely on Marcy Booth from Booth, Maine to help me with my own business and to help me live my own life fully. Here are a few thoughts from Marcy.

[Unidentified voice]:

When was the last time you took a break from what you were doing? From the work that was piled up on your desk and just looked up? I know that during the course of my days, I often forget to take a moment or two to just breathe, look up at the sky and dream. Terrible that I have to remind myself to breathe. But when I do, I feel energized because in those moments, I'm able to let go of the daily grind and think more about what I want to accomplish, how I want my business to grow. Sometimes those are the aha moments. If we all took a few moments out each day to stop what we were doing and dream a little about our business futures, not only would we feel a great sense of calm, but we may come to realize that these dreams can, in fact, come true. I'm Marcie Booth. Let's talk about the changes you need. Boothmaine.com

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Now speaking of good people, I'm wondering about your wife Lynn and how you met.

Jim Godbout:

Well, she lived on the other side of the bridge. I grew up in Sarcophagus, so it was interesting. She and I met actually at a dance hall in old Ocean Beach, Maine called the White hall many years ago. 1981, I think. Or who, something like that. So we've been married in 1983 and we have a great relationship. She taught school for 25 plus years and decided to get away from the teachings to it was getting a little bit stressful for her, very stressful because the environment changed, the methods have changed, and it just wasn't a good fit for her. So she decided out of it. She is very active. She's at the Y for three, four hours a day, which is one of the community organizations I support wholeheartedly. They're a great, great thing. And she's at the Y many hours with lots of people socializing, young and old. She's out with our dog and she brings some mental health to me that I need at the beginning of the day and the end of the day. She copes with the long hours and the stress that I sometimes Bring home, but we seem to work through it. She's a special person and she's been my wife for 30 plus years now, 32 years now. And we have a wonderful son, Jonathan that has done remarkable things in his lifestyle and I attribute my wife Lynn and how we brought that young fella up.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, tell me about some of those remarkable things.

Jim Godbout:

Well, Jonathan went to Biddeford High School, graduated very high in his class, went to Colby College here in Waterville, Maine. He was recruited there. He graduated on the Dean's list. He was dean's list every year. He was recruited by IBM as senior year and went to work for them down in Washington D.C. at a very young age right after, after graduation working in the Pentagon, rubbing elbows with all the politicians. I always say, John, make sure you don't catch that bug down there. But you can work with him, just don't catch the bug of politics. He has gone up the ladder remarkably, actually married a young girl from Venezuela and they have a home now in Cincinnati and they kind of go remote relationships back and forth and she's getting her PhD in psychology. So two very smart people, two young people, we're excited that someday maybe have grandkids with them. It would be fantastic. But we taught John at a very young age. He worked with our company, great work ethics and he obviously had his mother's brains because he did very well in college and excelled. So he's got my work ethic and her brains. And he's gone over the top now with IBM. It's a great company. He's an economics major so he's doing a lot of business management stuff for IBM on the government side. So we're very proud of him.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I suspect that probably he has some of your brains too, although I don't want to take anything away from Lyn, but I suspect he probably has your brains too. Do you ever wish that you had been able to go on to college? Is that something that you would have wanted to do if you weren't dealing with so much?

Jim Godbout:

As a high schooler, I do I wish I would have had the opportunity to go to further education. It would have helped me with the business world that I'm in right now because I have to rely on reaching out and taking classes or reading or listening. I'm a really good listener and I listen to everybody and anybody and I take that information back with me. I go to international shows and national shows about business in plumbing and heating, air conditioning. So I grasp all that information I can from anybody I can and Bring that back home and try to instill that into my business and in my lifestyle. So I wish I would have the opportunity to get a better education, but it just wasn't there. So I got to learn how to work.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, it is an education. It may not be a formal education, but what you've done is you are very educated in a very practical and important way. What I'm wondering about is we are less and less focused on the trades in schools. When I was going through, there was, I believe, a much stronger vocational element to education. So that if people wanted to, they could. There was a large number of people who could go on and learn the trades. I hope that there's a resurgence in that. But I think for a while it's been underemphasized.

Jim Godbout:

It's been severely under emphasized. And if you look at the average age of, you know, we have 20 employees in my company and we're around 50 years, medium age. I mean, that's pretty scary when you think about it. And we go every year and talk to the local vocational schools and the local high schools and the guidance departments. We've done this for 15 or 20 years. We've been talking to them. They seem to be. They seem to have been pushing those children away or if you were a bad boy, you were going to be in the trades. I mean, that's just the wrong approach. You can have an extremely good lifestyle in the trades. And what's happened is that now we've got a real shortage of mechanics. And whether it be electrical or plumbing or welding, machine trades are huge too. I have some friends that own machine shops. They're going into the high schools and they're recruiting kids now, teaching them at a very young age and putting them on their payrolls basically as soon as they can out of high school. We've gone and reached out. It does require a lot of training today to be in the trades. And business is one to start with. We're not finding a lot of young people that want to get involved. I mean, so everybody wants the shortcut, they want the easy money or they want it. You got to work hard in this field and you will be successful. There's been a big push nationally now and even locally. I'm hearing more about it to bring the trades back to the forefront in hopes that it comes quick because there's people retiring at a very, very, very fast rate here in the state of Maine. And trades are something you're always going to need. You're always going to need services such as air conditioning and heating and plumbing. I mean that never goes away. As electronic as we get in this world, those are services. You've got to be able to utilize your hands to make operational.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And there's something very. I don't know, when I fix something at my house, it's very satisfying, it's rewarding. I mean, I'm not terribly well trained in these things, but it's kind of like when a patient would come in and have a laceration that I would need to suture. You know, you come in with some cut and I make it, I fix that cut. There's something so satisfying about that. So there is some aspect of the trades that I would, I think that

Jim Godbout:

people would find appealing, I personally do. Because if you can fix something, it's a twofold. Because you're going to get that piece of equipment running or toilet or whatever it might be or faucet that's dripping and you've stopped it. You've made somebody happy on the other side too. So you've done two things. To me, it's very rewarding. I have a model my guys sometimes they'll get upset about. But we do a lot of unique jobs and my saying is, you know, if it was easy, everybody do it. If it's hard, we're going to do it because we're willing to try anything. So we enjoy the challenge and it's rewarding to make the repair. I mean, we did one yesterday in the sub zero wind chill factors that most companies would have walked away from. But I took a couple of my guys and made some network of calls to various people within various trades in the city and things and we pulled off a miracle yesterday afternoon and. And I got home, I was filthy and dirty and all those good things and cold. But I had a good feeling inside because we were able to repair something that most people would not be able to do.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So I think there's something about the technological age that the media age that is almost inviting people back to this hands on element.

Jim Godbout:

It's so gratifying to work and I admire those people. I read a story about the farmer's location. I think it was in maybe in the Sunday paper or something. And to have an education and then to do farming, it's. They get the best of both worlds right there. I mean really do. They're going to be successful in whatever they do. And it's so rewarding to work with your hands. I just. They're very fortunate. Boat building too. I mean, talk about standing back and Looking at what you've finished afterwards, that is pretty impressive. Or finished carpenters. I mean, there's a trade right there too. There's some people that I know a gentleman in Biddefit who built staircases. I mean, there's some work there that you just. It's stuff they did with their hands turn a century ago, which you haven't seen in many times. I just admire them that they can build something. It may take them a lot of time. They get a lot of patience to do it. But when you stand back and you look what they've done with their hands, it's just truly remarkable.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And I do think that there is a main history to that. I mean, we think of all of our. Yours and mine, our relatives who worked in the mills, and all of the people who can say exactly the same thing here in the state of Maine are the people who are foresters or farmers or lobster people. I guess I should call them lobster men, Although lobster people just sounds weird. But the lobstering industry, I mean, there always has been an element of hands on. And I like that it's going back to that again.

Jim Godbout:

Yeah, I do too. I think it's fantastic. And main ingenuity is definitely a word I would use because I think of all the different things from lobstermen to lobster people, they have to adapt to certain situations very quickly. If it's a broken hose on the boat when they're at sea. And how do we fix this quickly? Is it jamming a wooden plug in there so we can get back to shore without drowning? Or is it the carpenter on a job who. Who's run out of nails and needs to figure a way to make something adapt. People may find a way to adapt to the harshest things. And this winter is probably one of the tests as well. There's some people that have adapted some very harsh conditions this year. I mean, we're survivors. We're real survivors here in the state and we find ways to work around all the difficult situations.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

what do you see in your future? I mean you seem like a person who lives very much in the present, but I assume that you're also, you're also a planner. I can tell that you're an organizer, you're a business owner. You, you know, you. What is it that you would like to see happen? What are some of your hopes?

Jim Godbout:

Okay, I don't really have an exit strategy because I do look at today.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You mean exit in life or exit in business?

Jim Godbout:

Exiting business. Okay, good life. I'm here for a while. I hope so. But I really haven't thought about an exit in the business world. I enjoy what I do. I enjoy the people I meet. I hope I can do this for another 20 years. You know, as long as my health stays as well as it is right now, I hope to do that. I hope to spend more time with my wife. You know, it's taking time off, not working quite as much as I do and enjoying the little things that we enjoy. It doesn't have to be anything crazy. It's just the simple things in life. Whether be going to dinner than one of the finest restaurants in Portland because we have many of them to just taking a drive down the coast to see some of the wonderful architecture or stopping by and meeting people. People mean the most to me, I think. So I really, I don't want to, I don't want to stop what I'm doing. I enjoy what I'm. So I am living today at the present. I'm getting ready to do my rotary auction right now. It's exciting for me because we're going to generate $50,000 that we can give back to our community. But we're also reaching out to all the business people around and they're giving back. So that's a good feeling. I see myself as continuing to be a huge community supporter. I don't know about internationally. I think I'm gonna be more local because I see a lot of need locally. So I'm always focused more locally. So I see myself as not developing any type of retirement strategy that many people think they need to do. My total vested interest is in my business and the people that work for me. I mean, I have a lovely home on the beaches that we've worked very hard for with mortgage like everybody else does. So we don't live a very fancy lifestyle. We just enjoy life and giving back.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Jim, what thoughts do you have for the next generation for people like your son who are out there in the world?

Jim Godbout:

I think they have a very difficult road ahead of them. One of the things that I have tried to battle for many years here, and it's a topic that nobody wants to talk about, is the amount of drugs that are at an abusive level in this country. I think there's a small percentage of the we'll call them millennials because that's the name they get. A small percentage of those who are going to have enormous challenges taking care of the next generation of drug use and alcohol abuse, I'm going to say, which leads to other issues. Our country needs to get a real grasp on that because it's going to be a very small percentage. We have a large group of people that are getting to an age where they're going to require medical care at an alarming rate because we're living much longer. So this group has twofold. They've got less people paying taxes, less money to support the people that are retired or need medical care. They have a drug issue with, you know, how do we maintain some sort of social atmosphere that can be productive in our country? I really think they got some huge, huge hurdles to and I hope they're starting to recognize that. And I hope that us, as a group of business and community leaders will assist them in that and give them some guidance and push this and not allow this to overtake our country. Because, you know, I hate to say this, but I really think our country is getting weaker by the year. It's not getting stronger. Our strongest people were probably born and raised in the 40s and 50s during the post war condition and worked through World War II. We'd learn a lot by listening to that elder group which is slowly dying away. Unfortunately, the hardships that they endured, none of us have seen. And those were Hayden people that really, really could live on nothing. And I think this new generation of millennials have had everything given to them. They haven't had to work for it. So there's only going to be a small percentage of them. They're going to have to work really hard to keep this country on track.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's an interesting point you bring up about drug use and I can say as a physician in Maine for quite a number of years and having worked in the correctional system as a doctor and also having worked in some of the poorer sections of the state, I think there is more of a problem than we recognize and I think it's more pervasive than we know. I mean, it's people who are just. They're not the people you would expect. They're your neighbors, they're your friends. And I think that there is some sense of something so difficult to deal with that you have to use either prescription or non prescription drugs to deal with it. I think that. I think you're probably right.

Jim Godbout:

It's enormous. You don't have. You ask anybody you meet, do you know somebody or have you a relative or whatever. It has touched the lives about everybody. And if you know somebody who works in the emergency room or they work in the medical care facility or they, or they, you know, they, they drive an ambulance for a local fire department, it is scary. Some of the stories you'd hear and these are people that they're non functioning in our society, unfortunately for the most part, or they're going to become more non functioning in our society. We cannot continue this tract of having more non functioning people in our society. We need a collaborative community that can work together as a whole. The more people that we have to support through fewer. It just doesn't make great economics. It's just not going to work. If more people would take the approach. I have less drug use and a lot of times drug use is attributed to pain. They may have started small and have grown. In my own high school class, I can honestly say there was a tremendous amount of people that went to stronger and stronger drugs over time. From alcohol to things that they could not get away from and then later on death.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, it's interesting that you would say that. Having also graduated from a high school in Maine and actually having just. It feels like somewhere around my age things come home to roost and things start to happen and people do eventually their bodies just give out from some of these things. It just happens. But I also know about you that despite your concern for the next generation, you've somehow managed to pull things together in your own life and somehow managed to defy the odds. I guess so. Do you think it's possible that this next generation will be able to do exactly what you've done in your own life?

Jim Godbout:

Absolutely, I think they can. And I think it's just a matter of us all communicating to that generation and showing that anything can be achieved. You know, there are ways to overcome any hurdle today in life. I just look around the world. Things are terrible in many parts of this world. And we don't have it that bad here, folks. I mean, we really don't. We've got it really made. And we need to talk to our youth and make sure that they're in a developmental stage to carry on with the community spirit that we have today.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And I also like, personally, I like learning from the people that you know. I like learning from my own children. I like learning from the younger people that I work with. And I like the value that they also have to offer having grown up at an entirely different age. And I love the fact that it's not just us talking to them, but it's also us listening to them and collaborating. And really, I think that we can create a stronger community if we all value each other for what we have to bring to the table.

Jim Godbout:

Yeah, I would agree with that. We all need to. As I said early on, we need to listen to ourselves and debate openly and not argue. Because I think debating is a lost art for the most part today. But I think talking back and forth and leaving the mind open on both sides is very important today.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, Jim, I may be about to make your life a little bit more stressful because I'm sure after listening to this interview, people are going to want to have hire you to come work on their properties. I certainly know we couldn't have done our work without you on our house. How can people find out about Jim Godboo Plumbing in Biddeford?

Jim Godbout:

Well, we have a website, jimgodboo.com, which has been around for a long time since the web actually was introduced. That's an interesting story too, because I learned how to use a computer. I got ill at a young age with pleurisy, and then I got pneumonia. So I was down for the count for about a month or so. And I taught myself how to use a computer very young age, so. And then thus the website came. And we've educated our customers with the website and we continue to use that. We're changing it all the time so they can reach out to us there, dropping us a line with any questions. And we're always willing to help, whether you're near or far. We have a network all over the United States of good people in our trades and good people in communities that can help anybody. So it's not always about just locally. It may be somebody in northern Maine or in Canada or in western United States somewhere, so we're there to help all.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We've been speaking with Jim Godboo who owns Jim Godboo Plumbing in Biddeford. It's really been a pleasure to spend time with you today and thank you so much for all the work that you're doing.

Jim Godbout:

Great. Thank you Lisa.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have been listening to Love Maine radio show number 192, Resilient Life. Our guest today was Jim Godboot. For more information on Jim, please read the June issue of Maine Magazine. Follow me on Twitter and see my running travel, food and wellness photos as bountiful1 on Instagram. We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of Love Maine Radio. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. We are privileged that they enable us to bring Love Maine Radio to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. I hope that you have enjoyed our Resilient Life show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.

Jim Godbout:

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