Michigan Recovery Blog
Team Members
By Tim Grabowski
Is it a better basketball game playing one on one or five on five? I like to play basketball. The more people the more fun. Shooting baskets by your self improves skills but gets boring. A one on one game brings on the sweat. There are points and winning involved. All the emotions of winning or losing happen. Sometimes you may play one on two. That is where the advantages of a team come into play. One person can get rebounds and the other can receive a pass and shoot. This make the life of the single player difficult. One team is better than the other. Someone get more points and wins.
With five people you have strength in areas like size and talents. A tall person is a good rebounder. They can shoot over the heads of average size people. Smaller people are quicker. Some have great skills as dribblers or passers. They can move the ball around the court. Jumping is a great talent; faster and higher gets to the ball. That’s the object of the game. With all the running and jumping people get tired. That is when the bench gets involved. Having a big team means people who are tired or slipping can be replaced. The more members on a team the stronger the whole. Performing better is a reason to have a team in real life.
Smart people know their limits. Under the right condition you can find someone to assist with the things you do not do well. Having one person as a helper makes you a team. It is like two on one. I have a great partner who also comes with a great team. I got involved with the “friend of the court”. They set me up with a conservator, guardian, and my payee Claudia. Friends of the court knows the system. All the techniques and benefits have been tried in the past and are now an option. I did not know what I did not know. The friend of the court knows a lot of people. Claudia is connected. Professionally the door gets opened to a familiar face. The big social circle includes all the people the friend of the court care for. I see several friends with disability who are clients of the friend of the court. It is a great service team. One thing I learned and is important to the friend of the court team is the difference between needs and wants. Food clothing and shelter are needs. Wants are all the other things. You have to know the difference.
It is a hard task to give up all the money decisions in life. Your needs are taken care of. A problem is the wants. Because of limited finances there are things I cannot do or get. The guidance of my conservator keeps “wants” in line. Their counsel is important and difficult. I would spend money on things my guardian will not. I go without things. That is good and bad. It teaches one control and restraint. I have learned money is not always an asset. I am making a third of what I use to. All the things that were easy to buy are now qualified with the thought, “Can I afford it?” It is a big freedom having someone else take care of the bills and banking. It is nice to have a partner when conflicts happen. My conservator was in court with me settling a hospital bill. One thing the Judge said was, “in mediation the people walk out feeling nothing happened.” The court case resolution was expensive but all and all it did save me a few thousand dollars. I am grateful for the experience and wisdom of my conservator.
I wish I would have had my conservator before I made some bad decisions about my retirement fund. I did not do the right thing and save for the future. A penny saved is a penny earned. Now I have another problem. Because of the retirement fund fiasco, I owe a lot of taxes. My conservator will be disturbed and will have to make some strict financial decision to correct this mistake. As you can see at this moment money is a problem. I am trying to start an in home micro-enterprise. My conservator will not let me have extra money to put in the venture. I have to be frugal. My web site building and audio video work will be a long slow process to turn a profit.
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