Ed’s glass-half-full outlook

I heard a radio interview several weeks ago with a homeless man living rough on the streets of Brighton, writes Star Blogger Emma Suddaby.

I was experiencing a spot of charity-fatigue, being in the middle of tin-rattling season, and reached to change channels, but hand hovering over the switch, I listened, transfixed.

He was dignified yet light-hearted, and showed such matter-of-fact acceptance of his dire circumstances, he really made me think.

The man was Ed Mitchell, formerly a successful news presenter whose last job was with CNBC News, on Sky. He’d been at the top of his game, a high earner, gorgeous wife and family, beautiful home . . . living the dream.

But a short time and a steep drop later and he has no wife, job, home, or family life left. He sleeps on a bench.

Ed has a drinking problem, though he didn’t always call it that. It was the second bottle of wine in the evening, the Dutch-courage before a broadcast, the chaser before setting out into the cold night, to start on the lonely, commute home. No more or less than many of us have done, and on it crept, this drink problem.

He began getting into debt, admitting at one point he’d had 25 credit cards, paying one with another; and when Peter would no longer pay Paul, he’d get a new card. The drink problem and the debt problem were best buddies.

The debts mounting up in droves would wake him in a cold sweat at night, then the drink would console him with false promises and temporary numbness. He kept referring to alcohol as ‘an old friend’.

In the end he was paying his mortgage with credit cards and slurring through broadcasts.

He lost everything.

Alcohol obviously helped create this sorry tale, but let’s not forget, Ed’s drinking got out of control when he started using it to quell his spiralling debt worries. He simply had more going out, than he had coming in.

Haven’t we all, at times? And we might successfully juggle debts for a while, but ultimately it’s unsustainable. If more money goes out than comes in, month after month, and nothing changes, the debt will spiral.

And if you don’t believe me, ask Ed Mitchell. That such a charming, intelligent, dynamic man has been brought so low, should be a resounding warning to us all.

Then the interview got really intriguing. Ed was asked how he managed to stay so cheerful and calm amid his terrible straits? He replied that, here and now, with nothing and nobody to his name - no demands to keep up with the latest car and the latest gear, no looming spectre of debt threatening his world - was the happiest time of his life.

He said he felt completely free.

Perhaps it’s time we eased up on ourselves a bit. We can’t all afford the same expensive home/furniture/car/holiday . . . and what’s wrong with being in one’s salad years?

Ed Mitchell said this country is facing a tsunami of bad debt, and I for one am off to get my budget sorted, start saving - instead of signing - for the things I want, and find some high ground, before it’s too late.

• Inspirational Emma Suddaby shares her ” highs, lows - and various murky places inbetween” - with her weekly blog. Emma, a finalist in the 2007 Shropshire Star Woman of the Year competition, was diagnosed with aggressive, destructive rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 22. She has since won a dream flying scholarship with the charity Flying Scholarships for the Disabled and is now training for a National Private Pilot’s Licence.