Guest Bloggers – Page 10 – Disney Leadership Keynote Speaker

Guest blogger Lorie Sheffer: Every day heroes

Winter ice on Pennsylvania landscape — Every day heroes (Photo: Lorie Sheffer)

Police in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, received a call during this week’s ice storm. A man said his 90-year-old aunt could not be contacted, and could someone please check to make sure she was OK. He was not sure the name of the road on which she lived; he thought it was River Road, and she lived in a trailer. Power was out in that area, and she was alone.

Southern Regional Police Chief John Fiorill spent the next 4 hours navigating icy roads, downed power lines and fallen trees trying to find her. Areas near the Susquehanna River are dotted with mobile homes, which sit along winding, hilly, sometimes one-lane roads. Chief Fiorill checked all of the trailers in the township that he could find. Finally on River View Road, he saw a hand lettered, cardboard sign in the window of a trailer. It said, “Help Me”.

Inside he found the woman, no heat, phone or electricity, bundled up in heavy sweatpants and socks and gloves, scarf and coat and hat. She had also bundled up her little dog, who was waiting to be rescued along with her. The police chief said he doubts if she would have survived another day. He contacted relatives, who were anxious to take her in with them but who had no way to transport her. So Chief Fiorill loaded the woman and her little dog into his vehicle and drove them to safety with her family.

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Guest blogger Lorie Sheffer: What a wonderful world

Nature is art. Art is nature. (photo: Lorie Sheffer)

A decade of pessimism. Polls have shown that for an entire decade, the majority of people have had negative attitudes about our country. Ten years of looking through the lens of pessimism. How sad. How exhausting. How habitual.

I think back over the past ten years. I have gone to 8 funerals. My husband lost his job of 25 years. Two of the most important men in my life struggled through life threatening illness. I’ve had exactly three mini vacations, overnights, in the past 7 years. And yet I do not feel this sense of pessimism that seems to be sweeping the country. I’m not a very religious person, not one of the faithful. And yet I see hope and beauty all around me. I look for the good in people and refuse to focus on the negative. Why? Because to do anything less would, in my mind, be a waste of this gift of life that I have been given. Perhaps I choose to remain positive because of, and not in spite of, all of those heartbreaking moments. We can choose to be pessimistic, or we can choose to be optimistic. For me, it’s an easy call.

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Guest Blogger Lorie Sheffer: Whoops

Baking on a kitchen counter top — Sugar and salt look remarkable similar, yet yield opposite results

Why is it that some people seem to confuse “mistake” with “conscious choice”?

It’s a mistake to accidentally grab the salt, thinking it is sugar, thus ruining an entire batch of cookies. It’s a mistake to call someone by the wrong name because you honestly were confused, or to unintentionally mistake a person for his or her look-alike sibling. Taking a wrong turn and getting lost is a mistake. Mistakes are unintentional.

When someone steals, lies or cheats, they are making a conscious decision to do so. At some point, they have given themselves permission. They didn’t make a mistake; they knew exactly what they were doing. The mistake may have been thinking they wouldn’t be caught, or thinking they wouldn’t regret it, or thinking there would be no consequences.

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Guest Blogger Lorie Sheffer: The verdict

Wi-Fit screen shot — Lorie’s 60-day check-in (photo: Lorie Sheffer)

What happens when the results of your exercise program are not what you had expected or hoped for?

It’s been two months. As I stated in an earlier post, I began taking two-mile walks in the park down the street from my house. And then it snowed. And it got cold; incredibly, horribly cold. I dug out the Wii Fit and dusted it off. I was determined not to miss a day. Of course I DID miss a few days, but have been more dedicated than not. I’ve missed a day here or there, but for the most part I have logged at least a half hour but most often an hour per day. I start with the yoga poses, work through the strength exercises and then hit a half hour of aerobics, followed by a few of the balance games. I have gotten lots of perfect scores, bested my old scores and racked up 40 hours of activity.

The result is that I have gained five pounds and now have tendonitis in my ankle and wrist. I’m sure the wrist pain is from too many downward dog-type moves, so I have modified them and wear a wrist splint.

It would be pretty easy to throw in the towel at this point. But I refuse. Not that I am a glutton for punishment and certainly not that I am one of those folks who lives for the chance to exercise. It would be easy to quit, and considering the evidence it would seem logical. But there are subtle signs I’ve noticed that make me want to keep going. Last night I stooped down to poke the fire and was able to do a nice squat, hold it while stabbing at the burning logs, and then quite easily rise back to standing. I have been sleeping through the night most nights, and feel more rested in the morning. Even though there have been two deaths in the family and we have gone through the big holiday season, I have not had issues with my anxiety. I didn’t freak out while stuck on the turnpike for 4 hours. To me, that in itself is huge.

I will say that I had expected to drop a few pounds, or at least not gain. That was my big goal and it is extremely disheartening not to have achieved it considering all of the hard work I’ve put in. But when I look at the big picture, I have found my motivation to continue. As we age, things like stooping and lifting tend to get harder, not easier. My inner voice tells me that I will thank myself some day, even if I thank myself wearing a larger size than I had envisioned.

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Guest blogger Lorie Sheffer: It’s all about perspective

stuck in winter traffic — Being stuck in traffic is better than being unexpectedly stuck in a hospital ER

We woke up in Philadelphia the morning after Christmas to a light snowfall. It was lovely. By the time we were finished with our lunch at a nearby diner, the sky was crystal clear, cerulean blue and the sun was shining brightly.

After getting onto The Pennsylvania Turnpike, I figured that even taking into consideration the stop we had to make along the way, we would be home in about an hour and a half. And then I noticed the cars that were sitting at a standstill in front of me. I stopped, wondering what must have happened.

I guess it would be easy, almost expected in fact, to lose patience after four long hours of crawling along at speeds that never exceeded 5MPH. I was relieved to finally make it to the exit that led us to a detour of the closed down stretch of highway. I will admit that I was exhausted and extremely happy when we finally got to the open road. But I felt extremely fortunate even while stuck in that stand still parking lot of a traffic mess. I knew the reason for the logjam must be one heck of an accident.

When we got home -almost 7 hours later than my initial prediction-and turned on the news, we saw the photos that had been taken earlier in the day. There were 35 cars, tractor-trailers and SUVs jutting at odd angles on the roadway. The snow had been heavier in that area earlier that morning, and the cars had been involved in a chain reaction collision as they slid on the icy roads and into one another. The people involved in the collision said they, too, felt lucky. In spite of the wreckage, there had been no fatalities and relatively few injuries.

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