Lorie Sheffer – Page 14 – Disney Leadership Keynote Speaker

Guest blogger Lorie Sheffer: Not sew difficult!

Home made sofa cover and pillows — A few odds and ends from the fabric store (photo: Lorie Sheffer)

Trying new things doesn’t have to be something to fear. It’s good for us. It’s good exercise for our brains, and it’s good for our soul. In the process, we may even discover a passion we didn’t know we had.

My living room furniture is shot. I am sick of the style and it’s old and has seen better days. That being said, the living room doesn’t get used much. Add to that the fact that my husband is now retired and new stuff is expensive, layered with my love of recycling, repurposing and reusing, and the stage was set for my new endeavor. I decided to make slipcovers. I do own a sewing machine, but its main use has been to sew things like hems and curtains, all involving straight lines and very little skill. I will not be a contender for Project Runway anytime soon, for sure. In fact, an old classmate recently reminded me about a rather unfortunate incident back in our high school home ec class. While attempting to construct a simple apron, I somehow managed to get my finger under the needle and the machine pounded the needle in through my fingernail and out the other side. As said classmate commented, “That’s not something you forget!”

The Internet is my salvation. Honestly, there’s not much you can’t learn to do if you just start Googling. A blogger by the name of Miss Mustard Seed taught me everything I needed to know, complete with extremely well detailed instructional videos. Bottom line? I slipcovered by sofa and chair, and made pillows to boot, for under $100. The “fabric” is drop cloths from my home improvement store, which when washed look very much like a heavy linen. A few odds and ends from the fabric store and I was good to go. Two days of draping and sewing, a dining room that served as a workroom, and that was it! As I said in last week’s post, I will show the results no matter if they are a success or a failure. This time I am pleased to report that I was surprised by the success! New skill learned!

“I could never do that!” is the comment I hear most often from family and friends who have been to my home and seen my “new” living room.

Neither could I, until I tried. Neither could I.

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Guest blogger Lorie Sheffer

Gary Sheffer and Carter Ski Round Top (photo: Lorie Sheffer)

Children don’t really have a choice when it comes to trying new things, because, well, everything is new to them! They have so many firsts; first words, first steps, first day of school. By midlife, many of us settle into what we “do” and what we “don’t do”. Which is a shame. Our brains need new things to learn and to experience.

As we get older, why are we so resistant to trying new things? Is it a fear of failure, of looking foolish? Is it because we are just comfortable with things as they are? I’ve noticed that each time I try something new, I hear the same comments from a few older folks in my life. “I could never do that!” or “Oh, you can do anything!” Trust me when I say my skill set is pretty limited and I have no special talents. What I do have is a desire to try new things, and I have little fear of failure. What’s the worst that can happen, I say.

I’ve come to learn that there is a HUGE difference between “I can’t”, “I don’t want to” and “I am afraid to try.” “I can’t” really is, at times, a legitimate reason. There are some things that we literally CAN’T do. “I don’t want to” is perfectly fine as well. Really, by midlife I feel we’ve earned the right to say, “I don’t want to”. “I’m afraid to try” is the one that makes me sad. Which is why, over the next few weeks or months, I will share some of the new things I’ve attempted. I will share the failures as well as the successes. Maybe in the “comments”, a few of you will want to share your own attempts at learning a new trick or two.

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Guest blogger Lorie Sheffer: Forgiveness – the final step

The final step!

Perspective.

Remember, our story is just one small part of a much bigger picture.

No matter what happens in our lives, the world will still keep spinning on her axis, the waves in the ocean will still feel the pull of the moon, the seasons will change and the sun will rise in the east and set in the west.

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Guest blogger Lorie Sheffer: Forgiveness, step 11 – Identity shift

closeup photo of butterfly — Float (softly) like a butterfly (photo: Lorie Sheffer)

Become the person you wish to be.

We’ve probably all known or heard of a person who is harsh and maybe a bit intimidating or hard to enjoy. We’ll often hear a comment from someone close to that person, along the lines of, “Oh… but he has such a soft side!” or “She really can be sweet when she wants to be!” Notice how, when this person shows that soft side, their face and body language relaxes, they smile more and they seem generally happier.

Move toward your soft, loving inner self.

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Guest Blogger Lorie Sheffer: Forgiveness, step 10 – managing stress

Old home movie film reels — Can we lean to stop replaying the old tapes in our past? (Photo: Lorie Sheffer)

The tenth step in our way to learning to let go and forgive is to understand all the ways we carry anger, trauma and pain.

We carry it physically as well as emotionally.

There’s an old saying, “Hurt people hurt.” When we carry pain and resentment, we will often lash out and become angry, hurtful people.

A recent study at Temple University Hospital, led by Domenico Practico, MD, Professor of Pharmacology and Microbiology, found strong evidence that “stress is an environmental factor that looks like it may play a very important role in the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.”

Stress is something we can learn to manage. We can’t always remove or change the source of the stress, but we can change how we react to it.

We need to be aware of the same old tapes we play over and over again in our minds. A staggering 98% of the thoughts we have today are the same ones we had yesterday. When those thoughts are negative, no wonder we feel bad.

We can retrain our brains to let go of those negative old thoughts and replace them with new, positive thoughts and memories.

Everyone at some time in his or her life has been hurt, disappointed or betrayed. We aren’t alone in feeling disappointment and pain. We owe it to ourselves and to those around us to learn to put down those negative thoughts and step away toward happiness.

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