Skating Uphill

Judith Lawrenson

 “I love the concept of a Mamma Bear fighting for her young, but………”                                                                     The Uphill Skater  

Yes, that idea about the Mamma Bear protecting, nurturing, feeding, grooming and so on, is very appealing, But, just because, here is another way to look at it. How in the world is a Mama Bear going to get all of that done if she isn’t looking after her own self??? Okay, I know you are thinking right now that this concept may seem a bit selfish, but let me assure that it is certainly not. Yes, I am aware of the fact that throughout history heroines, heroes and martyrs have been people who were able to accomplish unbelievable things even though they were not physically “well” in present day definitions, but  that was then and this is now, and I am certainly not making light of those people in any way. I am talking about us. Just us. You and me and all of the regular people out there. There are many things to do and people to help. I believe that we all do our very best to make the world a better place for all of us,  but all I am saying is that the better we feel the more we can do, and the more we keep ourselves fit and healthy, both mentally and physically, the more able we are to bring our whole selves to any cause that calls us. 

I should be saying right now that we must all eat healthy foods, get a weekly massage and facial, and get a check up regularly if we feel the need to be of service to others, and of course, that is not true or valid. If we are to do for others, though, we must in all honesty, do for ourselves too. Notice I did not say “first” because often that is not possible, but it must be a part of our profile to be of sound mind and body or we are going to be poor helpmates for others. The sub-title for this column is “Living A Healthy Lifestyle” and I will advocate for that as often as I must to try to do my “Mama Bear” job for the many women who give of themselves to the point of loosing themselves.  Advocating for those we feel called to help can be a very strong pull.

When you think of women like Mother Theresa, that tiny little person who was so faith filled that her very calling sustained her through things we can only imagine, it makes one feels as I said earlier, just a bit selfish if we are not giving all for our cause, be it family, a loved one, or a strong community commitment. Please do remember though, we are only human and we cannot do more than our best without risking losing the ability to do anything at all. How many times have you heard of a caregiver falling ill or even passing away before the person for whom they are caring. Working and worrying yourself down to a condition of ill health is always a strong possibility  Be a Mama Bear. Be a Tiger Mom. Say “I am Woman, I am Super Woman.” All I am saying is that if you say it, then be it. Keep yourself strong and healthy. take a nap if you need to. Eat right, but have an ice cream if you feel like it. Buy yourself a new pair of jeans that are cute and not on sale, and love yourself so that you can love others. Think about it!   Love Judith

Skating Uphill April Edition 2021      

By Judith Lawrenson

“This is on of the three times a year that I just hate!”
             “The Uphill Skater”

All right, so I really don’t mean that I actually hate any time of the year, especially Spring. but this my situation-three times a year I am moved, to get stuff done. New Years Day, my birthday, and Spring somehow get to me. I see everything I own as needing to be rearranged, thrown out, repaired, donated to charity and on and on. I think this might be hormonal, but I also know that that kind of thinking is very out of date nowadays. I feel the urge coming on though, so I thought I would share some insights with you. 
Briefly, here it is. Clean out the pantry and start on a brand new healthy eating plan. Note I did not say diet and I have a very good reason for that. I hospital dietitian told me recently that any plan that you go on that has a beginning and an end will never work. I have enough experience to know that this is true.  Next, go through your closet. and finally, clean your house. I did say this was brief, right? Oh, but of course, this is not really the point of this month’s column. In addition to this regular stuff that drives me crazy, I have added, this Spring, something new that I really must share. I have taken up gardening! 
Maybe you already have a big vegetable garden or flowers by the ton, or even watermelon, but I do not and I never have. I grew up on a farm and we had alfalfa and cotton. People do not eat those things or have them in their house in case you have not noticed. I was inspired to all of this by a TV show which is a bit odd since I am not a real TV watcher.  This show is about a British couple who buy a chateau in France that has 100 rooms, a 25 acre lot, and is nearly 200 years old. A big part of this show is about the garden they create. Just by sprinkling some wild flower seeds, the woman is able to grow what they call a cutting garden. She has lovely flowers for months and puts them in her chateau and everything looks fabulous. Okay, so maybe I can’t do that, but I can certainly go down to the nursery and buy some flower seedlings and make a start of it. I am really looking forward to trying this. I seldom try anything completely different so by going out of the box a bit I am taking a bit of a risk, but I think it is going to be fun. 
I am also going to plant some tomatoes. I already have my plants in the garage and will put them in shortly. I did a bit of this last year. Just for fun and to fill an empty spot, I planted a little grape tomato plant. I actually had tomatoes and I actually ate them. Again, this may be all boring old news for some of you green thumb types out there, but i was quite a thrill for me.  This year I am going to plant not only some more tomatoes, but some herbs too. I use a lot of basil and rosemary so I will plant that. I also really like flat leaf parsley so I am going for that too. I can hardly wait to see things grow, and I really hope not to have grocery store flowers and hard tomatoes this summer.  Boy Oh Boy!

Part of the fun of this is that it is something completely different, of course. I am always advising readers to do that. Break out, give something different a try, I have done this with my BLOG www.skatinguphill.com and it has been wonderful. I am leaning as I go and I think things like that keep your brain from drying up. Do look at Spring a bit differently this year. New growth, new life, and let’s add to that, a new project. Why Not???  Love Judith

Skating Uphill-March 2021 Pink Magazine

Judith Lawrenson
               “I am called by Nature in so many different ways. Are You?” 

  As the weather becomes Springlike, our life rhythms change and reflect the many shifts that this brings. I like to look at this time, especially now, as a challenge. Newness, even though it is recurring, is new nonetheless. It is time to get ready for that newness and see what it means to us at that deeply personal level where we all function.  I see my challenge firstly in the original purpose of this column. Food! What started as “diet” advice has morphed many times and even become a successful BLOG. I like to check back to basics regularly and update new, again the use of that word, developments in research and discoveries.

One of the most interesting developments to me has been the fact that now it seems that water is not the best hydrator and in fact almost anything that is non-caffeine and not alcohol liquid can serve that purpose. The best now has been found to be milk. This was of great interest to me. It is not only milk, but juices, power drinks and so on. Also the “drink when you are thirsty” idea has been debunked too. Waiting until you actually thirst can lead to dizziness, nausea and kidney issues. so drink up and do it regularly.  Foods have also been looked at in different ways. The lowly breakfast cereal is now a vitamin fortified good heakthy breakfast. Read the labels. Some cereals have 100% or your iron requirements and many other vitamins and minerals. Yes, they are fortified, but hey, so is a vitamin pill. I would rather eat it.  Add milk and fruit and have a nice easy breakfast. Oh, and don’t forget the big one-overnight oats. See the BLOG, www.skatinguphill.com for quick, easy, portable, recipes that are easy to customize.

Another new one? Sure-It used to be that we could wrap anything a tortilla and that is still good, of course, but how about wrapping anything in a piece of Naan Bread just for a new twist? Yummy!  Exercise has also changed somewhat. I am at a gym that is associated with a re-hab unit of a hospital and I have, for the first time in my life, hired a personal trainer. Boy, have I learned a lot. It is not just about machines and the tread mill. Walking has changed too. the words brisk, striding, and quick step have been but out there and you now need to move your arms too. Fitbits have been greatly improved and come down in price and I find mine a really useful tool. I check it and record my steps every day. It is a fun challenge.

New to me is the concept of lifting weights. I had no idea, but fat to muscle ratio is now a huge factor in overall health and body strength. Your weight is made up of both fat and muscle, obviously, but muscle burns more calories much faster than fat.  The way to build muscle it to lift weights. I started with five ponds-don’t laugh-and I I am up to double now. I honestly feel better and have more stamina too! My final challenge, and I pass it on to you, is to get off your butt and go outside. For me it has been quite a hard indoor winter and I have had enough of it. I want to go outside. Yes, nature is calling me. I plan to walk on the beach with a mask and coat if necessary. My dog is wondering when we are going to go for an actual outing, not just up the block.

Trees and flowers and sunshine are there for all of us to enjoy. Outdoor beauty belongs to all of us. How lucky are we??? Get out into it. If you don’t want to walk, run or even shlep along, sit on your front porch and read a book. Breathe the air. Look at the sky. Pull a weed….you get the idea, I am sure.  BTW-did I mention fresh foods and perhaps Farmer’s Markets? Yes, this is all a part of spring too. Also,  I will never forget one year I heard David Lauderdale speak at our church and he happened to mention that people should watch road signs and the paper for daffodil picking. I did and guess what-there are daffodil farms around Hilton Head and Bluffton that open and let you actually wander around in the fields and pick daffodils to your heart’s content. Not free, of course, but pretty close to it. Give that a try. What a unique experience. have a great Spring, Love, Judith      

“If you cannot hear your heart song, maybe you need to pay more attention to your surroundings.”  The Uphill Skater Pink Magazine,
February 2021

 Okay, this column, as I recently recalled for about the fourth time, was originally about food and nutrition. It was about good healthy foods, about a good healthy weight, and about being in an appropriate exercise plan. I hope some day to return to that very important format, but right now, today, it seems that all of this also revolves around mental health as well. It somehow seems not so important if you have your hot fudge sundae with fat free yogurt or ice cream. Physical health and total well being is still important, I am not saying that it isn’t, but more and more it is part of a total package.

 Recently I   watched again with my grandson a movie called “Happy Feet.” I don’t know if you remember it or not but it was about a little penguin who has no heart song. We know, of course, that all penguins have a heart song, right? Anyway, this little guy opened his beak to sing like the other penguins,  and sounded like a dying toad. But, boy could he dance! So the story goes on and he is ostracized because he can’t sing, but finally in the end he is accepted and embraced because he stuck with it and was true to himself. Corny plot, right? Okay, but I think not really. Times being what they are, I believe that each one of us needs to listen carefully,  to hear our own, yes, our very own, music.

Every day is a good day to stop and think about who we are, what we think, what we hold dear and what is worth standing up for. Values, yes, I will even say Christian values even though it is not politically correct, are our currency of value. How we spend out that currency reflects what it is that we truly hold in our hearts. I value kindness. Good things we do for others enrich us. that makes it sound a bit selfish, but that is not really the case. Doing kind things makes kindness grow just like watering a plant. Leaves branch out and roots go down. Kindness rubs off on people too. Good will does the same thing.

I had a call from a friend the other day asking if she could drop off some donations for a thrift shop where I volunteer. She came by the next day with nearly an apartment full of stuff. She, aged 77, had recently remarried a guy who was 83. Boy did they have a bunch of stuff when they put it all together. She said to me, not how good it felt to get rid of things, but how good it made them both feel that these duplicate items would be used by people who needed them. 

 Which bring me to the next value-sharing. No, I do not necessarily mean getting rid of excess items, I mean sharing of yourself. Call someone who you have not chatted with for a while. Have a whole big conversation and do not mention politics once. Talk about a good book you read, talk about a favorite recipe, talk about a beautiful sunset, talk about God, talk about literally anything good. Share your “good.” Call your pastor or local social service agency and see if there is a family who needs groceries. Share some magazines you have already read with a neighbor. We are all pretty shut in so any sharing of your time and conversations would be welcome I would think. Aren’t we all a bit lonely? Some more than others, so here is an opportunity not to be sad, but to be a person who shares-in many, many, ways! Last but certainly not least, my personal heart song is hope. As a Sunday School teacher, I tell my children what a mess Israel was in when Christ arrived on the scene. They were occupied by a foreign power, Rome, they were in the midst of battles within the Jewish faith, famine and over-taxation were everywhere. Times were just awful. So times may seem bad now, but when we look back at history, I think we should see with hope in our  hears that things will get better if we help to make it so. Did you know that only 62% of people eligible to vote actually voted in our presidential election? That means that those in power were put there by possibly as low as 33% of us!

If you share my belief that HOPE for the future should be with us all, then do something about it.  We have talked about kindness, good will, sharing and hope. All of these things are there for each one of us. I happen to be a very committed Christian so I add faith to my list, but having the same kind of beliefs should not be important. What should be important is having the same values. We have come quite a ways away from just talking about food and in these times I think that is all right. I hope you do too. Love, Judith 

“Is 2021 going to be the year of substitutions? No, No, No, A Thousand Times NO!” The Uphill Skater

My first job when I went back to work after I stayed at home with my children was as a substitute teacher. I absolutely hated it. It was the worst thing I had ever done. There are some things that you just can’t substitute and teachers are one of them. Either I fell in love with the class and had to leave right away or or I did not click with the class and the teacher was out weeks longer than expected. I couldn’t win. I feel the same way about many things that we call substitutes. It is not the real thing and that is a fact. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it just doesn’t.

In these days of Covid restrictions we are substituting going out to the movies with staying home watching Netflix. I guess we have to do this, but let’s take a shower first and get dressed. We should not be sitting in our jammies with popcorn butter dripping all over the blanket we are wrapped in and our house a mess. Take out and delivery are also big, and I get it that is necessary but again, are we eating out of the carton or pizza box in a sweat suit with bare feet and unwashed hair? And speaking of our living space, Covid experts say that dust and germs and bacteria go hand in hand. Clean your house and put up some decor. Have a life!

Pay It Forward. I have already started paying it forward in a big way, but believe me it is not easy. I have paid for the groceries of the lady behind me in line, bought coffee for the next person in the McDonalds drive through, and given a parking space that was clearly mine to a pushy guy in an SUV. Not easy, but boy, it actually evoked quite a feel good rush. I plan to continue to do this. Obviously I can’t buy everybody’s groceries on a long term basis, but I can always say a kind word, give a compliment, do a favor, call someone, and so on. I know you understand this, so get started yourself. Honestly, I can’t tell you what a moral booster this is.

Next, Let’s trade in grumpy for kind just like you would trade in that old car or a better new one. Use some emotional substitutions. How can that work? Well, how about this: smile when you really don’t feel like it. Try to interact with others in a positive way by stopping the negative talk that is so prevalent these days. Don’t watch things on TV that make you mad unless you are prepared to do something about it. (My husband saw something on the news the other day that made him furious and he started to tell me about in a furious way. No, No, No! I am not having it. I told him to write a letter and I’ll be darned if he didn’t do it. We both felt better for days!)

Being downhearted is a bummer. Some days we can’t help it, but we can head it off at the pass if we have a plan. Then, on those days, we can have a quick “go to” happy place. Have a book of happy quotes, keep a favorite old movie handy, know where to go for a lovely walk, give your dog a bath, play some music and just for fun, dance to it. I can’t believe I am saying this, but eat something. Often, nothing else will do. Don’t substitute a piece of celery for a brownie either. It doesn’t work like that and we all know it.

Finally, even in these times, do not substitute mediocre for great. Keep your chins up, all of them! Be your best self. Inside all of us is a truly kind and lovely person which is our true core self. If that is not your case, fake it and feel your spirit soften. We all need to be good to each other every chance we get. You can’t substitute that. Love, Judith