Mobility challenges? Help is at hand

Experiencing diminished (减弱的) mobility can be extremely difficult. When people talk about it, a lot of the focus is on the physical consequences, but coping with its emotional impact-the loss of freedom, the knock to your confidence and the feelings of frustration are just as significant as the physical.

Mobility scooters

There are various resources and mobility aids out there that can help-wheelchair, mobility scooter or walking aid, etc. If you struggle to walk, but need to travel long distances, a mobility scooter might be a better choice. One that you should consider is the eFOLDi Lite scooter, the World’s lightest folding mobility scooter from SunTech.

Making travel easier

It can be transported easily in a car or on a plane so you no longer have to face travel restrictions and you can enjoy your freedom much more as it is extremely portable, easy to use and super lightweight — at only 15kg — it’s the perfect travel and mobility companion.

Users can unfold the scooter in seconds and it’s packed full of beneficial features that will improve your day to day journeys and make travelling more accessible for you.

Pre-order Supporters of the campaign can pre-order an eFOLDi Lite on Kickstarter for a super early bird price of £1200 which is 50% of the future retail price, plus a £80 shipping cost.

The campaign ends on 11th February 2021. For more information about eFOLDi Lite, visit http://reservefold. com/?scooter=exclusive.

Last summer, Maria and her mother moved from their house in the countryside to a flat building in Chicago.Maria really liked some things about the city, but she missed her house and yard in the countryside.

One day, Maria was in her flat building when she noticed her neighbor, Mrs.Garcia, carrying a gardening tool and a bag of soil.Maria wondered how Mrs.Garcia was able to garden in the city.

“My mom used to grow the most delicious vegetables, and I know she misses her garden now that we don't have a yard, ”said Maria.

Mrs.Garcia laughed.“I'll show you, ”she said.

Maria thought that Mrs.Garcia would take her to the park, but she took her to the roof (屋顶). When the door opened, Maria was surprised to see rows of flowers and vegetables on the roof.

“What a wonderful garden！”said Maria.

Mrs.Garcia told Maria that for a long time the roof was just an empty space.Then some of the people in the building asked the owners to turn it into a community garden.The building owners liked the idea because the plants not only helped to keep the air clean, but they also helped to keep the building cooler during warmer weather.

“I plant flowers in my own place, ”Mrs.Garcia said, “but you would be surprised by how different the plants are up here.Some people grow vegetables just like your mom.You can do some of the same things in the city as in the countryside.You just have to be creative！”

Sports fandom is about more than just entertainment. It can boost your self-esteem (自尊) and make you happier — and you don’t have to root for the winning team to gain the benefits.

Being a sports fan is a “very psychologically healthy activity,” says Daniel Wann, professor at Murray State University whose research program centers on the psychology of sport fandom. Fandom connects us to other like-minded people, which satisfies our human need for belonging, he says.

These relationships are significant: People who identify as sports fans have higher levels of self-esteem, lower levels of loneliness and tend to be more satisfied with their lives compared to those who aren’t interested in sports, Wann says. Fans tend to have more access to social support, help and resources as well. Research suggests that when people have support from their communities, they have better health.

Beyond bonding, fans get to enjoy the psychological benefits of winning, even if they have nothing to do with the players or games, says Stephen Reysen, associate professor at Texas A&M University-Commerce who studies identity and fandom.

“Individuals feel that the fan interest (in this case a sport team) is a part of them,”   Reysen says. “So when the team is winning, you feel like you are winning even though you are not a player.”

Of course, teams sometimes lose.

So, why do people continue to put their faith behind teams that tend to lose? People who feel a strong psychological connection to a team are more likely to root for a team when they’re having a losing season, Reysen says.

“Sports fandom has nothing to do with the outcome of a game,” Wann says. For example, if a pizza restaurant continually got your order wrong, you’d likely switch to a more reliable one. But because being a fan is so central to people’s identities, people are willing to accept defeat and continue to be loyal to a team.

Being part of a fan community can also help people cope with losses. A 2019 study found that watching a football game with other fans helps to ease the negative psychological effects of losing.

“For fans of the losing team, sharing the pain may have protected them from losing self-esteem,” Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, co-author of the study and professor of communication at The Ohio State University said in a release.

Life is filled with challenges. As we get older, we come to realize that those challenges are the very things that shape us and make us who we are. It is the same with the challenges that come with friendship. When we are faced with a challenge, we usually have two choices. We can try to challenge it, or we can decide that the thing isn’t worth the trouble and call it quits. Although there are certainly times when calling it quits is the right thing to do, in most case what we needed is commitment (投入) and communication.

When we are committed to something, it means that no matter how painful or how uncomfortable something is, we will always choose to face it instead of running away from it. Communication is making space for discussion and talking about how you feel instead of just saying what the other person did wrong. If you can say to a friend, “I got my feelings hurt.” rather than “You hurt my feelings.” you are going to be able to solve the problem much faster.

In dealing with many challenges that friendship will bring to you, try to see them for what they are: small hurdles (栏杆) you need to jump or get through on your way through life. Nothing is so big that it is impossible to get over, and hurt only serves to make us stronger. It’s all part of growing up. It happens to everyone, and some day you will look back on all of this and say, “Hard as it was, it made me who I am today. And that is a good thing,”