PT 360 November 2019

PT 360 November 2019

Getting you back to the life you want to live.

360

N ovember 2019

In Touch

R eally T hankful

WHERE DID YOUR TURKEY COME FROM?

Shelly Coffman

Walking around the grocery store and seeing “Thankful”and“Blessed”signs does not trigger warm fuzzies for me. Now I know there are MANY people who will defend to the death that #blessed is their true state of mind. For me, though, it takes some deeper reflection, and a whole pile of“not-blessed”to feel it. When I first moved to Portland, I took a job with a well respected outpatient physical therapy clinic. I was stoked (the ‘90s version of #blessed). Then, I quickly came to realize that I worked for the employer version of Voldemort. I was constantly belittled, criticized, thrown under the bus, and felt beaten down and downright unhappy. As I had just moved to Portland, I didn’t have a good support network and didn’t know what other options were available as a new grad, and I at least wanted to get a year under my belt. So I hunkered down and survived. What I came to learn about myself that I didn’t know at the time was that all of this negative talk coming at me produced an inner counter-voice. A strong one. Believe it or not, I had been kind of meek and shy in my youth. I didn’t stand up for myself often; I stewed. But the constant barrage of day after day misery in this one job birthed a newme, one that to this day, I consider the authentic me. Once that version of me showed up, I realized a new day was ON. It was glorious when I quit. The negative talk came at me, and I batted every comment back like they were fruit flies. I took a new position and was so happy to work with really nice people. My new boss enjoyed my enthusiasm and was a little baffled by my candor, particularly as a young woman. I was not going to hand anyone some misplaced authority over me again, and I haven’t since. As miserable as that first job experience

was, I was, and still am, thankful for the person that came out of it, which would not

have happened without the pressure cooker of misery.

In the above photo, you can see my daughter on the first day of school. I can’t remember exactly why she was so mad. She’s crazy anxious. Things weren’t ”perfect”for her first day, but I still wanted a photo. As her personal stylist, she was mad at me and felt she was punishing me by not smiling. I posted this photo on Facebook, and it blew up with likes. She was a little mad at me for posting it, until I explained: When our outside skin matches our inside experience, people are able to meet us where we are and appreciate that the“real” us is there to meet their authentic selves too. Those authentic folks are the people we want to spend time with and lean on. If we show something that is not what we are feeling, then it’s not us, and we’re just pretending. She understood and followed up with her own Tik Tok to post on my page:“Be who you are.”I am hoping this understanding sticks a little bit through the teen years. While I may not feel #blessed while my daughter is yelling at me because she’s struggling with her outfit or while I’m juggling a new disaster at work, I knowmy day will always work its way to a better note. I spend time with great people, patients, and coworkers, and I adore my family. I’m lucky as hell to do what I do and enjoy the crap out of it, even when there’s some static. I know if I show up both to listen and be heard, good things will come. #optimist.

D o T hanksgiving D ay L ocavore S tyle

On Thanksgiving Day, tables across America creak under the weight of platters of cranberry sauce, green beans, rolls, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and pumpkin pie. Above it all towers the day’s crown jewel: a steamy turkey, fresh from the oven. As much of an institution as that turkey is, many of the people divvying up the meat on Thanksgiving have no clue where it came from. Home cooks can usually offer a grocery store and brand name, but that’s about it. This blind spot says a lot about the American food system, which often prioritizes convenience and annual earnings over flavor and environmental impact. Over the last few decades, a grassroots movement of chefs, foodies, scientists, animal advocates, and environmentalists has sprung up to convince Americans it’s time to pay attention to where their food comes from —Thanksgiving turkey included. Members

Continued on Page 2 ...

www.PT-360.com 1

... continued from Cover

If you’ve never put much thought into choosing a turkey, then it’s time to talk gobblers. On one end of the spectrum is the conventional turkey, which comes from giant factory farms, and on the other is the local, heritage turkey, which can probably be found pecking at the grass near you. Locavores would advocate for heritage birds (ancient breeds with peak rearing, diet, and flavor) as the gold standard, but any small farm is likely to raise its birds better than the ones that supply the grocery store, which often pack thousands of turkeys into sheds, limit their access to sunlight and soil, overfeed them for quicker slaughter, and regularly inject them with antibiotics. For a compromise friendlier to your pocketbook, opt for a local, organic bird, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be heritage. It comes with a higher price tag than a conventional gobbler, but included in that price are transparency, peace of mind, and a better planet. Just make sure to contact your farmer early — those tasty local birds go fast!

need to hold up for shipping. That means it’s sprayed with fewer harmful pesticides, and, in the case of meat, includes fewer antibiotics. When you buy something at a farmers market, you know exactly where it’s coming from, and, if you have any questions, just ask the farmer. Finally, buying local supports your town’s economy, keeping your neighbors’ jobs safe. Eating locally means eating seasonally, and that makes Thanksgiving the perfect time to experiment with the locavore lifestyle. Because the usual Thanksgiving menu dates back to Colonial times, the menu is already packed with foods available in the fall, like sweet and russet potatoes, pumpkins, and cranberries. Green beans are a summer vegetable, but local varieties keep well canned or frozen and can be pulled out for an all-local Thanksgiving. For rolls and pie, source local flour or head to your town’s bakery. You can round out your menu with seasonal produce by searching LocalHarvest.com, a >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4

www.pt-360.com

Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online