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You’ve probably heard by now that if the cushioning starts to wear off, you should replace your running shoes, which most manufacturers say it does after 300 to 500 miles. But it turns out that there is another problem with old shoes even if you haven’t walked in them.

The cushioning in running shoes is not designed to last, even if these shoes are on the shelf. Fleet Feet, a running shoe store, Remarks that rubber and foam, which form the cushioning of the shoes, degrade over time and the foam can even shatter. Other components of the shoe, such as the seams on the upper, can also break over time.

Fleet Feet sells shoes, so a cynical part of me thinks that’s exactly what they want to believe. Runners have different opinions and experiences (here is a forum post that includes a multitude). Some report that year-old shoes are as good as new, while others find enough of a difference that they refuse to buy old shoes.

Shoes vary, and so do people’s preferences for cushioning, so there is unlikely to be a single answer. Even in the same style of shoe (Nike Free), I had pairs that I loved to wear for years and others that began to feel out of whack before their time. Ultimately, you have to decide for yourself how you feel about the subject.

How much time do you have before a running shoe breaks?

According to Fleet Feet, shoes are good as new for about a year after purchase, and they can get brittle after that. They won’t be completely ruined, but you may not get as many miles out of them as you would with a brand new shoe.

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The Brooklyn Running Company called a number of shoe companies for more information, and they did found that most said their foams are good for about five years. That is good news! But other components of the shoes, including the adhesives that hold them together, can break earlier.

Storage conditions affect the life of a shoe, the companies say, including temperature. A pair of shoes in a cool, dry place like the shelf in your closet will last longer than a pair that will be exposed to heat, moisture, and sunlight.

Bottom Line: If you’re buying older styles of shoes to save a few bucks, you may not be saving as much as you thought. If you get a pair at 40% off but only get 300 miles instead of 500, that’s the same price per mile.

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With the airports crowded with travelers, you might consider signing up for the airport security fast track program TSA pre-examination. But what about Clear, a privately operated line skipping service? It’s more expensive and works a little differently, but it also gets you through the wires faster. In fact, signing up for these two complementary services is your best bet for skipping the lines – especially if you’re a frequent flier willing to spend the money.

This is how the TSA PreCheck works

TSA PreCheck provides a separate, shorter line through airport security (typically five minutes or less) operated by the Department of Homeland Security. To use this hotline, apply online and in person to register as a “trusted traveler”, which will give you pre-authorization to get through security faster. In addition to a shorter queue, with a PreCheck membership you don’t have to remove shoes, belts, laptops or TSA-approved liquids from your hand luggage. TSA PreCheck is available at 200 domestic airports and costs $ 85, and your TSA PreCheck registration status is valid for five years.

This is how Clear works

Like TSA PreCheck, Clear offers a separate, shorter line through airport security, but it also works for events in stadiums or other concert or sports venues and can share your COVID-19 vaccination status. Although it is a privately owned service, it is operated with the permission of the Department of Homeland Security. As with the TSA PreCheck program, enrollment is a two-part process that takes place online and in person, although it requires clear scans of your eyes, face, and fingerprints.

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The advantage of using this biometrics is that you can verify your identity at a kiosk at the top of the queue, which means that a TSA representative does not need to verify your boarding pass and photo ID. Clear is available at more than 50 airports and other locations in the United States, and an annual subscription costs $ 179 per year or $ 15 per month – much more expensive than PreCheck.

Which line skipping service is better?

Since Clear and TSA PreCheck offer two separate lines to choose from, it is less about “better” than about flexibility. PreCheck has 10 million members compared to Clear’s 1.5 million members, which means PreCheck is more likely to have longer queues (this is especially true at peak times). This means that Clear could be a good backup option when TSA PreCheck is busy or unavailable and vice versa.

However, at $ 15 a month, Clear is much more expensive than PreCheck, but it has some additional benefits:

• It can be used for other venues.
• In contrast to PreCheck, you are not selected at random for an additional security check.
• In contrast to PreCheck, Clear works for all airlines as long as it is available at a specific airport.

Bottom line

In this case, two services are better than one – whether the extra $ 15 per month for Clear is worth it depends on your aversion to lines and the frequency of your trips. If you are not a frequent flyer but still want to skip the queues, you should register for the TSA PreCheck first, as it is much cheaper and available at more airports.

Before signing up for Clear or PreCheck, make sure they are actually available at your local airport (here and here) as it will affect whether the program is worth it for you. Also, consider paying for these services through an existing benefit on a Travel Rewards credit card, as many offer free memberships to TSA PreCheck and, to a lesser extent, Clear.

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The vaccine should mean the US is out of the worst depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, but for many of us it hardly feels like we’re out of the woods.

In addition to the growing threat from the highly contagious Delta variant and the corresponding return of indoor mask mandates, there are the slowly burning social, emotional and psychological consequences of the past 15 months to deal with. That means going back to things like parties, air travel, and the rest of life outside of our lockdown bubbles can be a joyful experience, but it can also be overwhelming.

“Anecdotally, I think people are really exhausted,” says Anna Sale, presenter and co-founder of the WNYC podcast Death, Sex & Money and author of the book Let’s Talk About Hard Things. “The idea of ​​restarting, of reappearing – there is a general feeling of anticipation and pressure to get out of there again and to hit the limits of your energy level and your interest.”

For many, the whiplash of full reopenings last summer may have added an extra layer of internal conflict. “I think a lot of people feel almost inflated because we just go ahead and pretend it didn’t happen,” said Amanda White, LPC and founder and clinical director of Therapy for Women in Philadelphia. “And a lot has changed.”

Whether you are dealing with grief, changing relationships, or the difficulty of finding a new balance after a prolonged period of fear, isolation, and lockdown, here’s how you can approach the process without increasing your current stress level.

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Small, steady goals are really underestimated. “

Take stock of your habits – and start slowly

From work to exercise to socializing, almost everyone has turned their routines upside down in the past year, and the process of restoring a “new normal” may feel like starting from scratch. Instead of taking an aggressive all-or-nothing approach, experts advise taking it slow.

“I think small, steady goals are really underestimated,” says White. “My recommendation is to practice a few things that you used to enjoy doing with an open mind instead of packing every night of your weekend. Experimenting and trying things out and at the same time leaving room for your emotions will help you to control this process so that we don’t burn ourselves out. “

White adds, “I’ve seen people pounce on everything and I don’t recommend that. I think we no longer have the same tolerance as we used to, and that needs to be rebuilt. “

In many ways, this is a good time to take stock of what parts of your pre-pandemic life you want to reintegrate and which parts you want to reassess.

“With COVID and lockdowns, our environment has changed so our habits have changed, and now people will tend to rejuvenate their good and bad habits,” said BJ Fogg, Stanford behaviorist and author of Tiny Habits. “Sit back and list the habits you once had and miss and decide which ones you want to revive. Start with maybe three of them and build them back into your new routine. “

Fogg suggests making every habit as simple as possible, be it working out 10 minutes instead of an hour, or experimenting with a few new versions of your desired routine before committing to the one you like best and the one You are most likely to stay.

Conversely, this moment can serve as an opportunity to permanently break out of old patterns.

“Maybe now you’re going back to work and you’ve been invited to cocktail hour and don’t want to fall back in,” says Fogg. “Have a game plan for this scenario and say something truthful like ‘during the pandemic I changed my course of action, I could come but I won’t drink or I would like to hang out’ with you but not in that kind of way Vicinity.'”

Fogg adds, “Give it a try and don’t expect to be perfect. The point is, it might feel a little scary and strange because you’ve never been here, but now is a wonderful time to control your habits. “

… the key is to say, ‘I’ll wake up and listen to what my body needs today.’ “

Work with your body, not against it

Even if you emerged from the pandemic in good health, your body may not feel or function the same way it did two years ago, and these changes are difficult for many people to manage.

“There are many fears that the world will open up again,” says Chrissy King, fitness and strength trainer and founder of the Body Liberation Project. “People always feel overly sensitive to their bodies in the summer, and when they come back and see people they haven’t seen in a long time or take off summer clothes that don’t fit – all the fears people have become reinforced by the pandemic. “

Rather than rushing into an extreme new diet or exercise regimen, the expert opinion should focus on ways to help your body feel the best it can after an extended period of stress.

“I think the key is to say, ‘I’ll wake up and listen to what my body needs today,'” says King. “You can have a plan, but also allow yourself to wake up every day and listen to yourself. When your body demands rest, allow that flexibility to lean on what actually feels good every day. “

And instead of struggling with over-tight shorts that you expect to fit back in, King suggests buying new clothes that fit your current body and revising the cultural assumption that bodies never change or fluctuate.

“Bodies change and our relationship with our bodies changes day by day,” says King. “I always focus on how to show compassion in that moment and talk to myself like I would with my best friend.”

Focusing on smaller topics rather than global catch-ups can help open the door to more useful conversations.

Talk to your people

If you’ve come out of lockdown with a distinct feeling that many of your closest relationships are not exactly where you left them, you are nowhere near alone. To get back on track with the people you care about, compassionate and direct communication is key.

“Let them know that you have good intentions and that you want to keep the relationship going,” said Ann Friedman, co-host of Call Your Girlfriend podcast and co-author of Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close with friend and co-worker Aminatou Sow. “And lead with openness and transparency, even if you cannot fully name the feeling. It’s about taking the emotional risk to let that person you care about know what’s really wrong with you. “

This can look like opening a conversation about issues that were controversial between the two of you during the pandemic (e.g.

“I try to lead in everything that happens to me and where I feel insecure. Sale says. “When you talk about it, if you reply to a text message, for example, you also get permission to come back and say, ‘I’m sorry, I still don’t know how to do it!'”

If you’re unsure how to start a conversation with a friend or loved one who you suspect is struggling, it helps to start small, too. “I often say something like ‘I was thinking of you, how are you?’ or ‘You’ve got it on my mind,’ ”says Sale. “If I have signs that they were under stress, I could say, ‘I was thinking about the last time we talked and you mentioned this thing, how is it going?’ You are showing that you really cared and listened the last time they spoke without saying, ‘I can see that you are not doing things well.’ Nobody wants to hear that with these words. “

Focusing on smaller topics rather than global catch-ups can also help open the door to more useful conversations.

“It’s worth not expecting the two of you to do ‘last season’ and summarize everything that has happened in the last 15 months,” says Friedman. “Start where you are now and be open with each other. Specific questions like your afternoon, what you are currently seeing, what your child is doing this summer. If you stay on the ground and keep asking questions from there, it will usually reveal a lot about how the last 15 months have been for you. “

There’s a lot of pressure to have a great summer and get back to absolutely everything, but it’s also okay to be sad now. “

Give yourself space to grieve – and to rest

At a time when it is all too easy to feel the pressure from outside to become “normal” again, experts recommend the most consequent: Give yourself and others time and empathy to be where you are.

“There has been so much grief in the last year and a half,” says White. “Either the kind of grief we think of in the traditional sense, about the loss of loved ones, or the grief about other things we’ve lost, be it a high school graduation or a birthday that can’t be celebrated the same way. The loss of jobs, the loss of friendships, even the loss of who we were before the pandemic. “

Missing the social gatherings and rituals that usually help us deal with loss has made these feelings even more difficult to deal with.

“Being with people is our grief, often, and it wasn’t really possible,” says White. “There’s a lot of pressure to have a great summer and get back to absolutely everything, but it’s also okay to be sad right now and not quite ready to do it all over again.”

Talking to loved ones and spending time journaling can help you process these more difficult feelings, says White. “Anything you can do to slow down and get in touch with your emotions will help.”

Also, if you have the resources, this may be a good time to seek help from a professional. “I believe many of us can benefit from therapy and you don’t need a diagnosis to benefit,” says White. “As a general rule of thumb, if you’re trying to do things but are unable to do them, this is a really good place to start with a therapist. They will help you understand why you are having problems and identify minor actions that will help you move forward. “

Just like the impetus to deal with the outside world, an ongoing part of the reopening process will also be taking breaks, checking in with ourselves and making room for rest.

“I really advocate figuring out how to take time off work when you need it,” says Sale. “And also remember that it is beneficial if energy expenditure reduces stress or headaches in the long term. Things like reminding myself that it is healthy for me to go out and see people, which feels like an immense expenditure of energy, but has the long-term benefit of making me feel less isolated. “

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The first time a parent catches their child lying is enough to make their heart sink. It doesn’t matter if it’s a broken plate on the floor or the candy they so obviously just snuck in and ate; Most mothers and fathers want their children to be raised with integrity. And when children are dishonest, it is easy to feel that you have failed to instill an essential core value in your child.

But here’s the good news: lying is part of a child’s normal development and is common even among young children. It is the way parents react to it that teaches the importance of honesty and how to apply it later in life. We’re going to share some ways in which to deal with lying when it happens and what to do when dishonesty becomes a real problem.

Why do children lie?

Young children are unaware of the moral implications of lying. That’s because it’s often difficult for them to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s imaginary when they’re young – and they want to please you.

“The line between fantasy and reality is a bit darker for [children] than it could be [adults]”Says Dr. Becky Kennedy, a clinical psychologist and mother of three children.

She adds that children will lie whenever they think the truth will get them into trouble. They see lies as a way to stay close to their parents and ensure their biological survival and psychological safety, which are necessary for a child to grow and thrive.

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“From an evolutionary point of view, our children have to feel safe with us, that is, they have to feel that we have them with us and love them,” she says. “When you feel ashamed and alone telling the truth, you feel compelled to lie in order to feel good about yourself in the moment.”

What to do if your child is lying

As mentioned above, it is difficult for young children to distinguish between right and wrong, and punishing them for their actions out of fear could end up leaving them even more on the street. For example, if a child tears down another child’s block tower and insists they didn’t, Kennedy recommends that instead of trying to catch them lying or blaming them dishonestly, try to listen to them in order to restore confidence:

“Tell them, ‘Oh, you didn’t put it down. If someone did, and I know it’s not you, then something must have happened that caused that kid to collapse his siblings’ tower. I wonder what this kid must have been feeling. If you find out who that kid is, could you tell them I won’t be upset? There will be no punishment. I just want to know what’s going on so we can avoid something like this happening again. ‘”

Difficult emotions are likely to be hidden behind a child’s undesirable behavior. If a child believes that their parents are interested in how they feel inside, then they are more likely to be telling the truth. Kennedy uses the example of an older sibling beating and lying about his younger brother. By sending her to her room instead of understanding why the incident happened, they believe that the parents only care about what is outwardly going on and do not see them as a good child. Parents should not condone lying or beating but try to find out why they flogged.

In some cases, the child may lie about what happened between them and their siblings to get attention. In such cases, they play the prey to get what they need.

“This child is less likely to lie because they have learned that their parents see them as a good child, and they are willing to hear the more complex feelings behind that behavior,” says Kennedy.

Then there is this moment that every parent experiences: one parent tells a child that they cannot do something, then the child tells the other parent that they can, for example when a child tells dad that mom said that they could play on the iPad when mom actually told them no. Kennedy says this isn’t about manipulating parents, it’s about the child trying to regulate their disappointment with less screen time.

“Lying is done to avoid the stress of wanting and not having,” she explains. “Instead of getting upset that they are trying to deceive you, discuss with them that they understand that it must be difficult for them to hear no and that they must have been very disappointed.”

What if lying goes too far?

If this approach of trying to understand why a child is lying doesn’t contain their dishonesty, it is time to let them know that it will affect their actions. Per Dr. Matthew Rouse, psychologist at the Child Mind Institute, the punishment doesn’t have to be excessive, but it should address both the lie and what they lied about. For example, if a teen claims they did their homework and didn’t do it, they should be punished for their dishonesty and asked to do their job.

But Rouse also points out that children should know that telling the truth reduces punishment, such as when a teen lies about going to a party but later calls a guardian for a ride home because they’re drunk. There is a fine line to walk when a child lied where they were but then did the right thing by not driving drunk. Parents can tell their children that because of their ultimate honesty, their punishment will be lessened.

How to make honesty a value

Columnist Dr. Carol Brady said Child Mind Institute that parents should tell a child that perfection is not an expectation. Brady suggests a “truth check” where a parent gives him a few minutes after he lied to consider his answer.

Parents could also say something like, “I’m going to ask you a question, and maybe you’ll tell me something I don’t really want to hear. But remember, your behavior is not what you are. I love you no matter what, and sometimes people make mistakes. I want you to think about giving me an honest answer. ”

Brady doesn’t recommend this method for a chronic liar, but it could go a long way in helping you realize the importance of truth and integrity.