By Rebecca John on DeSmog

“What seems to be important,” wrote the visionary British scientist, James Lovelock, in June 1966, is “the almost certain fact that the climate is worsening and the probability that the combustion of fuel is responsible.”

Commissioned by Shell, the memo was the first in a series of secret reports by Lovelock for the UK oil giant exploring the “large scale atmospheric effects” of burning fossil fuels.

Sixty years later, evidence of Shell’s early knowledge of the climate impacts of its activities is being thrown into the spotlight by a first-of-its kind civil lawsuit, filed last December at the Royal Court of Justice in London. Lawyers are due to make a further filing against Shell, known as “the particulars” of the case, on Friday.

The lawsuit is being brought by UK law firm Hausfeld on behalf of the victims of Typhoon Rai, a 2021 Category 5 cyclone that devastated parts of the Philippines, killing over 400 people and causing more than $900 million in damages. It alleges that Shell helped to make the typhoon more destructive through the company’s contribution to historic greenhouse gas emissions and funding of climate denial — despite knowing since at least the mid 1960s that the burning of fossil fuels was the primary cause of climate change.

“By proving in court that Shell was at fault for this climate-change driven extreme weather event and the suffering it caused, the case highlights the far-reaching and direct impacts on vulnerable communities worldwide of oil and gas company activities,” said Greg Lascelles, the Hausfeld partner leading the legal team, in a 2025 statement at the time the case was filed.

The case draws on recent advances in attribution science that enable scientists to assess the degree to which climate change has contributed to an extreme weather event, such as a typhoon. Through Shell’s contribution of more than 2.5 percent of historical global greenhouse gas emissions, the suit alleges that Shell contributed to both the likelihood and severity of Typhoon Rai, known locally in the Philippines as Typhoon Odette. It is the first civil claim to link the climate impacts of an oil and gas company’s activities with death, personal injury, and damage to property that has already occurred in the Global South.

Shell has described the allegations as “baseless,” denying that the company had special knowledge of greenhouse gas emissions as a driver of climate change.

“The suggestion that Shell had unique knowledge about climate change is simply not true. The issue and how to tackle it has been part of public discussion and scientific research for many decades,” the company said in a statement on the case.

To date, evidence filed against Shell includes warnings about the climate risks of burning fossil fuels that the company received in 1959 and 1965 through its membership in the American Petroleum Institute (API), the largest U.S. oil and gas trade association.

However, further documents from the collected papers of Professor James Lovelock reveal that Shell also received direct warnings about the serious climatic risk of burning fossil fuels through the company’s own internal climate research conducted in the 1960s — research that Shell has never shared with the public.

The thrust of Lovelock’s June 1966 report, “Combustion of Fossil Fuel: Large Scale Atmospheric Effects Part 1. Climatic changes,” has previously been summarised by science historians Sébastien Dutreuil and Leah Aronowsky. DeSmog is now presenting the full report, found in Lovelock’s papers at the UK Science Museum Library and Archives, for the first time in public.

A previously unknown document from the Science Museum’s archives, “Shell Lecture Sept 1985,” features more urgent climate warnings from Lovelock 20 years after he began investigating climate change for Shell. This document, discovered by DeSmog, is also published here for the first time.

‘The Combustion of Fuel Is Responsible’

In the late summer of 1965, Lord Victor Rothschild, the 3rd Baron Rothschild, who served as chairman of Shell Research from 1961-1970, commissioned James Lovelock to produce a series of confidential reports investigating the atmospheric consequences of burning fossil fuels.

A few months earlier, Rothschild, a scientist and former British intelligence officer, had written to Lovelock, who had already been working for Shell for two years as an independent consultant, explaining that there were “many problems cooking in Shell about which we shall need your help.” Among these would be the question of whether burning fossil fuels was reshaping the Earth’s climate.

Following his 1957 invention of the “Electron Capture Detector,” a revolutionary device capable of identifying chemicals, including pollutants, at much lower levels than previous instruments, Lovelock was working part-time for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the U.S. developing ways of identifying alien life forms in space through chemical analysis of planetary atmospheres.

At Shell’s behest, the well-connected Lovelock quickly immersed himself in the subject of large-scale atmospheric pollution, consulting top atmospheric scientists around the world and absorbing the cutting-edge research of institutions such as the U.S.’s National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.

Jonathan Watts, author of the 2024 biography The Many Lives of James Lovelock, says it was “a masterstroke” of Rothschild’s to recruit Lovelock. Not only did this give Shell, “a technical advantage,” since Lovelock was the inventor of instruments that had “the greatest sensitivity to human made chemicals in the soil, in water, in air, in everything,” it also gave Shell “an information advantage because Lovelock had connections with the most advanced research organizations in the world, particularly in the U.S.,” says Watts.

Lovelock’s sharing of cutting-edge atmospheric research with Rothschild and Shell also gave the company a critical advantage on a much deeper level, Watts explains. “If you can see what’s coming down the road before anyone else, you can help to shape narratives in public opinion and you can potentially devote resources to overcoming those problems.”

For years, little was known about Lovelock’s climate research for the oil giant. In his 1979 autobiography, Lovelock divulged only that Shell Research had invited him “to consider the possible global consequences of air pollution from such causes as the ever increasing rate of combustion of fossil fuels” but gave no details of the findings he communicated to the oil company.

That changed in 2016 when Dutreuil discovered some of Lovelock’s 1960s reports for Shell on the atmospheric impacts of burning fossil fuels in the archive collection of Lovelock’s papers held at the Science Museum in London. More recently, Watts also analysed the full series of Lovelock’s reports in his biography of the scientist, who died four years ago at the age of 103.

Submitted in June 1966, Lovelock’s first instalment, “Part 1. Climatic changes,” confirmed that pollution from burning fossil fuels was most likely altering the Earth’s climate. “[T]he products of combustion may be responsible for large scale phenomena affecting the whole of the Earth’s atmosphere,” stated Lovelock, before concluding that, despite remaining uncertainties over the precise impacts of different pollutants, it was important to recognise “the almost certain fact that the climate is worsening and the probability that the combustion of fuel is responsible.”

In the memo, Lovelock described a growing scientific understanding of recent changes detected in the Earth’s atmosphere. From 1850 to 1950, scientists had documented an overall rise in global temperatures, usually attributed to a 10 to 15 percent increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), “the so-called ‘Greenhouse effect’” due to fossil fuel combustion. In the mid-1960s, however, Lovelock explained, new research was showing a fall in global temperatures, prompting investigations into whether “particulate combustion products,” caused by sulphur dioxide (SO2) pollution also from fossil fuel combustion, might “shield the surface of the Earth from incoming sunlight,” offsetting the warming effect of CO2.

During the late 1960s, fears of a new ice age competed with those of global warming. However, as Lovelock reported in his 1966 memo to Shell, both potential scenarios could be attributed to the combustion of oil, gas, and coal depending on the mix of fossil fuels burned and any steps taken to reduce pollution.

Secrecy was paramount. In the winter of November 1966, Rothschild reprimanded Lovelock for sharing information with Shell employees outside his immediate circle, and in early 1967 expressly forbade him from talking to “non Shell people” about the topic.

As described by Watts, who conducted numerous interviews with Lovelock as well as extensive research of the scientist’s papers, Lovelock produced three more reports for Shell. His second report, “Ecological Effects” dated November 1966, opened up a wholly original way of looking at the problem of atmospheric pollution, prefiguring debates about climate tipping points and boundaries of climate stability.

According to Lovelock, the atmosphere and life on Earth were inextricably linked, forming a system into which the injection “of large amounts of combustion products could reasonably be considered perturbing.” Describing this integral connection between the earth-atmosphere system, Lovelock’s report to Shell warned that even “a small perturbation” of the system could lead to “a temporary irreversible step of great magnitude.”

Lovelock’s third report, “Stock taking,” submitted in May 1967, emphasised that the consequences of burning fossil fuels were potentially “so unpleasant” as to justify further exploration and research. His fourth report, completed at the end of 1968, considered possible solutions such as geoengineering to rebalance a destabilised climate, an attempt Lovelock told Rothschild was “rash” since “the problem is very complex and long term.”

Internally, Shell confirmed the value of Lovelock’s expertise. In a letter, found by Dutreuil, Shell scientist and public relations expert Sidney Epton wrote in 1975 that Lovelock kept the company “abreast of the big picture and long-term trends (among other topics). On this subject, his advice is invaluable to us.”

Shell did not share Lovelock’s reports with the public. Instead, when the scientific consensus that burning fossil fuels was a major driver of rising global temperatures strengthened in the 1980s, Shell responded by funding the Global Climate Coalition — an industry group that pursued multimillion-dollar influence campaigns promoting climate denial and misinformation in the 1990s, with the aim of derailing U.S. ratification of the Kyoto Climate Treaty and other climate initiatives, the case alleges.

According to the plaintiffs in the London lawsuit, Shell “did not disclose to the public what it knew and took active steps to undermine the emerging scientific consensus on the causes and likely effects of anthropogenic climate change.”

“Shell was not as blatant as Exxon in pushing climate denial,” explains Kert Davies, director of special investigations at the U.S.-based Center for Climate Integrity, who has long studied climate denial. “They played their cards closer to their chest.”

“Like Exxon, Shell had a chance to be a leader in the clean energy transition,” says Davies, but instead chose “to challenge the growing scientific consensus and urgency, and slow policy momentum.”

Shell left the GCC in 1998 as public calls for action to address climate change intensified. But the company continued to cast doubt on the role of fossil fuels through organisations such as the API, and to call for the expansion of oil and gas production for the next 20 to 30 years, the lawsuit alleges.

‘The Quest for Gaia’

Lovelock’s understanding of the Earth and its atmosphere as a “living system” influenced the development of the paradigm-shifting “Gaia Hypothesis” he conceived in the 1970s with evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis. Named after the Greek goddess of the Earth — a move suggested by Lovelock’s friend and neighbour, the novelist William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies – Gaia explored the idea that life on Earth actively adapts to regulate and maintain the atmosphere to keep the planet habitable, including potentially absorbing or clearing greenhouse gas pollution.

While initially optimistic, Lovelock’s investigations would later lead him to renounce the idea that the earth-atmosphere system could absorb rising rates of greenhouse gas pollution without jeopardizing life as we know it. Instead, he demonstrated that excessive fossil fuel pollution would push the planet beyond the stable boundaries in which human life had flourished for thousands of years.

In the interim, however, Shell appears to have exploited the usefulness of Lovelock’s hypothesis for downplaying the impact of human activities on the Earth’s climate, historians say. In 1975, Lovelock and Shell’s Sidney Epton co-wrote an article, “The quest for Gaia,” for the New Scientist. The article, featured on the cover of the magazine, propelled the concept to international prominence, popularising the idea of a self-regulating Earth. According to Lovelock, Shell’s Epton was the initiator of the magazine story, and Lovelock frequently gave credit both in public and private “to Shell and to Sidney Epton for unstinting support and encouragement” of his work on the Gaia Hypothesis.

Providing funding for Lovelock’s early testing of the hypothesis, Shell would continue to publicly support Gaia for at least another 20 years. “The Gaia Hypothesis was useful to Shell,” says Dutreuil, “because it tended to make people think that the Earth could regulate pollution.”

Watts agrees, “At the very least it was very convenient for Shell to have a theory that said the Earth would regulate itself, because that was the best argument they could make against regulation by government and society.”

Since then oil companies have used this idea to undermine concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and global heating. For example, a 1995 Exxon advertorial proclaimed “The environment recovers well from both natural and man-made disasters … Mother Nature is pretty successful at taking on human nature.” Today, Shell heavily promotes the company’s investment in ‘nature-based solutions,’ such as tree -planting or the purchase of carbon credits, as evidence that it is committed to tackling the climate crisis, an approach viewed as inadequate by climate scientists.

‘No Longer a Favored Species’

Following a short pause, Lovelock’s work as a consultant for Shell resumed in 1980 and in March 1982 he submitted two more papers, “Casting Pearls before Mink” and “Comments on CO2 in the Atmosphere.” These papers have not yet been discovered but correspondence from Shell in Lovelock’s archives reveals that Shell produced memos based on this work that were intended for “upward transmission within Shell.”

An indication of their content might be found in the newly discovered 1985 “Shell Lecture,” in which Lovelock issued more urgent climate warnings than he had in the 1960s — this time anchored in the revised version of the Gaia concept.

Planetary mechanisms were “trying hard to remove CO2” declared Lovelock, warning that Gaia was not gentle but “very tough.” Whereas the Gaia of ancient mythology was said to have eaten her children, Lovelock cautioned, “we also will be eaten if we transgress too far.” Overloading the Earth’s system with pollution could be a recipe for a “disaster global in scale” he warned, advising that it would be better to treat the Earth “with the respect proper to a living planet” rather than wait “for Gaia to prove that she is alive and to show her displeasure by a change of state to one where we are no longer a favored species.”

Four years after Lovelock’s cautionary words, Shell would become a founding member of the denialist Global Climate Coalition.

Shell did not reply to a request from DeSmog for Lovelock’s papers submitted to Shell in 1982 nor comment on the confidential climate research conducted by Lovelock for the company in the 1960s.

“I think it’s long overdue that Shell’s deep investigation of the impact of its activities came to light,” says Watts. “Hopefully this court case will bring these things to light and look at the company as an institution that has over decades put its own business activities before a wider responsibility to people and the planet.”

Rebecca John is the coauthor of The Fraud of “Clean” Natural Gas: How Big Oil and Gas Created the Myth That Natural Gas Is a Climate Solution published in July 2026 by the Center for Climate Integrity, an organisation mentioned in this story.

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Previously Published on desmog

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The signals agencies pay the most attention to when buying guest posts are the loud ones: the authority score, the traffic figure, the numbers that fit in a spreadsheet. There is a subtler signal, though, one that does not appear on any dashboard, and it is arguably worth more than the loud ones. It is whether the people who read a publication already trust it.

That existing trust is easy to overlook precisely because it is invisible to the tools. But it is the difference between publishing your client’s content somewhere readers believe and publishing it somewhere they have never heard of, and that difference does real work.

Trust is expensive, and it is already paid for

Reader trust is one of the slowest, most expensive things a publication can build. It comes from showing up consistently over years, being carefully edited, standing for something recognizable, and earning a place in readers’ habits. There is no shortcut to it. A site cannot buy its audience’s trust the way it can buy traffic; it has to accumulate it, slowly, by being worth trusting for a long time.

Here is the useful part for a buyer. When a publication has already done that, its trust is available to borrow. A piece of content published on a site readers trust inherits some of that trust the moment it appears, without having to earn it independently. You are not building credibility from scratch on that placement; you are borrowing credibility the publication spent years accumulating. On an anonymous site, there is nothing to borrow, because the reader has no relationship with the site and no reason to extend any trust to what appears on it. Your content starts from zero, every time.

Readers, search engines, and AI all read the same trust

The reason this matters more than it used to is that three different audiences now read every placement, and all three respond to whether a publication is trusted and recognizable.

A reader who trusts a publication carries some of that trust into everything they read there, including a client’s piece; on a site they do not recognize, they bring none. Search engines reward established, reputable publications and have spent years getting better at distinguishing them from anonymous ones. And AI systems, which increasingly decide which sources to rely on and cite, weigh exactly this kind of credibility when they choose what to trust. What all three have in common is that they benefit from being able to tell what a publication is and whether it can be believed. A recognizable, trusted identity gives each of them something to hold onto. An anonymous network gives none of them anything.

Why a trusted site is a stronger home

This is what makes a trusted publication a better home for client content than an anonymous placement network, in a way the metrics do not capture.

A placement network, by design, has no reader trust to offer. It is a collection of sites that exist to host links, with no audience that has any relationship to them, so there is no accumulated trust for your content to inherit. The content sits in a place no one particularly believes, and it borrows nothing from its surroundings. A trusted publication is the opposite kind of environment: your content arrives somewhere the audience already has a relationship with, and it gets to stand inside that relationship rather than outside it. Two placements can carry identical metrics and offer completely different amounts of this, because one has readers who trust the site and the other does not.

You are buying borrowed trust

The quiet advantage, then, is a simple one. Publishing on a site readers already trust lends your client’s content a credibility that took the publication years to build and that no anonymous placement can provide at any price. It does not show up on a dashboard. It shows up in how the content is received, by readers, by search engines, and by the AI systems now reading alongside them.

That is worth more than it looks. A placement on a trusted publication is more than a link on a good site; it is content arriving somewhere it is already believed. A placement on an anonymous network is content arriving somewhere no one knows, hoping to be taken on its own. Over enough placements, the first is a meaningfully stronger position, and it is available to any buyer who decides that where their content lives is worth as much attention as what the metrics say about it.

The Good Men Project is a site readers already trust: an established publication with a recognizable editorial identity and an audience that has a real relationship with it, so that content published there inherits that trust instead of starting from nothing. For agencies that want their client content to land somewhere readers, search engines, and AI already recognize, The Good Men Project offers paid guest posts and bulk guest post packages. For pricing and to find out more, email info@goodmenproject.com.

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By Victoria Schneider

• A documentary explores the legacy of mining along South Africa West Coast and its impacts on coastal ecosystems and the local population.
• The West Coast, an area stretching 450 kilometers up to the Namibian border, has historically been a hotspot for diamond mining.
• Out of Mined features the voices of the Indigenous Nama peoples, fishing communities and conservationists who live with the long-term impacts of the extractive industries.
• The region is now facing a new wave of mining applications, mostly targeting heavy minerals.

Stretching 450 kilometers (280 miles) from Cape Columbine, two hours north of Cape Town, to the Orange River which marks the country’s natural border with Namibia, South Africa’s West Coast is vast, remote and sparsely populated and, moving north, characterized by a harsh, arid climate.

In the very north, not far inland, lies the Richtersveld, which is the only remaining area in South Africa where the Nama people maintain their semi-nomadic traditions. It is also home to an extraordinary range of succulents and plant diversity, some only occurring there. The Richtersveld region, parts of which were declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 2007, is a unique biodiversity hotspot and has one of the highest density of succulent species.

The region is rich not just in diamonds, but also other mineral deposits whose presence has turned the region into one of South Africa’s most intensively mined landscapes over the past century.

A new documentary, Out of Mined, examines the legacy of mining along the West Coast at a time when the region is facing a renewed interest from the mining sector for its heavy minerals, found in terrestrial reserves, but also in heavy mineral sands along the coast and as offshore deposits.

Cape Town-based director Arthur Neumeier started working on Out of Mined after social media posts about a wave of new applications for mining rights along the West Coast by the local civil society organization Protect the West Coast (PTWC) caught his attention.

“I was so blown away by how much bigger this story was than I thought initially,” Neumeier told Mongabay in a phone interview, describing the damage he saw from historical diamond mining in the Richtersveld during a visit in 2024.

Neumeier had joined the PTWC team on a trip to Alexander Bay, a former diamond-mining town on the south bank of the Orange River mouth in South Africa’s very northwestern corner, and to the Richtersveld.

Following that trip, the filmmaker set out to capture the voices of people that have been affected by diamond mining operations, interviewing fishers, Nama community members, environmental organizations, scientists, researchers and industry representatives.

Communities left behind after mines closed

The film explores how communities used to live before the mines, what changed when the companies arrived promising jobs and economic opportunities and what was left behind when the miners left.

“It was heartbreaking to hear how they got left behind after the mines closed,” Neumeier told Mongabay.

For much of the 20th century, British multinational company De Beers Group was the biggest diamond miner in the region, but sold the majority of its mining rights to the local diamond company Trans Hex in 2014. With depleting deposits and shifting market prices for diamonds, onshore mines along the West Coast have become increasingly unviable, leading to their closure.

According to Mike Schlebach, managing director of PTWC, which co-produced the film, most of De Beers’ former mines remain unrehabilitated. The film uses aerial footage to show landscapes that have been transformed by mining operations, vast areas of desert scattered with large pits from closed mines, and large mounds of mining debris.

But it isn’t just the land that was altered.

One community member interviewed in the film said the instant the diamond miners came, people’s lives changed. “The companies come, they come to mine our grounds, they give the people work. At the end of the day, there’s a period of [the term of a mining permit], when that period is over, they leave and the people don’t have work anymore.”

Through people’s stories, the film captures how mining transformed local communities that had long depended on fishing, livestock farming and the region’s natural resources like ochre.

The film showcases the landmark land claim court victory by the Richtersveld communities in 2003, recognizing the customary ownership of the Nama people and restoring 85,000 hectares (210,000 acres) of ancestral land to 4,000 tribe members. The case was regarded as a global precedent for Indigenous land rights.

However, residents interviewed in the documentary say many of the economic benefits promised through mining have failed to materialize.

Legal disputes persist

The issues Neumeier covers extend beyond the film itself, as legal disputes over environmental authorizations for mining operations along the West Coast are ongoing.

Schlebach told Mongabay that several years ago, PTWC took the diamond mining company Trans Hex to court over its environmental management program and reached an out-of-court settlement preventing the company from mining diamonds in critical biodiversity areas in and around the Olifants River Estuary.

The documentary features Marco Wentzel, the CEO of the diamond company Trans Hex, which has been mining diamonds in Namaqualand since 1965. Wentzel said that there are “a lot of big holes” along the West Coast from diamond mining. He added that, for Trans Hex, mining on land is no longer profitable: “We’re not mining on land anymore. We mine marine. The future for us will be in the other minerals, heavy minerals deeper in the ocean,” Wentzel says in the film.

According to PTWC, more than 60 applications for new mining licenses in the region have been submitted so far in 2026.

Schlebach, as well as scientists interviewed in the documentary, warn of the cumulative impacts of all the mining operations happening in the region on biodiversity, ecosystems, heritage sites and local communities.

PTWC has been advocating for a Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment of the West Coast, which would map the combined impacts of all the mining operations together. “In order for the government to play the responsible role that it should play, they need to take a proper look at how best to utilize the West Coast, and a strategic environmental assessment is a great way to get that done,” Schlebach said.

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Cite this article

Victoria Schneider (2026). Documentary captures impacts of diamond mining along South Africa’s West Coast. Mongabay Conservation news. DOI: https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325174

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Previously Published on news.mongabay with Creative Commons Attribution

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Most homeowners think of garage door companies as a residential service category. Most commercial property managers and facility operators think of them as something entirely separate from a different type of contractor serving a different type of need. In practice, the cleanest version of both assumptions is wrong, and the gap between them creates a common problem: property owners and managers who need quality service across both residential and commercial applications end up managing multiple vendor relationships with inconsistent results, or they default to a residential contractor for commercial work and discover through expensive experience that the two categories aren’t interchangeable.

The truth is that the best garage door service providers in most markets operate competently across both segments. Understanding what the residential and commercial categories actually demand where they overlap, where they genuinely differ, and what it means for a service provider to handle both well gives you a framework for making better decisions regardless of which side of the line your current need falls on.

The Fundamental Difference: Duty Cycle

The single most important difference between residential and commercial garage door applications isn’t the size of the door, the weight of the panels, or the horsepower of the opener though all of those differ significantly. The fundamental difference is how often the door operates, and what that frequency demands from every component in the system.

A residential garage door in a typical household opens and closes four to eight times per day. Over the course of a year, that’s roughly 1,500 to 3,000 cycles. A standard residential torsion spring rated for 10,000 cycles provides approximately three to seven years of service life at that usage rate before replacement becomes likely. An opener rated for residential duty handles that cycle count without thermal stress on its motor or mechanical wear that exceeds its design parameters.

A commercial loading dock door serving an active distribution operation might open and close thirty to fifty times per day. That same 10,000-cycle spring life is consumed in under a year of operation. An opener rated for residential duty would fail from thermal overload within weeks of operation at commercial cycle counts. Every hardware component rollers, hinges, track, cables, drums reaches its wear limits proportionally faster.

This isn’t a matter of commercial doors being higher quality in some abstract sense. It’s a matter of specification matching commercial applications that require components rated for the actual duty cycle they’ll face, and those specifications look fundamentally different from residential ones even when the door opening itself is similar in size.

What Residential Service Actually Covers

For homeowners, the range of service needs is relatively well-defined and consistent across most residential applications: new installation when replacing an aging door or building new construction, routine maintenance to extend service life and catch developing problems before they become failures, and repair service when specific components fail or the system develops problems that affect reliable operation.

The most common residential repair calls cluster around a predictable set of failure modes: torsion spring breakage (which is the component most likely to fail suddenly and completely, and which should only be replaced by a trained technician given the stored energy involved), lift cable fraying or breakage, opener motor failure or electronic malfunction, roller and hinge wear that creates noise and operational roughness, track misalignment from impact or gradual shifting, and weather seal failure that allows water, air, and pests to enter.

A well-equipped residential garage door company carries the most common spring sizes, cable gauges, roller types, and opener components in their service vehicles for same-day repair capability on the majority of service calls. They maintain familiarity with the most common residential product lines in their service area, which means they can identify components, locate replacements efficiently, and resolve most problems without multiple return visits for parts.

The residential service relationship that provides the most value to homeowners is one that extends beyond reactive repair to include preventive maintenance annual or biannual inspections that catch the cable that’s beginning to fray, the spring that’s approaching its cycle limit, the weather seal that’s lost its sealing ability, before those conditions produce the emergency call on the coldest morning of the year.

What Commercial Service Actually Requires

Commercial garage door service is a categorically more complex service domain, and providers who are excellent residential technicians are not automatically competent commercial service providers. The gap shows up in several specific areas.

Product knowledge breadth is the first requirement. Commercial garage door applications include high-cycle sectional doors for loading docks, high-speed roll-up doors for manufacturing and food service facilities, fire-rated sectional and rolling steel doors required by code in specific commercial occupancy types, cold storage doors for refrigerated and frozen warehouses, and specialty doors for cleanroom, pharmaceutical, and other environments with specific performance requirements beyond standard commercial applications. A technician who knows residential steel sectional doors well but has never serviced a high-speed roll-up or a fire-rated door is operating outside their competency when called to service those products.

Compliance knowledge is the second requirement. Commercial garage door installation and service intersects with building codes, fire codes, OSHA regulations, and in some cases industry-specific regulatory requirements in ways that residential work rarely does. Fire-rated doors require periodic testing documentation to maintain their code compliance. Someone has to know what testing is required, how to perform it correctly, and how to document it in a form that satisfies the authority having jurisdiction. A provider without commercial compliance knowledge doesn’t know what they don’t know in this area.

Emergency response capability matters more in commercial contexts than in residential ones. A homeowner whose garage door fails on a Saturday morning has an inconvenience. A facility whose dock door fails during a shift has an operational disruption with productivity and potentially revenue implications. Commercial clients need providers with genuine emergency response capability not a next-day callback but a same-day, same-shift response to failures that affect operations.

The parts inventory required to support commercial service is substantially broader than what’s needed for residential work. Commercial springs in the range of sizes needed to service doors of different widths and weights, commercial opener components for the range of operators used in different commercial applications, high-speed door components, fire door hardware carrying this inventory requires investment and commitment to the commercial category that not every garage door company makes.

Finding a Provider Who Handles Both Well

For property owners and managers who need reliable service across both residential and commercial applications whether because they own both residential and commercial real estate, manage mixed-use properties, or simply want one trusted vendor relationship for all their door service needs the relevant question is what distinguishes providers who genuinely handle both from those who claim to and don’t.

The clearest indicator is operational history. A company that has been providing both residential and commercial garage door service in a market for five or more years has, by definition, built the technical knowledge, parts inventory, and trained staff that both categories require. They’ve encountered the full range of residential failure modes and the full range of commercial applications present in their market, and they’ve invested in the capability to address them. That track record is verifiable through the tenure of their business presence, through references from both residential and commercial clients, and through their demonstrated ability to answer specific technical questions about commercial applications without deflecting to generalities.

For Nebraska property owners and managers, the practical question of who to trust with both residential and commercial door service is answered by evaluating who has genuinely invested in the breadth of capability that both categories demand. Providers offering comprehensive residential and commercial door services that reflect real investment in technical training, parts inventory depth, and service infrastructure across both categories are the ones worth establishing ongoing service relationships with not because it’s convenient to use one vendor, but because the consistency of quality and accountability that comes with a trusted, established relationship produces better outcomes than managing multiple vendor relationships with variable quality.

Why Regional Knowledge Matters in Nebraska Specifically

Nebraska’s climate creates conditions that affect garage door system performance in ways that aren’t apparent to service providers without regional experience. The combination of temperature extremes sub-zero winters and triple-digit summers freeze-thaw cycling through the transitional seasons, significant hail exposure during storm season, and sustained wind exposure that exceeds what most regions experience creates a specific environmental profile that shapes which products hold up well, which failure modes are most common, and what maintenance practices matter most.

For commercial facilities, Nebraska’s climate adds specific requirements beyond standard commercial specification. Dock doors need seals that perform through the full temperature range without hardening and losing effectiveness in extreme cold or degrading in extreme heat. High-speed doors in facilities that cycle between indoor and outdoor temperature environments need hardware rated for the thermal stress that produces. Facilities with refrigerated storage need door systems that manage condensation and temperature differential effectively to maintain energy efficiency.

For residential applications, the Nebraska climate means spring specifications that account for cold-weather brittleness, lubricants rated for the actual temperature range the system faces rather than standard conditions, and maintenance schedules that address the specific stresses that Midwest winters and storm seasons create.

Providers with genuine regional experience know these requirements without needing to be walked through them; they’re built into the recommendations and specifications the provider brings to every job because they’ve been built through years of observing what works and what doesn’t in these specific conditions.

Raynor Garage Doors of Central Nebraska represents exactly this kind of regional expertise a provider whose service capability has been built around the specific demands of central Nebraska’s climate, property types, and operational requirements, giving both residential homeowners and commercial facility managers access to service knowledge that’s genuinely calibrated to the conditions their door systems face rather than generic expertise applied without regional adjustment.

The Maintenance Equation Across Both Sectors

One principle holds across residential and commercial garage door service with equal force: preventive maintenance produces dramatically better outcomes in cost, reliability, and service life than reactive repair.

For residential applications, the math is straightforward. An annual maintenance visit that catches a spring approaching its cycle limit, a cable showing early fraying, and a bottom seal that’s lost its sealing ability costs significantly less than the emergency weekend service call that those failures eventually produce, plus the cascade of secondary problems that deferred maintenance creates.

For commercial applications, the math includes factors that don’t appear in residential calculations. Unplanned dock door failures during operating hours create productivity losses that dwarf the cost of the repair itself. In refrigerated storage facilities, a door failure that compromises the cold chain can damage inventory worth many times the cost of the door system’s entire replacement. Fire door failures that are discovered during an inspection rather than discovered through their compliance status can trigger code enforcement actions with significant cost and operational implications.

Documented preventive maintenance programs in commercial facilities have insurance value beyond their direct operational benefits; some commercial property and operations insurance policies specifically account for documented maintenance programs in their risk assessment and premium calculations. A provider who maintains service records and can produce documentation of maintenance history on demand is providing a compliance and risk management resource that goes beyond the physical maintenance work itself.

The consistent thread across residential and commercial applications is that the value of quality garage door service extends well beyond the moment of the service call. Choosing providers with the capability, regional knowledge, and commitment to both residential and commercial work that these applications deserve is what determines whether that extended value is actually realized.

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Most people expect a healthy relationship to fix everything.

Including the bedroom.

And in some ways it does. But in ways that are far more complicated, more surprising, and more emotionally revealing than anyone prepares you for.

What Nobody Says About Intimacy and Emotional Safety

There is a version of physical intimacy that exists in unhealthy relationships that is genuinely intense.

The anxiety, the uncertainty, the constant low-grade fear of losing someone — all of it creates a kind of electric charge that shows up in physical intimacy as urgency. As hunger. As the kind of intensity that gets confused for passion but is really just the body expressing its own desperation.

And then a healthy relationship arrives. Safe. Consistent. Emotionally present.

And the intensity changes. Not disappears — changes. And for a lot of people that change is disorienting in ways they didn’t anticipate and feel genuinely embarrassed to admit.

Understanding why intimacy shifts inside healthy love — and what those shifts actually mean — is one of the most honest conversations about relationships that almost never happens.

1. Intimacy Becomes Vulnerable in a Way It Never Was Before

In relationships built on anxiety and uncertainty, physical intimacy has a kind of armor around it.

There is performance in it. A version of self being presented rather than the actual self showing up. And performance, whatever its limitations, offers protection. The real person stays slightly behind the performance, safe from being fully seen.

In a healthy relationship, that armor starts to come off. And that is genuinely terrifying before it becomes genuinely beautiful.

When someone actually knows the full person — the insecurities, the history, the unpolished reality of who someone is — physical intimacy stops being something that can be hidden behind. It becomes one of the most exposed experiences possible. Because the person on the other side of it actually sees everything.

This is why some people find that physical intimacy feels more vulnerable, more emotionally loaded, sometimes even more uncomfortable in healthy relationships than it ever did in unhealthy ones.

It is not because something is wrong. It is because something is finally real. And real, after years of performance, takes adjustment.

2. Frequency Matters Less Than It Used To

In relationships where love felt conditional or uncertain, physical intimacy often carried a measuring function.

It was used, consciously or not, as evidence. Evidence of desire, of security, of being chosen. The frequency of it became a proxy for how loved someone felt. And so frequency mattered enormously — not because of the physical experience itself but because of what it was standing in for.

In a healthy relationship, that measuring function slowly dissolves.

Because the evidence of being loved stops being concentrated in physical intimacy and starts being distributed across the entire relationship. In the consistency of showing up. In the way conflict gets repaired. In the daily texture of being genuinely known and accepted.

When love stops being something that needs to be proven through physical frequency, frequency naturally regulates itself around genuine desire rather than anxiety. And genuine desire — desire that isn’t driven by fear or insecurity — has a different rhythm than the urgency of emotional need wearing physical clothing.

This shift surprises people. Some interpret it as the relationship cooling or the attraction fading. It is usually neither. It is just intimacy finding its natural level when it no longer has to carry the weight of every unmet emotional need in the relationship.

3. Communication About It Becomes Both Easier and Harder

In unhealthy relationships, talking about physical intimacy is almost impossible.

Too much is at stake. Too much ego and insecurity and fear of rejection woven into every conversation about it. So people don’t talk. They guess. They make assumptions. They perform satisfaction rather than risk the vulnerability of honesty.

In a healthy relationship, the safety exists to actually talk about it. And that is simultaneously a relief and an entirely new kind of uncomfortable.

Because talking honestly about physical intimacy requires a vulnerability that even emotionally open people find confronting. It requires saying out loud what is wanted, what isn’t working, what feels good and what doesn’t — to someone who actually knows and cares about the full person.

These are the conversations that healthy relationships make possible but that still feel genuinely difficult:

— Saying what is actually wanted without fear of judgment or rejection
— Expressing when something isn’t working without it becoming a referendum on the relationship
— Being honest about changes in desire without the other person interpreting it as personal rejection
— Asking for something new without the vulnerability of the ask feeling overwhelming

The safety of a healthy relationship makes these conversations possible. The intimacy of a healthy relationship makes them feel more exposed than ever. Both things are true at the same time.

4. Your Own Relationship With Your Body Changes

This one is the most unexpected shift on the list for most people.

In relationships where love felt conditional, there was often a specific kind of self-monitoring that happened around physical intimacy. A hyperawareness of the body. Of how it looked, how it performed, whether it was enough, whether it measured up to some imagined standard.

That monitoring is exhausting. And it is also a significant barrier to genuine physical presence. It is very difficult to be fully present in an intimate moment while simultaneously evaluating the body from the outside.

In a healthy relationship — where acceptance is not conditional, where the whole person is genuinely valued — that monitoring slowly quiets.

Not immediately. Not completely. The habits of self-criticism that took years to build do not dissolve in months. But there is a gradual shift toward actually inhabiting the body rather than observing it from a critical distance.

And that shift changes the physical experience of intimacy in ways that are difficult to describe but immediately recognizable. Presence replaces performance. Sensation becomes more available when the mental commentary quiets. The body stops being something to manage and starts being something to actually live in.

5. It Becomes a Reflection of Everything Else in the Relationship

This is the most honest thing that can be said about physical intimacy in a healthy relationship.

It stops being its own separate thing. It becomes deeply connected to everything else that is happening between two people — the quality of communication, the presence of unresolved tension, the emotional closeness or distance of any given week.

In unhealthy relationships, physical intimacy can exist in a kind of sealed compartment. Everything else can be falling apart while physical connection continues, because the physical is being used to avoid dealing with everything else.

In a healthy relationship, that compartmentalization stops working. The physical intimacy starts to reflect the emotional reality of the relationship with an honesty that cannot be overridden.

When things are genuinely good — when communication is open, when both people feel seen and valued, when there is real emotional closeness — physical intimacy tends to reflect that. When there is unresolved tension, when something is going unsaid, when emotional distance has crept in — the physical reflects that too.

This is not a problem. It is actually one of the most useful things about intimacy in a healthy relationship. It becomes a kind of honest feedback about where the relationship actually is. An indicator that cannot be faked or managed.

Learning to read that feedback — rather than being confused or threatened by it — is one of the quieter skills of sustaining genuine intimacy over the long term.

Physical intimacy in a healthy relationship is not what movies suggest it will be.

It is messier, more vulnerable, more emotionally connected, and ultimately more real than anything that existed before it.

And real, even when it is complicated, is always worth choosing over the performance it replaces.

This post was previously published on medium.com.

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When temperatures drop, a reliable furnace isn’t a luxury—it’s essential. But furnaces rarely fail without sending a few signals first. Recognizing common warning signs early can help you avoid a no-heat emergency, prevent damage to your system, and keep energy bills in check. This article explains what to watch for, simple checks you can perform safely, when it’s time to call a professional, how to choose a trustworthy repair provider, and the maintenance steps that reduce the risk of mid-winter breakdowns. Use this as a practical guide to make steady, confident decisions if your heating starts acting up.

Early Warning Signs You Shouldn’t Ignore

Be alert to changes in sound, smell, and performance. Persistent banging, scraping, or high-pitched squealing often signals a mechanical problem, while a rumbling or booming noise at startup could point to delayed ignition. Uneven heating—rooms that never reach set temperature or big temperature swings—may indicate airflow restrictions or thermostat issues. Short cycling (the furnace turns on and off frequently) wastes energy and can stem from overheating, dirty filters, or control problems. If you suspect an issue beyond basic upkeep, it’s wise to schedule professional help through a reliable Furnace repair service before minor symptoms turn into a breakdown.

Odors can also reveal trouble. A brief dusty smell at first seasonal startup is normal as dust burns off. But a persistent burning or electrical odor could signal overheating or wiring issues. A rotten-egg smell requires immediate action—leave your home and contact your gas utility, as this can indicate a gas leak. Finally, an unexplained increase in your energy bill without a change in usage often points to efficiency problems that a technician should assess.

Quick Checks You Can Safely Try

Before you call, a few simple checks may resolve easy-to-fix issues. First, verify the thermostat settings: confirm it’s on “Heat,” the set temperature is above room temperature, and replace thermostat batteries if applicable. Next, check your air filter. A clogged filter restricts airflow, can cause overheating and short cycling, and reduces comfort. Replace it if it’s dirty; most homes benefit from monthly checks during heavy heating use. Also confirm that supply vents are open and not blocked by furniture or rugs.

Inspect the circuit breaker and furnace switch. Make sure the furnace’s dedicated breaker hasn’t tripped and that the switch near the unit (it often looks like a regular light switch) is set to On. If you have a high-efficiency furnace with PVC intake/exhaust pipes exiting an exterior wall, remove leaves, snow, or debris that might be blocking airflow outside. For units with a pilot light, follow the manufacturer’s instructions precisely if it’s gone out—never attempt DIY ignition repairs beyond the steps outlined in the manual. If you smell gas or feel unsure at any step, stop and contact a professional.

When It’s Time to Call a Pro

Some symptoms warrant a prompt service visit. Repeated short cycling after you’ve changed the filter, loud metallic noises, persistent burning smells, or frequent breaker trips indicate a deeper issue. If the blower runs constantly but the air is cool, or if the furnace starts but shuts down within minutes, professional diagnostics are needed. Any suspected carbon monoxide problem—such as a CO alarm sounding, sooty streaks around the furnace, or unexplained headaches and nausea—requires immediate evacuation and emergency assistance.

Age matters, too. Furnaces typically last 15 to 20 years with proper care. As units age, repair frequency can increase, and efficiency can drop. A technician can help you weigh repair versus replacement when costs mount or major components fail. Even if your system runs, running it in a compromised state can shorten its lifespan and raise utility costs, so don’t delay an expert assessment if basic checks don’t resolve the issue.

How to Choose a Reputable Repair Provider

Look for clear communication and professional credentials. Seek companies that explain their diagnostic process, provide written estimates, and are transparent about parts and labor. Established providers should be licensed where required and carry appropriate insurance. Technicians with recognized training on modern gas furnaces and safety controls add confidence that complex issues—like ignition systems, flame sensors, and heat exchangers—are handled correctly.

Responsiveness and service scope matter, especially in the heating season. Ask about same-day or after-hours availability for no-heat situations, and whether the company services your furnace brand. Read recent customer feedback to gauge punctuality, cleanliness, and follow-through. Finally, evaluate how they address preventive care. Providers who discuss maintenance and operating tips usually focus on long-term system health rather than quick fixes, which benefits you through better comfort and fewer surprises.

Maintenance Habits That Prevent Breakdowns

Consistent upkeep supports safe, efficient operation. Replace or clean filters regularly—monthly checks are a good rule of thumb during peak use. Keep the area around the furnace clear to ensure proper airflow and to reduce fire risk. If you have a combustion-air intake, confirm it stays unobstructed. For high-efficiency furnaces, ensure condensate drains are clear; pooled water or frequent lockouts may point to drainage problems a technician should inspect.

Schedule professional maintenance annually before heavy use. A tune-up typically includes safety checks, cleaning burners and flame sensors, inspecting the heat exchanger, verifying gas pressure and ignition, checking electrical connections, lubricating moving parts where applicable, and confirming proper temperature rise and airflow. These steps catch small issues early, improve efficiency, and help maintain safe operation. Pair tune-ups with a well-calibrated programmable or smart thermostat and consistent home weatherization—sealing drafts, adding insulation, and maintaining ductwork—to reduce strain on the system and keep rooms evenly heated.

Staying warm shouldn’t be a guessing game. By learning the early warning signs, performing a few safe checks, and knowing when to bring in a professional, you protect your comfort and your equipment. Take a proactive approach: change filters on schedule, keep vents open and clear, and plan annual tune-ups before the first cold snap. If performance still slips, don’t wait for a full outage—timely diagnostics and repairs restore efficiency, reduce operating costs, and help your furnace make it through the season reliably.

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By Jane Racey Gleeson

The University of Michigan Health Lung Transplant program recently celebrated its successful 1,000th transplant patient, representing a significant landmark not only for the hospital, but in the world of lung transplants, experts explain.

“This milestone reflects the culture and history behind University of Michigan Health being at the forefront of a number of innovative fields,” said the program’s medical director, Dennis Lyu, M.D.

“It reflects our commitment to making sure we’re doing good things and is an achievement we can be proud of.”

Surgical director, Rishindra Reddy, M.D., even performed the 499th lung transplant at U-M Health almost 17 years ago to the day.

“It’s interesting to be here today as the transplant surgical director and to have helped with the 1,000th transplant. It’s been a great privilege to be a part of the program for these important milestones and to watch the program evolve and grow,” said Reddy.

Here, Lyu and Reddy answer important questions about lung transplantation advancements and how further development of these programs ensures more patients receive the life saving care they need.

What would is the biggest advancement in lung transplantation?

Lyu: One of the biggest advancements in lung transplantation is the way donor lungs are preserved.

In the past, donor lungs would be preserved by being stored on ice for no longer than six hours.

We would then have to get recipient patients to the operating room very quickly, performing many transplants in the middle of the night or having to cancel other cases to get the lung transplanted within the given timeframe.

Today, we use a refrigeration system in which the donor lungs are stored in a temperature-controlled cooler (6 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit) for up to 24 hours.

Our clinical trials have included treatment and prevention of infections after transplant, and investigations of stem cells found in transplanted lungs that could play a role in preventing or causing scarring (chronic rejection) of the new lungs.

-Dennis Lyu, M.D.

This allows us greater control over scheduling, which benefits recipients and the surgical team.

Reddy: On the procurement side of transplant, we are beginning to use donation after circulatory death donors, or patients whose organs are recovered for transplant after the heart and breathing have stopped.

This allows us to access more organs and has helped to increase the number of lung transplants from approximately 2,000 to 3,500 annually in the United States over the past 5 to 10 years.

What are the major challenges involved with lung transplants?

Lyu: One of the biggest challenges has been accepting viable lungs for transplant.

In the past, a lung might have been passed over as unsuitable due to unclear or marginal quality.

Today, we’re able to evaluate the donor lung via ex vivo lung perfusion, or EVLP, a process that allows us to optimize the function of suboptimal lungs that typically would not be accepted for transplantation.

This permits us to optimize these lungs in an “incubator” and then transplant them into individuals on the waitlist and improve patient outcomes.

Reddy: Historically, less than 20% of donor lungs were usable.

With DCD donors and EVLP, we are increasing that percentage to allow us access to more lungs to get people off the waiting list.

Another future opportunity is xenotransplantation, which is the ability to use non-human lungs that have been genetically modified to place into humans.

This proof-of-concept work is being done at major health centers with pig lungs and will be revolutionizing lung transplantation in the next couple of years.

What should you look for when deciding where to have a lung transplant?

Reddy: Patients needing a lung transplant should consider a high-volume center with a consistent team that performs more than 20 lung transplants each year, because experience makes a difference in terms of quality of outcomes.

Studies have shown that patients transplanted at high-volume centers (greater than 20 lung transplants a year) have better patient survival rates than those transplanted at low volume centers (fewer than 20 lung transplants a year).

We are beginning to use donation after circulatory death donors, or patients whose organs are recovered for transplant after the heart and breathing have stopped.

-Rishindra Reddy, M.D.

Lyu: Our Lung Transplant program provides the highest level of patient-centered care at every point — from before, during and post-transplant.

Our team approach provides multiple touch points of learning about the process to help inform the patients, starting with the pulmonologist and the surgeon.

But we also have coordinators, nurses, social workers and peer mentoring groups for patients and donors — a whole team of professionals at multiple levels providing information.

What strengths should a lung transplant program/team should exhibit?

Lyu: For our team, we’re committed to helping patients delay the need for lung transplantation through our advanced lung disease therapies for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, interstitial lung disease and other very rare lung diseases.

For example, we manage the largest group of patients with interstitial lung disease in the state, offering new therapies that have shown real improvement in the past 10 years.

We’re able to help treat the patient’s lung disease, working with their local providers and ultimately use lung transplant if needed.

Reddy: The diverse breadth of clinical expertise at University of Michigan Health is what contributes to the strength of our lung transplant program here.

We have a very strong thoracic surgery program outside of lung transplant, with expertise in all aspects of managing end-stage lung disease with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, and lung volume reduction surgery.

Similarly, our broad-based pulmonary group includes a growing interventional pulmonary practice that can help with biopsies, endobronchial valves and other endoscopic procedures.

Our intensive care unit teams excel at taking care of the sickest patients in the hospital and across the country.

Another strength has always been in the ECMO lab and the artificial lung work that has been pioneered by our team of experts who are on the cutting edge of treatment as it relates to end-stage lung disease.

What research and/or clinical trials is the Lung Transplant program involved with?

Lyu: Our clinical trials have included treatment and prevention of infections after transplant, and investigations of stem cells found in transplanted lungs that could play a role in preventing or causing scarring (chronic rejection) of the new lungs.

We are currently part of a multi-centered randomized control trial with a drug that can slow the development of chronic rejection.

What future developments are you most excited about for lung transplants?

Reddy: I’m looking forward to growing our program again to be a leader nationally and internationally in lung transplant, in terms of clinical volume and our research contribution — and being on the cutting edge of how we improve and deliver care to patients in the state of Michigan and beyond.

Our goal, as always, is to be a robust program that cares for as many patients as possible and that provides the foundational research and discoveries to make this whole process better for everyone.

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Previously Published on michiganmedicine.org with Creative Commons License

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By Alli Lindenberg

Walking through the halls of Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church in Robeson County, you see drawings of cats with buttons and vowel worksheets on the walls. In the classrooms down the hall, local teachers are addressing summer learning loss by guiding children through literacy programming.

Last year was the church’s first year hosting a summer literacy camp through the Summer Literacy Initiative (SLI). Created by The Duke Endowment in 2012, SLI is a network of partners that provide evidence-informed summer reading camps for rising first through third graders with certified Science of Reading teachers. In the summer of 2026, SLI had sites across 35 rural communities in North Carolina.

“We connect church to community, and so I see this as an outreach and a ministry of the church, and it works in a church because the church is a connector in rural communities,” said Camille Roddy, the SLI coordinator for the Western North Carolina Conference of United Methodist Churches.

Serving a region that’s home to the Lumbee Tribe, the Public Schools of Robeson County have an estimated nearly 21,000 students. Pleasant Grove was one of three SLI sites in Robeson County this year and served 28 children.

The literacy camp runs for five weeks and is staffed by certified teachers from nearby elementary schools. Programming runs from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and the children are provided breakfast before starting morning instructional rotations, lunch, and recess, followed by a STEM activity in the afternoon.

While The Duke Endowment created the Summer Literacy Initiative, it has grown to include several funders who work together with statewide nonprofits and local partners to make the summer literacy camps possible.

Healthy Blue, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina’s (Blue Cross NC) Medicaid Managed Care plan, is one of the funders. Their investment reflects the reality that literacy is a foundation for lifelong health and well-being, and it reinforces Blue Cross NC’s broader commitment to helping tackle the state’s youth mental health crisis by advancing youth well-being and resilience.

Angela Boykin, Healthy Blue’s chief executive officer, visited Pleasant Grove’s camp this summer and got a firsthand look at how it is changing lives.

When we invest in children, we’re investing in healthier families, stronger communities, and opportunities that can last for generations.

— Angela Boykin, CEO of Healthy Blue

Cultural connections

Janet Locklear, the literacy camp’s site director, gave Boykin and her colleagues a tour of the camp and shared stories of connection and impact from the experience so far.

Dangling from her neck, directly over her heart, Locklear wears a handmade necklace with a wooden button in the center. She explained that the necklace is actually a button yoyo, a folk craft passed down through generations of families.

“It came from great-grandparents, and they called it a zuzu,” said Locklear.

The curriculum for the camp revolves around one book a week. Earlier in the summer, the children read “Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons” by Eric Litwin and participated in several activities inspired by the story, including making button yoyos.

“The kids had a ball making them,” Locklear shared.

More recently, the children read “Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story,” by Kevin Noble Maillard. On the day we visited the camp, they were preparing for their family engagement night that evening where the children and their families made fry bread together at the church.

“Literacy is about so much more than loving books. If little ones can read, they can be empowered to do so much more,” said Boykin.

For their community, literacy is also about connection and tradition, Locklear explained. An estimated 90% of the children enrolled in camp are part of the Lumbee Tribe. Locklear is part Lumbee and being able to share the generational knowledge and traditions of the tribe through the literacy camp has been impactful.

Centered around the Lumber River, the Lumbee Tribe is the largest Indigenous nation east of the Mississippi River with more than 50,000 enrolled members. In late 2025, the tribe secured full federal recognition.

During the last week of camp, the children read “Powwow Day,” by Traci Sorell and took a field trip to the Lumbee Tribe Cultural Center. Soon they will take a test to assess what they learned this summer and move into the school year further along on their literacy journey.

Locklear hopes they leave the camp with a renewed sense of hope and confidence.

“All we’re trying to do is give them a love for learning,” she said. “We just want to let them know they are loved and they can do it.”

Editor’s note: The Duke Endowment and Blue Cross NC support the work of EdNC.

This article first appeared on EdNC and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Previously Published on ednc.org with Creative Commons License

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There’s a particular kind of exhaustion that comes with chronic acne. Not just the physical discomfort of active breakouts, but the accumulated frustration of months or years of trying products that work partially, or temporarily, or not at all and the quiet anxiety that comes with never quite knowing what the next week’s skin is going to look like. Most people dealing with persistent acne have spent more money on cleansers, serums, spot treatments, and prescription topicals than they’d like to calculate, with results that trail consistently behind what the packaging promised.

The problem, in most of these cases, isn’t that the person hasn’t tried hard enough or hasn’t found the right drugstore product. The problem is that over-the-counter acne treatment is a surface-level tool being applied to a condition that, in its moderate to severe forms, has causes that operate well below the surface. Understanding what’s actually driving the acne and what professional treatment does that home treatment can’t is what finally changes the equation.

What’s Actually Causing the Breakouts

Acne is not a single condition with a single cause. It’s the clinical output of several interacting biological processes, and the relative contribution of each varies significantly between individuals. Effective treatment depends on identifying which mechanisms are dominant in your specific case, not applying a generic protocol that addresses the average patient rather than your actual skin.

Excess Sebum Production

Sebaceous glands, the oil-producing glands associated with hair follicles, produce sebum under the influence of androgens, the hormone class that includes testosterone and its derivatives. When sebaceous gland activity is elevated, either because of hormonal fluctuation or because of intrinsic gland hypersensitivity to normal androgen levels, the result is excess sebum in the follicular canal. Excess sebum is not itself the cause of acne. Plenty of people with oily skin don’t break out but it creates the environment in which the other acne-causing factors operate more aggressively.

Follicular Hyperkeratinization

The follicular canal is normally lined with epithelial cells that shed regularly and exit the follicle with sebum. In acne-prone skin, this shedding process is disrupted; cells accumulate in the follicular canal and form the microcomedone that precedes every visible acne lesion. Microcomedones are invisible to the naked eye and develop weeks before the lesion they precede becomes apparent on the skin surface. By the time a breakout is visible, the process that produced it started well in advance.

This is one reason why reactive acne treatment applying spot treatment to a visible pimple consistently underperforms. The lesion you’re treating is the end stage of a process that started much earlier. Effective acne treatment has to interrupt that process upstream, before the microcomedone develops, not after the resulting breakout has already appeared on the surface.

Cutibacterium Acnes Colonization

Cutibacterium acnes formerly known as Propionibacterium acnes is a bacterium that naturally inhabits the anaerobic environment of the follicular canal. In skin with elevated sebum production and follicular hyperkeratinization, C. acnes proliferates more aggressively than in balanced skin, producing metabolic byproducts that trigger inflammatory responses and contribute to the rupture of follicular walls that produces the deeper, more painful inflammatory acne lesions.

C. acnes is a normal skin resident, not a pathogen in the conventional sense; it becomes a problem when the conditions in the follicle allow it to overgrow. Treatments that target C. acnes without addressing the sebum excess and follicular hyperkeratinization that allow it to proliferate are treating a symptom of an underlying imbalance rather than the imbalance itself.

Inflammation

Inflammation is present in acne lesions from the earliest stages of formation not just in the visible pustules and nodules that are obviously inflammatory, but in the microcomedone stage that precedes them. The inflammatory response in acne involves multiple pathways, produces the redness, swelling, and pain of active lesions, drives the tissue damage that leads to post-acne scarring, and in chronic acne creates a background level of skin inflammation that makes the skin more reactive overall.

Controlling inflammation is not secondary to treating the other acne factors; it’s central to both resolving active lesions faster and preventing the tissue damage that produces the scarring that persists long after the breakout cycle itself has been controlled.

Why Over-the-Counter Products Fall Short in Moderate to Severe Acne

Over-the-counter acne products are not without value. Benzoyl peroxide is an effective antimicrobial that reduces C. acnes colonization. Salicylic acid is a lipophilic beta-hydroxy acid that penetrates the follicular canal and helps normalize the follicular epithelial shedding process. Adapalene, now available without prescription in reduced concentrations, is a retinoid that addresses follicular hyperkeratinization. These are legitimate therapeutic ingredients that produce real results in mild acne.

The limitations are equally real. Over-the-counter concentrations are constrained below what clinical evidence shows to be maximally effective. The delivery systems, mostly aqueous gels and lotions, are less sophisticated than the prescription formulations that optimize penetration and bioavailability of the active ingredients. The products work on the follicular surface but can’t reach the deeper structural changes in sebaceous gland activity that drive moderate to severe cases. And they address individual components of the acne mechanism in isolation rather than in the coordinated multi-mechanism approach that produces the most durable results in persistent acne.

For mild, occasional breakouts in people with otherwise balanced skin, OTC products are often sufficient. For the person who has been using them consistently for months or years without achieving the control they want, the honest conclusion is that OTC treatment has reached the ceiling of what it can accomplish for their particular presentation.

What Professional Acne Treatment Actually Does

Professional acne treatment isn’t a stronger version of drugstore treatment. It’s a fundamentally different approach that addresses the condition at multiple levels simultaneously, using tools and protocols that aren’t available in any consumer product format.

Medical-Grade Chemical Peels

Medical-grade chemical peels for acne use active acid concentrations and formulation chemistry that go well beyond what consumer products can legally contain. Salicylic acid peels at clinical concentrations penetrate deeply into the follicular canal, dissolving the cellular debris and excess sebum that form microcomedones and comedones at a depth and efficiency that topical products can’t approach. Glycolic acid peels accelerate epidermal turnover, normalizing the desquamation process that follicular hyperkeratinization disrupts. Combination peel formulations address multiple targets simultaneously C. acnes colonization, follicular plugging, surface inflammation, and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation in a single treatment.

A properly structured peel series typically six treatments spaced two to four weeks apart, adjusted based on the skin’s response produces progressive improvement that accumulates across sessions. Each peel addresses the current microcomedone load while also shifting the follicular environment toward a state less conducive to new comedone formation. The results are qualitatively different from what topical treatment alone achieves, both in the depth of improvement and in the durability of the outcome.

Laser and Light-Based Treatments

The laser and light technology available for acne treatment at professional clinics addresses targets that no topical treatment can reach.

Blue light therapy specific wavelengths in the 405 to 420nm range targets the porphyrins produced by C. acnes as metabolic byproducts, generating reactive oxygen species that destroy the bacteria without antibiotic resistance risk and without systemic side effects. Blue light treatment reduces inflammatory acne lesion counts significantly in clinical trials and is particularly appropriate for patients who need to reduce bacterial load without adding topical or oral antibiotics.

Intense pulsed light treatment in appropriate parameters reduces sebaceous gland activity through selective thermal targeting of the gland tissue. Reducing sebum production at its source rather than just managing its consequences at the follicular surface addresses one of the fundamental drivers of acne recurrence in a way that topical treatment cannot.

Nd:YAG laser treatment at 1064nm has demonstrated effectiveness across all skin tones for active inflammatory acne, addressing both the inflammatory component and early scarring without the risk of adverse pigmentation that shorter-wavelength laser and light treatments carry in darker skin types. For patients with skin of color who have limited options in the light-based treatment category due to risk profiles of other modalities, Nd:YAG laser is a particularly important tool.

The Integration Advantage

The most significant advantage of professional acne treatment over consumer product protocols isn’t any single clinical tool, it’s the ability to integrate multiple treatment modalities in a coordinated protocol that addresses the several mechanisms of acne simultaneously.

Access to specialized acne care for clearer-looking skin from a qualified medical aesthetics provider means working with practitioners who can assess which mechanisms are dominant in your specific presentation, select the clinical tools most appropriate for those mechanisms and your skin type, coordinate prescription topicals with in-office procedures for synergistic effect, and adjust the protocol based on how your skin actually responds not apply a generic protocol designed for the average patient regardless of whether it matches your individual situation.

Post-Acne Scarring: The Problem That Outlasts the Breakouts

For many people who’ve dealt with moderate to severe acne, controlling active breakouts is only part of the problem. The scarring left behind post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation in lighter-presenting cases, textural scarring in more severe ones can persist for years after the active acne is controlled, and it doesn’t respond to acne-specific treatments because the biology involved is fundamentally different.

Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation the flat, discolored marks that follow inflammatory acne lesions results from melanin overproduction in the healing response. It responds to treatments that normalize melanin production and accelerate the replacement of pigmented cells with non-pigmented ones: specific chemical peel formulations, retinoids, niacinamide, and in appropriate skin types, laser and light treatments that target melanin specifically.

Textural acne scarring atrophic scars in the ice-pick, boxcar, and rolling scar morphologies results from tissue loss during the inflammatory healing process and doesn’t respond to topical treatment because the structural deficit can’t be addressed at the surface level. Effective treatment of atrophic acne scarring uses techniques that stimulate new collagen production in the dermis to fill the structural deficit: fractional laser resurfacing, radiofrequency microneedling, subcision for tethered rolling scars, and in appropriate cases, filler treatment of specific scar morphologies.

Most people with post-acne scarring have a combination of scar types that respond to different treatment approaches, which is why professional assessment before treatment is the prerequisite for an effective protocol rather than an optional preliminary.

Finding the Right Clinical Setting

Professional acne treatment is medical treatment, and the clinical setting matters as much as the treatment modalities available. Qualified practitioners registered nurses with aesthetic medicine training, nurse practitioners, and physicians specializing in dermatology or medical aesthetics bring both the clinical assessment skills to accurately characterize your acne presentation and the treatment knowledge to build the protocol most likely to produce the outcome you’re looking for.

A visit to a reputable med spa clinic staffed by qualified medical practitioners gives you access to a treatment environment that combines clinical rigor with the aesthetic medicine specialization that acne treatment requires. The consultation should include a thorough skin assessment, photography for baseline documentation and progress tracking, an honest discussion of expected outcomes and realistic timelines, and a treatment plan specific to your presentation, not a menu of available services from which you’re asked to select without clinical guidance.

What a Realistic Timeline Looks Like

This is worth being direct about, because the gap between patient expectations and clinical reality on treatment timelines is one of the most common sources of premature treatment abandonment stopping a protocol that was working before it had time to complete its effect.

Initial improvement in active breakout frequency and severity is typically visible within four to six weeks of beginning a professional treatment protocol. Significant improvement, the kind that changes how you experience your skin day to day, typically takes three to six months of consistent treatment. Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation fades progressively over three to six months as treated cells turn over. Textural scarring, if being actively treated, shows meaningful improvement over six to twelve months with appropriate procedures and may require multiple treatment rounds for optimal results.

The timeline is longer than a product launch or a marketing campaign would suggest. It’s also the timeline that reflects how the biology actually works skin turnover cycles, collagen remodeling, melanin regulation processes that operate on their own schedule regardless of how urgently the person dealing with acne wants them to move faster. Committing to a protocol long enough to see its full effect is the most important variable in determining whether professional acne treatment produces the outcome that motivated seeking it.

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The post Why Your Acne Keeps Coming Back and What Professional Treatment Actually Does Differently appeared first on The Good Men Project.

It was a colleague.

Not a close friend. Not my therapist. Not someone who knew any of it. Just a woman I worked alongside occasionally, who stopped me in the corridor one Tuesday morning and asked how I was doing.

A normal question. The kind that gets asked a hundred times a day and answered with fine, thanks before the asking is even finished.

Except she stopped. And looked at me. And waited.

Not impatiently. Not with the slightly glazed expression of someone who has already moved on to their next thought. She just — waited. With her full attention. As though my answer was something she actually wanted to receive.

I opened my mouth and felt my eyes fill.

I apologised immediately. Told her I was fine, sorry, don’t know where that came from, long week. She nodded without pushing and we both moved on and I spent the rest of the morning in my office trying to understand what had just happened to me.

It took me until the evening to name it.

She had waited. She had asked the question and then made space for the answer. She had treated my inner life as something worth pausing for.

I had not experienced that in so long that my body didn’t know how to receive it without breaking.

She had treated my inner life as something worth pausing for. I had not experienced that in so long that my body didn’t know how to receive it without breaking.

That evening I sat in my flat with the city going quiet outside my window and I thought about all the times I had needed that — that simple, basic act of being waited for — and had reached for it and found nothing there.

Not cruelty. Not refusal. Just — absence. A blank where that capacity was supposed to live.

Here are the six needs. The ones that are not extraordinary. The ones that every human being requires to feel safe and loved and real inside a relationship. The ones he could not provide not because he chose not to — though sometimes he chose not to — but because he did not, at the most fundamental level, understand that they existed.

1. The need to be heard without agenda.

Not fixed. Not redirected. Not used as a segue into his own experience. Just — heard. Fully. Without the conversation being quietly requisitioned for other purposes.

What this looks like when it is missing.

I stopped telling him things about my day about eight months in.

Not dramatically. Not after a single incident I can point to. Just gradually, the way you stop reaching for something that is never there — your hand learns, before your mind does, that the reaching is not worth the effort.

Every time I tried to talk about something that mattered to me, one of three things happened. He redirected the conversation to himself within four sentences. He offered a solution to something I hadn’t asked to be solved. Or he listened with the particular quality of not-quite-listening that looks like attention but produces the sensation of speaking into a room where nobody is home.

The memory: I had a difficult phone call with my mother one evening. I needed to talk about it. I got three sentences in before he said: “That reminds me of something that happened with my brother last year.” I spent the next forty minutes listening to the story about his brother. I never went back to mine.

Being heard — properly heard, with no agenda attached — is not a luxury. It is a basic relational need. It tells you that your inner life matters to someone other than yourself. That your experience is worth another person’s full attention.

Without it you do not just feel lonely. You start to feel like you are disappearing.

2. The need for consistent emotional safety.

Not happiness. Not constant warmth. Just the baseline knowledge that the person you love is not a different person depending on the day, the mood, the audience.

What this looks like when it is missing.

I became a weather forecaster.

Every morning before I spoke I checked the atmosphere. I read his shoulders, his jaw, the particular quality of his silence. I calibrated what I could say, what I could ask for, what version of myself was safest to present, based on data I had gathered in the thirty seconds since he’d walked into the room.

I called this being attuned to him. It was survival.

The memory: There was a version of him on Saturday mornings — relaxed, generous, the man I had fallen in love with — and a version on Sunday evenings that I had learned to be very careful around. The distance between those two versions was not understandable. It was not something I could map or predict or prevent. I just learned to brace.

Emotional safety is not about a relationship being easy. It is about knowing that the ground beneath you is stable enough to stand on. That you will not be punished today for something that was fine yesterday. That love is not a climate system with fronts you cannot forecast.

A narcissist cannot provide this because consistency requires a stable interior — a self that does not need to regulate itself through the reactions of others. He did not have that. So the instability moved outward. And I absorbed it. For years.

Emotional safety is not about a relationship being easy. It is about knowing the ground beneath you is stable enough to stand on. That you will not be punished today for something that was fine yesterday.

3. The need for repair after conflict.

Not winning. Not the last word. Just — the return. The acknowledgement that the rupture happened and that the relationship is worth the work of coming back from it.

What this looks like when it is missing.

We never repaired anything.

Arguments ended in one of two ways. He won — meaning I capitulated, apologised, made myself small enough that the conflict could be declared over. Or they simply stopped, the way a storm stops, without resolution, without acknowledgement, without the conversation that would have allowed us to understand what had happened and decide together not to do it again.

He would move on. Warm again. As though nothing had occurred. And I would stand in the aftermath of whatever had just happened, holding the unaddressed thing, not knowing whether bringing it up again would restart the storm or simply confirm that my memory of events was as unreliable as he’d suggested.

The memory: After the worst argument we ever had — the one where he said something I have never fully recovered from — he brought me coffee the next morning. Placed it on the table without looking at me. And that was it. That was the repair. I drank the coffee and said thank you.

Repair is the thing that tells you the relationship is more important than the ego of either person inside it. It requires humility, accountability, the willingness to say: I hurt you and I want to understand how and I want to do better.

A narcissist cannot repair because repair requires acknowledging fault. And fault, for him, is not an error to be corrected. It is an annihilation to be avoided at any cost.

So nothing was ever repaired. The damage just accumulated. Until one Tuesday morning I packed one bag and left.

4. The need to be celebrated without competition.

Not constantly. Not extravagantly. Just — when something good happens to you, the person you love should be able to feel genuinely happy about it. Without immediately making it about themselves.

What this looks like when it is missing.

I stopped sharing good news with him about a year in.

Again — not a decision I made consciously. My nervous system made it before I did. My hand learned not to reach for the phone when something good happened. Because sharing good news with him produced one of two responses. He would immediately present a parallel achievement of his own that was larger, more significant, more deserving of the room’s attention. Or he would respond with a warmth so measured, so carefully calibrated to be just enough but not too much, that receiving it felt worse than silence.

The memory: I got news once — professional news, something I had worked toward for a long time. I told him over dinner. He nodded, said something appropriate, and spent the next twenty minutes explaining why a similar thing that had happened to him three years earlier had actually been more significant in the context of his field. I ate the rest of my meal very carefully.

Being celebrated by someone you love is not vanity. It is the confirmation that your joy is allowed to exist in the shared space without being competed with or diminished. It is one of the most basic ways love makes itself felt — not in the hard moments, but in the good ones.

He could not celebrate me without feeling diminished by my success. So I learned to keep my good days to myself. And something in the relationship died quietly every time I did.

Being celebrated by someone you love is the confirmation that your joy is allowed to exist in the shared space without being competed with or diminished.

5. The need to be loved in your worst moments.

Not despite them. In them. The confirmation that love is not conditional on you being your best self at all times.

What this looks like when it is missing.

I performed wellness for two years.

The early period — when he was attentive during my difficult time at work — had taught me something I misread completely. I thought it taught me that he could handle my vulnerability. What it actually taught me was that he could handle my vulnerability when it was temporary, contained, and produced in him the pleasant sensation of being needed.

Ongoing struggle was different. Messiness without a resolution date. Grief that didn’t follow a schedule. Anxiety that didn’t respond to his suggested solutions. These produced in him not sympathy but something closer to impatience — a slight withdrawal, a quality of distance that told me clearly that this version of me was less welcome than the other one.

The memory: I was having a bad week — not for any single reason, just one of those weeks where everything is slightly too heavy and you need to be held without having to explain why. I tried to tell him. He listened for approximately two minutes and then said: “I think you need to talk to someone about this.” He meant a therapist. He meant someone other than him.

Love that is only available when you are well is not love. It is approval. And approval is always conditional — always dependent on performance, always at risk of being withdrawn the moment the performance falters.

I spent two years being well enough to be loved. The exhaustion of that is something I am still recovering from.

6. The need to be waited for.

This is the small one. The one that undoes you in a corridor on a Tuesday morning when a colleague stops and looks at you and holds the space open. Just waits. And you realise you had forgotten that was possible.

What this looks like when it is missing.

He was never interested in what I was about to say.

He was interested in what I had just said — how to respond to it, redirect it, use it, neutralise it. But the anticipation. The openness. The quality of genuine curiosity about what was living in another person’s interior — that was absent. Completely. In a way I normalised so thoroughly that I forgot it was supposed to be there.

To be waited for is to be told, without words: what is inside you matters. I am not in a hurry to get past it. I want to receive it.

A narcissist cannot wait for you because waiting requires the temporary suspension of their own needs — the willingness to hold space that is not filled with themselves. He had no practice of this. No muscle for it. The silence of waiting, for him, was simply a gap to be filled.

The memory: I never finished a thought in his presence. Not once. I would begin something and he would complete it — usually incorrectly — or redirect before I had reached the end. I became a person who spoke in shortened sentences. Who pre-edited down to the minimum because the minimum was all the space I reliably had.

That Tuesday morning in the corridor. That colleague who asked and then held the question open. She gave me thirty seconds of being waited for and my body responded with two years of accumulated grief.

Because that is what being waited for does. It tells you that you are worth the pause. That your answer — whatever it is, wherever it goes, however long it takes — is worth someone else’s time.

I had forgotten that I was.

To be waited for is to be told, without words: what is inside you matters. I am not in a hurry to get past it. I want to receive it.

What none of this means.

It does not mean you expected too much.

None of these six things are extraordinary. None of them are the demands of a difficult, high-maintenance, impossible-to-please woman. They are the minimum architecture of a relationship between two people who recognise each other as fully human.

You did not ask for too much. You asked for the ordinary things and received so little of them for so long that you started to believe ordinary was too much to ask for.

It wasn’t. It isn’t.

The colleague in the corridor did not do anything remarkable. She asked a question and she waited. That is all. That is the baseline. That is what you were always supposed to have.

You are going to have it again.

And the next time someone waits for you — really waits, with their whole attention, because your answer matters to them — you will not cry in a corridor.

You will just receive it.

The way you always should have been able to.

—

This post was previously published on medium.com.

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Photo credit: Damian Barczak on Unsplash

The post 6 Human Needs a Narcissist Will Never Understand (And What That Cost You) appeared first on The Good Men Project.

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There’s nothing better than firing up the grill on a warm summer evening, but grilling can also come with a frustrating problem: dry, tough meat that looks great on the outside but is disappointing when you take a bite.

Maybe your chicken breast is dry and stringy. Maybe your steak has gone from juicy to chewy. Or perhaps your pork chops look perfectly grilled but have almost no moisture left inside.

The good news is that dry grilled meat usually isn’t just bad luck. In most cases, it comes down to a few common mistakes: using too much heat, cooking for too long, relying on time instead of temperature, cutting into the meat too early, or choosing a cut that needs a different cooking method.

With a few simple changes and a professional meat thermometer, you can make your summer BBQs much more consistent.

Why Does Grilled Meat Get Dry?

Understanding why meat dries out is the first step toward fixing it.

You’re Cooking It Past the Right Temperature

One of the biggest causes of dry meat is simply overcooking.

As meat gets hotter, its muscle proteins tighten and squeeze out more moisture. The longer you continue cooking after the meat has reached your desired temperature, the more moisture you risk losing. This is especially easy to do on a grill because the outside can develop a beautiful brown crust long before the center reaches the temperature you want.

That’s why color isn’t a reliable way to determine whether meat is done. The USDA recommends using a food thermometer to verify internal temperature rather than relying on appearance.

Stop guessing based on cooking time or grill marks. Check the internal temperature.

Your Grill Temperature Is Too High

High heat can be useful for creating a flavorful sear, but it can also cause problems when used for the entire cooking process. If the grill is extremely hot, the outside of your meat may become dark or charred while the inside is still catching up. You may then leave the meat on the grill longer to finish the center, increasing the chance of overcooking the outer layers.

This is particularly common with:

• Thick steaks
• Chicken breasts
• Pork chops
• Large burgers
• Bone-in chicken
• Thick roasts

Use different heat zones when possible. Sear over direct heat, then move thicker cuts to indirect heat to finish cooking more gently.

You’re Relying on Cooking Time Instead of Internal Temperature

“Grill it for 10 minutes per side” sounds convenient, but cooking time isn’t a guarantee.

The actual cooking time depends on:

• Thickness
• Starting temperature
• Cut of meat
• Bone-in vs. boneless
• Grill temperature
• Wind and outdoor temperature
• Whether the lid is open or closed
• How often you flip the meat

A 1-inch steak and a 2-inch steak obviously won’t cook at the same rate. That’s why a recipe’s cooking time should be treated as a starting point, not an exact measurement. A professional meat thermometer tells you what actually matters, the temperature inside the meat.

You’re Cutting Into the Meat Too Early

It can be tempting to cut into a steak or chicken breast to see whether it’s done. But every time you cut into the meat, you create an opening through which juices can escape. Instead of cutting into it, use a meat thermometer to check the center. For thicker cuts, insert the probe into the thickest part and avoid touching bone, fat, or gristle, which can affect the reading.

You’re Skipping the Resting Period

Taking meat directly from the grill to the cutting board isn’t always the best move. Resting gives the meat time to finish cooking and allows its juices to redistribute before you cut into it.

For whole cuts of beef, pork, lamb, and veal, the USDA recommends reaching at least 145°F and resting for at least 3 minutes.

The exact resting time depends on the size and type of meat, but the basic principle is simple Don’t rush from grill to plate.

You’re Starting With a Very Lean Cut

Not every cut of meat is equally forgiving on the grill. Very lean cuts contain less fat and connective tissue, so they can become dry more quickly if overcooked.

For example, boneless, skinless chicken breast is notorious for drying out because it has relatively little fat and can lose moisture quickly.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t grill lean meat. It means you need to pay closer attention to temperature and cooking time.

How to Keep Grilled Meat Juicy and Tender

Now that you know what causes dry meat, let’s look at practical ways to prevent it.

Use a Meat Thermometer Instead of Guessing

This is one of the easiest improvements you can make. The USDA specifically recommends using a food thermometer because visual cues such as color and grill marks can’t reliably tell you whether meat has reached a safe temperature.

A meat thermometer also helps you avoid the opposite problem: cooking meat longer than necessary because you’re afraid it’s still raw.

Know the Safe Internal Temperatures

For safe cooking, the USDA recommends these minimum internal temperatures:

• Beef, pork, lamb & veal steaks, chops & roasts: 145°F and 3-minute rest
• Ground beef, pork, lamb & veal: 160°F
• Poultry: 165°F
• Fish & shellfish:  145°F

These are safety minimums, not necessarily the final temperature you should use for every personal preference or recipe. For example, steak lovers may choose different levels of doneness, while chicken needs to reach 165°F for safety. The key is to know the appropriate temperature for the food you’re cooking.

Use Two-Zone Grilling

If your grill allows it, create two cooking zones:

• Direct heat: High heat for searing and browning.
• Indirect heat: Lower, gentler heat for finishing thicker cuts.

This technique gives you more control.

For example, you can sear a thick steak over direct heat to develop a flavorful crust, then move it to indirect heat until the center reaches your target temperature. It also helps prevent the outside from becoming overcooked while you’re waiting for the center to finish.

Don’t Press Down on Your Meat

It’s tempting to grab your spatula and press down on a burger or steak.

Don’t.

Pressing meat against the grill can force juices out. You may get a satisfying sizzle, but that doesn’t mean you’re improving the final texture. Instead, let the meat cook undisturbed long enough to develop a good sear, then flip it when appropriate.

Don’t Flip Constantly

You don’t need to flip meat every few seconds. Frequent flipping can make it harder to develop a consistent crust and can make temperature management more difficult.

For most grilling situations, give the meat enough time to sear before flipping. More importantly, use the internal temperature, not the number of flips, as your guide for doneness.

Give Your Meat Enough Time to Rest

Once the meat reaches the appropriate temperature, remove it from the grill and let it rest before slicing. The resting period doesn’t need to be complicated. Simply place the meat on a clean plate or cutting board and give it a few minutes before serving. For steaks and other whole cuts, this can make a noticeable difference in how juicy the meat feels when you cut into it.

Why a Wireless Meat Thermometer Can Change Your Grilling Game

A traditional instant-read thermometer is useful, but there’s another problem during grilling. You have to keep opening the grill and checking the meat. Every time you lift the lid, you lose heat. And if you’re cooking several items at once, constantly checking each piece can become frustrating.

That’s where a wireless meat thermometer can make grilling much easier. The TempPro TempSpike Plus TP970 Wireless Meat Thermometer is designed for grillers who want to monitor meat temperature without being tied to the grill. Its completely wire-free probe connects to your smartphone through Bluetooth 5.2, with a wireless range of up to 600 feet under suitable conditions. That means you can keep an eye on your meat while preparing side dishes, talking with guests, or relaxing away from the grill.

ThermoPro has changed its name to TempPro. Its products, warranties, and support services remain 100% unchanged.

Key Features of the TempSpike Plus TP970

• 100% Wire-Free Probe: No probe wires running through the grill lid. The fully wireless design makes it convenient for grilling, smoking, roasting, and other cooking methods.
• 600-Foot Bluetooth Range: Monitor your cooking from a distance using your smartphone, giving you more freedom during backyard BBQs.
• Real-Time Internal & Ambient Temperature Monitoring: Monitor both the meat’s internal temperature and the surrounding cooking temperature, helping you understand what’s happening inside the grill.
• Smart App Alerts: The TempProapp provides customizable temperature alerts, USDA guidance, and cooking tips, so you can get notified when your food reaches the temperature you’ve set.
• Ultra-Thin Probe: The probe is designed for smaller cuts as well as larger pieces of meat, while minimizing the size of the insertion point.
• IP67 Waterproof Design: The probe is IP67-rated and designed for easy cleaning. You can rinse it under the running water.

How the TempSpike Plus TP970 Helps Prevent Dry Grilled Meat

The TempSpike Plus TP970 isn’t just about convenience. It can directly address one of the biggest causes of dry meat: overcooking.

Step 1: Insert the Probe Correctly

Insert the probe into the thickest part of the meat. Avoid touching bone, large pockets of fat, the grill grate, and other hot surfaces. For thin foods, position the probe so the sensor reaches the center.

Step 2: Set Your Target Temperature

Use the app to select an appropriate target temperature for the food you’re cooking. You can use USDA guidance as your safety baseline.

Step 3: Close the Grill

Once the probe is in place, close the grill and let the meat cook. You no longer need to repeatedly open the lid just to check the temperature.

Step 4: Watch the Temperature Rise

The app lets you monitor the internal temperature in real time. This is particularly helpful for thicker cuts because you can see how quickly the temperature is rising.

Step 5: Get an Alert

When the meat reaches your selected temperature, the app can alert you. That gives you a chance to remove the meat before you accidentally leave it on the grill for another 10 or 15 minutes. Less guessing means less unnecessary cooking and that can mean juicier meat.

A Better Summer Grilling Routine

If you’re grilling regularly this summer, try this simple routine.

Before Grilling

1. Choose the right cut. Consider how much fat and connective tissue the meat contains.
2. Preheat the grill. Give the grill enough time to reach the desired cooking temperature.
3. Set up direct and indirect zones. This gives you more control over thicker cuts.
4. Insert your thermometer. Position the probe correctly in the thickest part of the meat.

During Grilling.

5. Keep the lid closed when possible. Avoid unnecessary heat loss.
6. Monitor the internal temperature. Don’t rely solely on cooking time.
7. Adjust the heat if necessary. If the outside is browning too quickly, move the meat to indirect heat.

After Grilling

8. Remove the meat at the appropriate temperature.
9. Let it rest.
10. Slice only after resting. This simple approach can make your results much more predictable.

How to Fix Dry Meat If You’ve Already Overcooked It

Let’s be realistic: sometimes the meat is already dry. You can’t completely reverse moisture loss, but you can still improve the meal.

For Steak

Slice it thinly against the grain and serve it with a sauce, compound butter, or another moisture-rich topping.

For Chicken

Slice or shred the meat and combine it with:

• BBQ sauce
• Salsa
• Tzatziki
• Chicken broth
• A creamy sauce

For Pork

Thinly sliced dry pork can work well with BBQ sauce or gravy. You can also shred it and combine it with a flavorful sauce.

For Dry Burgers

Add toppings that bring moisture and flavor, such as cheese, caramelized onions, tomato, pickles, or sauce.

But remember: these are recovery strategies. The better solution is preventing overcooking in the first place.

FAQs about Grilled Meat and Dryness

Q1. Why does my grilled chicken always come out dry?

Chicken breast is relatively lean and can lose moisture quickly when overcooked. High grill temperatures can also brown the outside before the center is ready, tempting you to leave it on the grill even longer.

Use a meat thermometer to monitor the thickest part and remove it once it reaches the appropriate safe temperature.

Q2. Does a meat thermometer really make grilled meat juicier?

A food thermometer doesn’t add moisture to meat, but it can help prevent unnecessary overcooking, which is one of the main causes of dry grilled meat. By monitoring internal temperature instead of relying only on time or appearance, you have better control over when to stop cooking.

Q3. Should I cook steak on high or low heat?

Both can have a place. High heat is useful for searing and developing a browned crust. For thicker steaks, using indirect or lower heat to finish the center can provide better control and reduce the risk of burning the outside before the inside reaches the desired temperature.

Q4. Should I flip steak more than once?

You don’t need to constantly flip it. Give the steak enough time to develop a good sear, then flip as needed. More important than the number of flips is controlling the cooking temperature and monitoring the steak’s internal temperature.

Q5. How do I know when grilled chicken is done?

The safest approach is to use a food thermometer. USDA guidance recommends cooking poultry to 165°F measured internally. Don’t rely solely on the color of the meat or its juices.

Q6. What temperature should steak reach on the grill?

For food safety, USDA recommends that beef steaks, chops, and roasts reach at least 145°F, followed by a 3-minute rest. Personal preferences for doneness may call for different temperatures, but safety should always come first.

Q7. Can I leave the TP970 probe in the meat while grilling?

Yes. The TempSpike Plus TP970 is designed as a leave-in wireless probe for grilling, smoking, roasting, and other cooking methods. Its probe is rated for high ambient temperatures, with the ceramic tip supporting temperatures up to 1,050°F. Always follow the manufacturer’s placement and usage instructions.

Q8. How do I keep grilled meat from drying out without using a thermometer?

You can improve your results by choosing appropriate cuts, avoiding excessive heat, using two-zone grilling, minimizing unnecessary lid opening, and allowing the meat to rest.

However, these techniques don’t eliminate guesswork. A thermometer provides a much more reliable way to know when the meat has reached the right internal temperature.

Final Thoughts

If your steaks, chicken, pork chops, or burgers keep coming off the grill dry, start by looking at temperature control. Cooking too hot or too long can quickly turn juicy meat into something tough and disappointing.

The solution is surprisingly simple: control your grill temperature, monitor the meat’s internal temperature, and stop cooking when the meat reaches the appropriate temperature.

For summer backyard grilling, the TempPro TempSpike Plus TP970 Wireless Meat Thermometer makes that process easier. Its fully wire-free probe, 600-foot Bluetooth range, real-time internal and ambient temperature monitoring, customizable alerts, and high-heat capability give you more control without forcing you to stand next to the grill.

And when you can see what’s actually happening inside the meat, you don’t have to choose between safe and juicy. You can grill with more confidence, avoid unnecessary overcooking, and spend more time enjoying the BBQ with family and friends.

This summer, don’t just grill until it “looks done.” Grill to the right temperature.

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By Stefania Lugli, KLC Journal

More than 80 residents live tucked behind woodsy trails north of Chapin Park, where the Arkansas River loops before heading on south. It’s Wichita’s largest known homeless encampment, both in area and population. It is sometimes referred to as “Narnia” or “Tent City.” The people there have been largely unaffected by a marked increase in encampment removals across the city — until this summer. The camp’s closure is now imminent.

While the city won’t confirm a closing date, sources say the shutdown could come as soon as late August. The aim — once all Chapin’s residents are housed or ejected — is to prevent the area from ever again being a refuge for the homeless. All encampments and standing structures will be destroyed and the area may be deforested.

An estimate from Boulevard Construction — the company contracted by the city for homeless encampment removals — that was obtained by The Journal through an open records request, estimates that the sweep of the area may cost $120,000 for the removal of 50 large sites. The work would be done within 45 days and attended by police during scheduled work hours.

The city said the estimate would need to be reviewed once a closure date is cemented. Parks and Recreation took over encampment cleanups last year, but Boulevard is on reserve for work as significant as the area outside of Chapin would be.

The city wouldn’t release any particulars for what a cleanup would entail, citing a Kansas statute that allows denial of documents if they contain “drafts or other memorandum of staff in which opinions are expressed or policies or actions are proposed.” Previous presentations to elected officials suggested that the closure will look like a site free of debris, trimmed vegetation and constant monitoring.

Steven Burt, the assistant director of housing, said that the department has been working to house willing Chapin residents since May.

“We need to house them (the homeless in Chapin). And I keep hearing in the media how we’re displacing people to homes. It’s a good thing, I hope,” Burt said. “That is our goal, to displace them into a better situation. But there’s a lot of people out there who are very, very comfortable in those ‘permanent structures.’”

As of Aug. 3, 15 of the 83 people in Chapin have been housed, with another 39 expressing interest in housing, according to the city. Some have already left because of the impending closure, others are waiting on landlord paperwork, unit inspections, voucher approval or locating a unit.

Burt said that a closure date remains up in the air until the area is cleared.

“So until I have a moment in time when I know the permanent structures can be removed and the deforestation can start, I have no closure date.”

But the camps could be closed before every individual who lives there is housed. A record shows that city’s goal is to have 60% of the residents gone from the camp by closing day.

“If they choose not to be housed, we’re still asking them to move along so that we can close the camp,” Burt said.

Chapin: the “big, bad white elephant in the room”

The Chapin encampment, with its dense homeless population, has escaped disruption over the years because it was out of view. It sits north of the river bordering the park and deep off a former biking trail. It’s been home to many homeless people for years and largely left undisturbed.

There are several crude structures and tent compounds dotted throughout the woods, evidence of the storied site. A lot of people there, in general, have a reputation for being especially independent — resistant to housing efforts. Mutual aid groups do often visit with food, hygiene, medical supplies and weather-resistant items, such as ponchos or tarps.

Residents’ self-sufficiency and the area’s clutter left Chapin as the “big, bad white elephant in the room,” as Burt called it.

The Coalition to End Chronic Homelessness in Wichita/Sedgwick County, a coalition of several service providers and homeless outreach groups, has had partners doing outreach with Chapin residents for several years. They are responsible for knowing every person experiencing homelessness in the county.

“If the encampment is closed without everyone there being housed, we will continue to engage them as long as they are experiencing homelessness,” said Cole Schnieders, the spokesperson for the coalition and the continuum of care planning manager at the United Way of the Plains, which leads the group. “As part of our outreach, we not only offer housing, but also access to shelter beds when available. Regardless of where people end up if Chapin is closed, the coalition will continue to engage with them and work to get them into housing.”

Grassroots Bridge Builders, a nonprofit that provides peer navigation services for the homeless, said in a statement to The Journal that it recognizes that “current conditions at Chapin Park are not sustainable” and it has worked with city housing, among other partners, on housing-focused outreach.

However, the group thinks that successful outreach goes beyond camp sweeps and emergency shelter, pointing out that there are more unsheltered homeless people than available beds.

“Our concern is that repeated displacement, by itself, does not resolve homelessness. When individuals are repeatedly dispersed throughout the community, housing plans are interrupted, outreach relationships are disrupted and providers spend valuable time relocating clients instead of helping them move into permanent housing,” they said.

Instead of “continuing a largely reactive approach,” Bridge Builders proposes flipping the campsites at Chapin into transitional stabilization sites, allowing the homeless to stay in a designated safe zone while concentrating outreach, healthcare and other resources in one spot.

“The goal is not to create permanent camping, but to provide a temporary pathway that expands access to services, offers safer seasonal shelter options and helps people break the cycle of homelessness more efficiently than repeated displacement alone.”

‘We can’t force them to change’

Encampment removals are mostly complaint-based, usually the result of housed residents reporting visible encampments, as The Journal reported last year.

While the Chapin camps are rarely seen by the public, the Wichita Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Team said nuisance complaints and first responder calls have increased.

According to city records, crime around Chapin associated with the homeless has not significantly increased. There have been 22 cases this year so far. Last year there were 21; the year prior, 26. These numbers do not include fire or EMS calls.

“It’s a dangerous situation for them to be down there living in the air,” said Brittney Graham, an officer on the team. The encampment site is also at risk of flooding due to its proximity to the river.

“No one deserves to live in a place like that. One, morally we have an obligation to help people out of that situation, and then two, to keep everyone safe — the community around them, and the people down there and officers responding to fires and other situations down there.”

When asked why those homeless residents have opened up to recent housing efforts, Burt said Chapin isn’t safe anymore.

“There is an increase of activity down there that is making some people feel unsafe, and we’re there with a high level of consistency, and so we’re getting people to accept housing offers at a relatively high rate,” he said. “We were told we wouldn’t get that level of acceptance, but 50 or so out of 83 — when we were told nobody would agree — feels extraordinary and amazing.”

Graham said tough love and the upcoming deadline has increased the pressure to leave.

“We’ve been building rapport with that population for a long time,” she said. “I would say 95% of the people down there want help.”

For those that don’t, “maybe we’ll catch them the next time we have a camping complaint. We go out there and meet them, because sometimes that’s what it takes. People have to be kind of uncomfortable in their situation in order to ask for help, so we can’t force them to change.”

‘Direct to Housing’ model choreographing recent camp removals

The option to close Chapin came after the housing department successfully shut down a large encampment under the John Mack Bridge, northwest of Chapin, after federal flood control officials told the city to remove homeless people there because the location wasn’t safe. Six people were housed; but six to 10 “simply moved.”

“Then we just decided, OK, it feels like the big white elephant is that we need to offer our resources in Chapin. Is it closeable?” Burt said.

The city housing department, the Coalition to End Homelessness and the Homeless Outreach Team have worked together to close and remove other prominent encampment sites since last fall including one on private property at Interstate 235 and Broadway and another behind the Pepsi Beverages Co. southwest of the intersection of Interstate 135 and U.S. 81.

This push that began at I-235 and Broadway used a direct-to-housing model touted by Clutch Consulting, a Houston-based group that recommends bringing rapid rehousing services to individuals, among other steps, to shutter an encampment within four to six weeks. The city had paid $17,750 for Clutch training last summer.

“Finding the middle is awful because people want to villainize what we’re doing as camp sweeping and law enforcement activity and criminalizing homelessness,” Burt said, “but that’s not what our mission is.”

The Clutch Consulting model also emphasizes “closure maintenance” which prescribes using landscaping, barriers and patrols to enforce restrictions on camping and “ensure that no one continues to sleep outside at closed sites.”

The company did not respond to requests for an interview.

At I-235 and Broadway, 12 people were housed at time of closure, with nine of them still housed today.

For Chapin, the housing department is using home tenant-based rental assistance vouchers for residents. There is no waitlist for those vouchers, Burt said.

“The whole idea is that all 83 will be housed. Is it possible for us to house 83 people and then close Chapin? We’re talking internally about what that might look like, but no conclusions have come to pass,” Burt said. “One of the complicating factors is that the cat’s out of the bag. The number (of people) was 75, but now that the word is out, people are coming to Chapin because we have housing resources.”

Chapin doesn’t fit neatly into Clutch’s model because of its large, uneven topography. When Chapin is cleared of its current inhabitants, some could move down to the riverbank.

“If we clear the park and they go down to the shore, can they still hide? It’s also got a lot of underbrush and places to hide, and a lot of opportunities for privacy, which is why it’s become the way it is,” Burt said.

“How do we close it geographically? How can we fence? Can we even fence it off? Can we deforest it? These are all questions that we are still finding answers to as a team across departments.”

This article first appeared on KLC Journal and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Previously Published on klcjournal.com with Creative Commons License

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Setting clear financial goals is the bridge between a passionate vision and a profitable business. Defined targets provide direction for everyday decisions, shape smarter spending and investment choices, and give you concrete benchmarks for growth. In this guide, we break down a practical, step-by-step framework grounded in core financial planning principles and sustainable budgeting strategies to help your business thrive.

Assess Your Current Financial Position

Before you set financial goals, you need a clear picture of where your business stands today. Review your revenue, expenses, profit, cash flow, debt, and available savings so you understand your current financial position.

Look at recent financial statements and compare results across several months to identify patterns, strengths, and problem areas. You should also check whether your business has enough cash to cover regular expenses and unexpected costs.

This review gives you a realistic starting point for planning future goals. When you understand what your business earns, spends, owes, and keeps, you can set targets that match your actual resources instead of relying on assumptions or unrealistic expectations.

Define Your Short-Term and Long-Term Business Goals

Your financial plan should support both immediate priorities and future growth. Short-term goals may include increasing monthly sales, reducing certain expenses, improving profit margins, or saving for new equipment within the next year.

Long-term goals often focus on larger outcomes, such as opening another location, hiring more employees, expanding services, or reaching a specific annual revenue level. Separate these goals by time frame so you can decide what needs attention first.

Make sure each goal connects to a clear business purpose rather than setting targets without direction. When you balance short-term progress with long-term priorities, you can make financial decisions that support steady and sustainable growth.

Build a Budget Around Your Financial Goals

A budget turns your financial goals into a practical plan for how you use money each month. Start by assigning funds to essential operating costs, growth priorities, savings, and other planned expenses.

When you create a budget for your small business, connect each spending category to a specific financial objective. This helps you avoid using cash on costs that do not support your priorities. Set realistic limits for flexible expenses and leave room for changes in sales or operating costs.

Review how planned spending supports your most important goals before approving major purchases. A focused budget gives you more control over financial decisions and helps you direct resources toward meaningful business progress.

Set Revenue and Profitability Goals

Revenue goals show how much income you want your business to generate, while profitability goals focus on how much you keep after expenses. Set both so you do not confuse higher sales with stronger financial performance.

Choose targets based on pricing, customer demand, sales capacity, and expected costs. You can break annual revenue goals into monthly or quarterly targets to make progress easier to track. Profitability goals should also include a target profit margin that fits your industry and business model.

If sales increase but costs rise just as quickly, your business may not become more profitable. Clear revenue and profit targets help you measure growth more accurately and make better financial decisions.

Create Cash Flow and Emergency Fund Targets

Strong cash flow helps you pay bills on time and handle slow periods without disrupting operations. Set a target for the minimum cash balance you want to maintain each month, based on your obligations and payment cycles.

You should also build an emergency fund that can cover several months of essential business expenses if revenue drops unexpectedly. Keep this reserve separate from money used for daily operations or planned investments.

Decide how much you will contribute to it each month until you reach your target. Clear cash flow and emergency fund goals give you more flexibility when conditions change and reduce the risk of relying on expensive short-term financing.

Plan for Business Expenses and Future Investments

Planning ahead for expenses helps you avoid sudden financial pressure as your business grows. List major costs you expect over the next year, such as software, equipment, marketing, insurance, repairs, or professional services.

Then identify larger investments that could improve efficiency, increase capacity, or support expansion. Estimate when each expense will occur and how much funding it may require. You should also separate necessary costs from optional investments so you can prioritize spending when resources are limited.

Consider the expected return before committing money to a major purchase or project. Careful expense and investment planning helps you prepare for future needs while keeping your financial goals achievable.

Choose Financial Metrics to Track Your Progress

Tracking the right financial metrics helps you see whether your business is moving toward its goals. Choose a small set of indicators that match the results you want to improve, rather than monitoring every number available.

Useful metrics may include gross profit margin, net profit margin, accounts receivable turnover, customer acquisition cost, and return on investment. You can also track revenue per customer or operating expense ratios when they fit your business model.

Review these figures on a regular schedule and compare them with your targets. If a metric starts moving in the wrong direction, investigate the cause early. Consistent measurement helps you spot problems sooner and make informed adjustments.

Review and Adjust Your Financial Goals Regularly

Financial goals should change as your business conditions, priorities, and opportunities change. Schedule regular reviews each month or quarter to see whether your targets still reflect what your business needs.

Compare your actual results with the goals you set and identify any gaps that need attention. If a target becomes unrealistic, adjust the amount, deadline, or strategy instead of ignoring the difference. You may also need to raise certain goals when your business performs better than expected.

Changes in customer demand, costs, competition, or economic conditions can also affect your plans. Regular adjustments keep your financial goals relevant and help you respond to new challenges without losing focus.

How Can Financial Goals Support Long-Term Business Success?

Financial goals give you a clear framework for making decisions that support both daily operations and future growth. Start by understanding your financial position, then define short-term and long-term goals that match what you want your business to achieve.

Set realistic revenue, profit, cash flow, savings, and investment targets so each priority has a clear purpose. As your plans take shape, create a budget for your small business that directs money toward the goals that matter most.

Track useful financial metrics so you can measure progress and spot problems before they become larger issues. Review your goals regularly and adjust them when costs, sales, opportunities, or business priorities change. This process helps you stay focused without becoming tied to outdated targets.

When your financial goals are specific, measurable, and connected to your overall strategy, you can use your resources more effectively, prepare for greater uncertainty, and build a stronger foundation for steady long-term business success over time.

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By Pam O’Brien for SoFi

Despite living in a time of economic turbulence, Gen Z and Millennials feel positive about retirement, according to a new survey by SoFi. Gen Z is particularly bullish on retirement. Fifty-seven percent say it’s achievable with a plan in place, compared to just 45% of Millennials who feel the same.

To find out how Gen Z (ages 18 to 29) and Millennials (ages 30 to 45) are thinking about retirement in the current economic landscape, SoFi surveyed 761 adults who are actively planning for retirement. They discovered that while the concept of retiring is as popular as ever, the definition of what it means to be retirement ready is undergoing a seismic shift as these two generations balance trying to save for the future with the high cost of housing; rising health care expenses; growing debt; and economic, political, and societal uncertainty.

Retiring is no longer about leaving the workforce at one certain age, Gen Z and Millennial survey respondents say, but about being flexible, financially resilient, and open to opportunities.

Read on to learn about the new reality of retirement for Millennials and Gen Z — and the creative paths they’re forging to get there.

Key Survey Findings

• 59% of SoFi survey respondents ages 18 to 45 are actively contributing to a retirement or long-term savings plan.
• 31% are balancing debt or immediate expenses while trying to save whatever they can.
• 77% are very or somewhat confident they can retire comfortably and maintain their desired lifestyle.
• 53% cite inflation as one of their biggest retirement concerns; 48% are most concerned about running out of money.
• Among those saving or trying to save, 64% have reduced or paused retirement contributions at least occasionally due to financial stress over the last 12 months.
• 32% say economic or market uncertainty is their biggest psychological barrier to saving more.
• 63% say everyday costs or housing payments are the biggest factor affecting their ability to save for the future.

The Retirement Divide: Attainable (Gen Z) vs. Uncertain (Millennials)

While Millennials and Gen Z are commonly referred to as today’s younger generations, they are distinguished not only by their birth years — 1981-1996 and 1997-2012, respectively — but by their formative experiences. Millennials experienced the 2008 Great Recession firsthand, while Gen Z witnessed the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, retirement is looming larger for the older Millennials.

It’s no surprise that the two groups have different viewpoints on retirement. It’s notable, however, that both groups feel hopeful about retirement.

Nearly 3 out of 5 Gen Zers and nearly half of Millennials feel retirement is still achievable as long as they have a plan to make it happen.

51% say retirement is achievable with planning

More than half of SoFi survey participants say retirement is attainable if they take steps to achieve it. For many respondents, preparing for retirement includes putting money in a retirement account, such as contributing to a traditional or Roth individual retirement account (IRA), and/or participating in a 401(k) plan at work.

Gen Z is more likely than Millennials to say retirement is achievable

Gen Z has a far rosier view of retirement than Millennials do. Fifty-seven percent of Gen Z respondents say retirement is achievable with a plan in place, while just 45% of Millennials say the same. And Millennials are twice as likely as Gen Z to describe retirement as uncertain but possible.

Still, 43% feel optimistic overall about retirement

Both Millennial and Gen Z survey respondents equally choose “optimistic” over every other answer when it comes to their feelings about retirement.

32% expect to retire by age 55

Millennials and Gen Z even have an age in mind for when they’ll give up the 9-to-5 grind: 32% of all survey participants expect to retire between the ages of 55 and 64, while 31% say they’ll retire in the age 65-to-70 time frame. Almost one-quarter (24%) envision themselves retiring before age 55. Just 4% say they don’t think they can ever retire.

Thirty-three percent of respondents expect their retirement to last for 25 years or more.

Yet Despite Their Goals, 49% Have Less Than $25,000 Saved for Retirement

Even as they plan to build their retirement savings, however, many SoFi survey respondents still have a long way to go.

21% have less than $5,000 saved for retirement

Of those respondents saving or trying to save for retirement, approximately 1 in 5 say they have less than $5,000 in savings, while 28% report that they have $5,000 to $24,999 socked away.

79% have $99,999 or less

Most survey participants have less than $100,000 in their retirement accounts. Nearly half of respondents have an account balance that’s less than $25,000, while 30% have $25,000 to $99,999 saved up.

21% have $100,000 or more

Only about 1 in 5 savers in the survey has hit the six-figure mark: 14% have $100,000 to $249,999 in retirement savings, while 7% have $250,000 or more.

Meanwhile, Some Respondents Are Maxing Out Accounts

Most respondents who have employer-sponsored plans like 401(k)s and 403(b)s, and those with IRAs are making the most of their retirement plans by contributing the maximum amounts allowed.

75% of employer-sponsored plan users are contributing the maximum amount

Three-quarters of respondents with employer-sponsored plans know how much they can contribute annually to their workplace plans, and they make sure to do it.

64% of IRA users are maxing out contributions

Almost two-thirds of those with IRAs are contributing the maximum amount allowed to save more for retirement.

However, 36% aren’t maxing out their IRA contributions or say they’re not sure. Individuals can calculate how much they can contribute to an IRA annually so they can see if contributing up to the limit is within their budget.

Social Security Is Part of the Plan, But Not the Whole Plan

Regardless of predictions that Social Security may be depleted by 2033, according to a report from the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees, SoFi survey respondents are pretty optimistic about the program’s future. But they are also pragmatic. Most respondents expect Social Security to be just one small piece of their retirement income, while workplace retirement plans, IRAs, and other investment accounts fund the bulk of it.

59% are fairly sure Social Security will provide them with retirement income

Thirty-three percent are very confident that Social Security will provide them with meaningful retirement income when they retire, and 26% are somewhat confident. However, 22% are not very confident or have no confidence at all that Social Security will be there for them when they need it.

23% expect Social Security to fund the majority of their retirement

Almost one-quarter of respondents think Social Security will be their main funding source. But they’re in the minority: 62% percent of Gen Z and Millennials believe that most of their retirement funding will come from employer-sponsored plans like 401(k)s or from personal investment accounts like IRAs or brokerage accounts. Nine percent say continuing to work in some capacity is what will cover their retirement.

Their Retirement Planning Is Not Without Some Trade-offs

While younger generations are getting a jump start on building their nest egg, they do have some obstacles to overcome, particularly Millennials.

59% are contributing to a retirement or long-term savings plan

The majority of these respondents (almost 60%) are putting money away for retirement. But there is a big generational difference, with Gen Z much more likely to be contributing to a retirement savings plan.

Millennials are more likely than Gen Z to be balancing debt and immediate expenses

The Millennial generation is trying to meet the challenge of paying their immediate expenses and debt, while saving for retirement at the same time. This group is in their prime child-raising years, and they likely have more financial obligations. Gen Z, which is under age 30, may have fewer — or smaller — expenses and debts.

The difference between the two generations is significant.

77% are confident they can retire comfortably

More than three-quarters of respondents feel they can retire and maintain their desired lifestyle. Millennials and Gen Z feel almost equally confident about this at 78% and 80%, respectively.

Survey responses suggest: Gen Z is more positive about retirement and they’re actively planning for it. Millennials are uncertain what the future holds, but they believe a comfortable retirement is possible, and they’re trying to save for it as best they can. Still, saving is a struggle for both generations — almost half of all savers have less than $25,000 in their retirement accounts.

Uncertainty Is the Biggest Psychological Barrier to Saving for Retirement

Gen Z and Millennials are living in unstable times economically, geopolitically, and socially, and that volatility can influence how they handle their finances. Among the survey respondents already saving for retirement, uncertainty about the future is preventing them from directing more money to their retirement savings.

32% of savers worry that the economy or market will change significantly before they retire

From a psychological standpoint, economic and market anxiety is by far the number-one savings roadblock for Millennials and Gen Z. In a distant second place is the sense that they’re falling short in retirement savings when compared to others tied with feeling overwhelmed by the number of different investment options available.

Millennials are slightly more likely than Gen Z to worry about uncertainty

Thirty-four percent of Millennials say economic or market unpredictability is their biggest psychological barrier to saving more for retirement, compared to 32% of Gen Z.

For Gen Z, how to invest and what to invest in is a greater obstacle: 21% of respondents in this age group say they feel overwhelmed by the number of investment options available versus 15% of Millennials.

Inflation Is Rewriting the Retirement Script

According to the most recent report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation was 4.2% in May 2026, up from 3.8% in April — the highest it’s been since 2023. It dropped to 3.5% in June.

As inflation rises and prices surge, saving for retirement becomes more challenging for both Gen Z and Millennial survey respondents.

64% say inflation is causing them to save less

Respondents who are saving for retirement (or trying to) report that inflation is limiting their ability to contribute to their retirement plans. Thirty-nine percent are saving somewhat less because of inflation, while 25% say they are saving significantly less.

Inflation is the top retirement concern

It isn’t just the current inflation rate that worries SoFi survey respondents — inflation during retirement is the biggest source of apprehension for Millennials and Gen Z alike.

63% say everyday costs or housing payments are the biggest barrier to saving

As a result of inflation, the high cost of living expenses, including groceries and utilities, as well as rent or mortgage payments, are taking a big bite out of savings budgets.

10% aren’t yet saving

One in 10 of all survey respondents describe themselves as not yet saving for retirement or opening an IRA. The main obstacle: affordability. This group feels they don’t have enough extra money to make saving worth it.

Some Savers Forced to Pause or Reduce Contributions

Financial stress has taken a toll on many SoFi survey respondents — literally. Almost two-thirds of those saving or trying to save have had to temporarily stop contributing to their retirement plan, or lower their contribution amount, at least once in the last 12 months.

64% have reduced or paused contributions at least occasionally

Of those who had to pull back on retirement plan contributions, 36% did so once or twice, and 28% paused or reduced their amounts three or more times over the past year.

Housing Both Hurts and Helps Retirement Saving

Owning a home is part of the American dream, but these days, it comes with a steep price tag. The average price of a home in the U.S. at the end of 2025 was $486,000, according to the Urban Institute’s Affordability Tracker. The average rent is $1,890 per month.

It’s no wonder then that more than one-third of SoFi survey respondents worry that the cost of housing will put a squeeze on their savings in retirement. Yet at the same time, half of respondents also believe their home will be a significant factor in funding their retirement.

34% cite housing affordability as a top retirement concern

The cost of housing ranks as the fourth biggest retirement worry for survey respondents after inflation, running out of money, and health care costs.

50% say owning a home will play a major role in funding retirement

Despite what it may cost them in mortgage payments, half of all survey respondents expect their home to be instrumental in helping them build their retirement fund. Gen Z is especially likely to call their home a retirement asset: 57% of them believe owning a house will play a major role in funding their retirement, compared to 46% of Millennials who say the same.

Survey responses suggest: Affordability, housing costs, and rising prices are a major worry for Gen Z and Millennials now and in the future. As they see how inflation currently curtails their ability to save for retirement, they fear it may also reduce their purchasing power in retirement and effectively make their savings worth less.

Gen Z Prioritizes Wealth Acceleration, While Millennials are Security Focused

Many younger adults see the path to retirement as branching out in different directions, rather than one straight road. For them, the years leading up to it, and retirement itself, are a chance to embrace new opportunities.

37% say their top retirement goal is passive income

Across the board, the respondents to SoFi’s survey say their primary retirement goal is to have enough passive income coming in to ensure that they never have to work again.

Gen Z feels particularly passionate about passive income: 40% say it’s their number-one retirement goal versus 35% of Millennials who feel that way.

Gen Z is slightly more likely than Millennials to choose building net worth as fast as possible as their top retirement goal. Millennials prefer to reach a basic level of security for retirement.

In Spite of the Challenges, Market Volatility Has Not Pushed Most Savers Off Course

Although they are clearly concerned about what the future might hold, the ups and downs of the stock market have not caused respondents to change their original long-term investment strategy.

38% have remained true to their original investment plan

Most believe that consistency is key and have stayed to the investment roadmap they first mapped out. Twenty-two percent reported increasing their contributions to take advantage of lower prices.

Only 9% have temporarily pulled back due specifically to market volatility

A small group of respondents say they have momentarily paused or reduced their contributions because of ups and downs in the market, while 20% have moved some of their assets into more conservative or stable options.

Side Hustles Are Helping Some Save Extra for Retirement

Taking on extra work allows some Millennials and Gen Zers to save more money for retirement, but overall, most survey respondents are trying to build their nest egg with earnings from their primary job.

32% of savers have a job on the side

Among respondents who are saving or trying to save for retirement, almost one-third say they use income from a side hustle or freelance work to boost their retirement savings.

Another 10% use cash-back rewards or microinvesting apps to increase their savings for retirement, and 5% use passive income they make from rental properties or dividends.

53% rely solely on their primary salary

Still, more than half of savers use only their main source of income to increase their retirement savings. Some savers consider automating their finances as part of their approach.

The Takeaway

Overall, Gen Z and Millennials are hopeful about retirement and believe they can achieve it with a plan in place. Many of them have started to save, and while the amounts in their retirement accounts may be modest, they are on the path to building wealth for the future.

At the same time, both generations are facing a multitude of financial challenges, including inflation, economic uncertainty, high housing costs, health care expenses, and debt. Many have had to temporarily pause or stop spending at least once because of financial pressures.

But still, they are flexible and resilient, and ready to pivot when need be. The majority of respondents are contributing to a retirement plan, and some have taken side gigs to boost their retirement contributions. While many are counting on passive income streams to help power them through retirement, others plan on working into their golden years. Millennials and Gen Z are recreating what it means to be retired and how to achieve their financial goals.

About the Survey

Findings are based on an online survey of 761 U.S. adults aged 18 to 45 who are actively involved in retirement planning/saving. The survey was conducted in March 2026. Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding, and select questions allowed multiple responses.

This story was produced by SoFi and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

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Previously Published on hub.stackernewswire

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Here’s something that surprises most people when they first hear it: rest is not the default prescription for most musculoskeletal injuries anymore. The clinical evidence accumulated over the last two decades has consistently and repeatedly shown that for the overwhelming majority of soft tissue injuries, joint problems, post-surgical recoveries, and chronic pain conditions, controlled, progressive, appropriately guided movement produces better outcomes than the rest-and-protect approach that dominated clinical thinking for most of the twentieth century.

This isn’t a fringe position or an emerging theory. It’s the current consensus of sports medicine, physiotherapy, orthopedics, and rehabilitation medicine backed by a volume of randomized controlled trial evidence that has shifted clinical guidelines across every major professional body in the field. Movement heals. Appropriate load stimulates tissue repair. Progressive exercise rebuilds the strength, coordination, and movement quality that injury disrupts. And the nervous system, which is ultimately what processes and generates the experience of pain, responds to graded, confident, purposeful movement in ways that medication and rest alone cannot produce.

Understanding why movement therapy works, what it looks like in practice, and how to find the kind of clinical environment that delivers it well is what gives injured and recovering people the framework to make decisions that actually accelerate their recovery rather than delay it.

The Biology Behind Why Movement Heals

The body’s healing response to soft tissue injury is a biological process with specific phases and specific requirements at each phase. Understanding these phases at a basic level explains why the timing and type of movement matters, and why the old advice to rest an injury until it feels better was producing systematically worse outcomes than the active management approach that replaced it.

The Inflammatory Phase

In the first 72 hours following an acute injury, the body initiates an inflammatory response, increased blood flow, cellular recruitment, and the delivery of the biological machinery needed to begin tissue repair. Inflammation in this context is not the enemy. It’s the necessary first phase of healing, and the goal of management during this phase is not to eliminate it but to avoid making it excessive while protecting the injured structure from forces that would cause additional damage.

Movement during this phase is not aggressive, loading its gentle, pain-guided range of motion that maintains circulation, prevents the joint stiffness that develops rapidly with complete immobilization, and begins the neural re-engagement of the injured area that is compromised from the moment of injury. The protective movement patterns that the nervous system imposes immediately following injury, muscle guarding, movement restriction, postural compensation are appropriate during this phase but become problematic if they persist beyond it.

The Proliferative Phase

From approximately three days to six weeks following injury, the body lays down new collagen to repair the damaged tissue. The quality and organization of this new collagen is profoundly affected by the mechanical environment in which it develops. Collagen that forms in an immobilized, unloaded tissue develops in a disorganized pattern with reduced tensile strength. Collagen that forms under appropriate mechanical load aligns along the lines of stress the tissue experiences in normal function producing stronger, more organized scar tissue with better functional properties.

This is the biological basis for progressive loading in rehabilitation not as an arbitrary prescription for activity, but as a direct intervention in the quality of tissue repair. The load stimulus during this phase needs to be appropriate enough to guide collagen organization without disrupting the repair process which is where clinical assessment and progression guidance becomes essential.

The Remodeling Phase

From six weeks to two years following significant injury, newly formed tissue progressively remodels under mechanical load, collagen fibers cross-link, tissue stiffness increases, and the functional properties of the repaired tissue approach those of the original. This process requires continued appropriate mechanical stimulus throughout the remodeling phase. Tissue that is progressively loaded through remodeling develops better functional properties than tissue that is protected from load once the initial pain of the injury resolves.

The clinical implication is significant: the end of pain does not signal the end of the rehabilitation needed. The tissue continues to develop and improve under appropriate load for months after the person no longer feels the injury, and progressive exercise through this remodeling phase is what produces genuinely complete tissue recovery rather than the partial recovery that stops when pain stops.

What Movement Therapy Actually Involves

Movement therapy in a rehabilitation context is not exercise for its own sake. It’s a specific, assessment-guided, progressive application of mechanical load and movement challenge calibrated to what the person’s tissue can tolerate at each stage of recovery and directed toward the specific functional goals that define successful recovery for that individual.

Assessment as the Foundation

Effective movement therapy starts with a thorough assessment that goes considerably beyond identifying what hurts and where. A comprehensive rehabilitation assessment establishes the specific structures involved in the injury or condition, their current stage in the healing process, the movement impairments that have resulted from the injury, the compensatory movement patterns that have developed in response to pain and protection, and the specific functional demands that recovery needs to restore.

This assessment is what makes the subsequent treatment specific rather than generic. Two people with the same diagnosis, say, a rotator cuff tendinopathy may have completely different movement impairment profiles, different pain behaviors, different contributing factors, and different functional goals. The movement therapy program that’s appropriate for each of them will look meaningfully different, and applying the same program to both because they share a diagnosis is an approach that consistently underperforms individualized programming.

Progressive Loading Protocols

The core mechanism of movement therapy across most musculoskeletal conditions is progressive loading systematically increasing the mechanical demand placed on the healing tissue in ways that stimulate adaptation without provoking tissue overload.

For tendon injuries one of the most common and most frequently mismanaged categories of musculoskeletal problem progressive loading is not supplementary to the treatment, it is the treatment. The research on tendinopathy over the last two decades has established with considerable clarity that tendons don’t heal well without appropriate load, that complete rest produces inferior outcomes to active management, and that the specific protocol of eccentric and later heavy slow resistance loading produces the most consistent and durable improvement in tendon structure and pain across multiple anatomical locations.

The same principle applies, with appropriate modification, to muscle strains, ligament sprains, joint injuries, and post-surgical recovery. The load parameters how much, how often, how fast, in what range of motion, through what movement patterns change with the tissue type, the healing stage, and the individual’s response. The principle that appropriate progressive load drives better recovery than rest and protection holds across virtually all of them.

Motor Control and Movement Quality

Pain and injury don’t just damage tissue they change how the nervous system controls movement. The inhibitory effects of pain on motor output are well-documented and begin immediately following injury. Muscles surrounding an injured joint or structure are reflexively inhibited, reducing their output in patterns that protect the injured area from further stress. The protective guarding and compensatory movement strategies that develop in response to pain are neurologically rational short-term adaptations that become functionally counterproductive if they persist beyond the acute phase.

Movement therapy addresses the motor control dimension of recovery explicitly, not as an afterthought to the loading component. Specific exercises that re-engage inhibited muscles: the deep neck flexors following cervical injury, the rotator cuff following shoulder injury, the deep lumbar stabilizers following low back pain restore the neural drive to these muscles that pain has suppressed. Movement re-education that identifies and corrects compensatory patterns retrains the movement sequences that the nervous system defaulted to during pain protection and restores the more efficient, less injury-prone patterns that preceded the injury.

This component of rehabilitation is where skilled clinical observation makes the most difference. Movement quality problems: a hip that drops during single-leg loading, a shoulder that elevates and internally rotates during reaching, a lumbar spine that extends at the wrong moment during lifting are visible to a trained eye but aren’t captured in any standard clinical measurement. Identifying and correcting these movement quality problems is what separates rehabilitation that produces genuinely complete recovery from rehabilitation that resolves pain while leaving the movement dysfunction that predicts recurrence.

Common Conditions That Respond Strongly to Movement Therapy

The evidence base for movement therapy as the primary management approach is strongest in conditions that represent the majority of musculoskeletal presentations seen in clinical practice.

Low back pain, the single most prevalent musculoskeletal condition in the developed world and a leading cause of disability across all age groups, has an overwhelming evidence base supporting movement and exercise as the primary management approach. The vast majority of low back pain is non-specific in the sense of not being attributable to specific structural pathology that requires surgical or other invasive management. For this large majority, movement-based rehabilitation consistently outperforms passive treatment approaches across all time horizons measured.

Shoulder conditions rotator cuff tendinopathy, shoulder impingement presentations, adhesive capsulitis respond strongly to movement therapy that addresses both the local shoulder pathology and the scapular and thoracic contributions to shoulder mechanics that are almost always impaired in persistent shoulder conditions. The research on shoulder rehabilitation consistently identifies scapular stabilizer strengthening and rotator cuff progressive loading as the most important exercise components, regardless of the specific diagnosis within the shoulder complex.

Knee conditions, patellofemoral pain, iliotibial band syndrome, meniscal irritation not requiring surgical management, and early to moderate osteoarthritis all have strong evidence bases for progressive exercise management. Hip strengthening, particularly the hip abductors and external rotators, is a consistent component across multiple knee diagnoses because of its fundamental role in controlling the forces that act on the knee during loading activities.

How Clinical Physiotherapy and Chiropractic Care Work Together

The most effective rehabilitation for many musculoskeletal conditions, particularly those that are complex, chronic, or involve multiple contributing factors, integrates multiple clinical disciplines rather than relying on any single approach in isolation.

Specialized movement therapy for rehabilitation needs provides the exercise prescription, progressive loading protocols, and movement re-education that produce functional recovery. Manual therapy joint mobilization and manipulation addresses the joint mechanics and neural pain processing components that exercise alone may not fully resolve. The combination is more effective than either approach alone for most of the complex presentations that end up in specialist care after failing to respond to initial management.

Working with a chiropractor in Littleton or a skilled manual therapist as part of a coordinated rehabilitation team allows each discipline to contribute what it does best the chiropractor addressing joint dysfunction and neural pain processing through manipulation and mobilization, the physiotherapist building the progressive exercise program that restores movement quality, strength, and functional capacity. When these disciplines work from shared assessment information and communicate about patient progress, the integrated approach consistently outperforms either discipline working independently on the same presentation.

What Recovery-Focused Movement Therapy Looks Like in Practice

A rehabilitation program built around movement therapy looks different from what many people expect when they walk into a clinic for the first time, particularly if their previous experience of physiotherapy involved primarily passive treatments ultrasound, heat, manual massage without a substantial exercise component.

The first session establishes the assessment baseline movement testing, strength testing, pain behavior assessment, functional capacity evaluation. The treatment plan that emerges from this assessment has explicit goals: not “reduce pain” in the abstract, but “able to walk two kilometers without pain increase within eight weeks” or “return to overhead sport-specific movement within twelve weeks.” These specific functional goals create accountability in the program and give both patient and clinician a clear framework for evaluating progress and adjusting the program when progression isn’t occurring as expected.

Exercise prescription is specific and progressive from the first session. The exercises prescribed on day one are not the same exercises prescribed in week six the program evolves continuously based on the tissue’s demonstrated response to loading and the patient’s demonstrated movement quality as capacity develops. This is not a static protocol that plays out the same way regardless of individual response. It’s a dynamic clinical process that adjusts based on what’s actually happening.

Home exercise programs extend the therapeutic effect of clinical sessions into the patient’s daily life. The exercises prescribed for home are not supplementary to the real treatment; they’re a core component of the rehabilitation program that produces a significant proportion of the overall therapeutic stimulus. Patients who complete their home programs consistently recover faster and more completely than those who treat clinic sessions as the entirety of their rehabilitation.

The Return-to-Function Standard

Movement therapy done well doesn’t end when pain resolves. It ends when the patient has demonstrated the functional capacity their goals require and when that capacity has been tested under conditions that reflect the actual demands of their daily life, work, and recreational activities.

For a recreational runner, that means progressive return to running volume and pace with monitoring of symptom response across a structured return-to-run protocol. For a construction worker, it means progressive return to lifting, carrying, and overhead work demands with specific load monitoring. For an older adult whose goal is walking comfortably and maintaining independence, it means demonstrated capacity for community-level ambulation and the household activities that define their daily function.

The return-to-function standard is both more demanding and more meaningful than the pain-resolution standard that has historically defined the end of physiotherapy treatment. Pain-free doesn’t mean ready. Demonstrating the functional capacity that the patient’s life requires under conditions that actually test it is what genuinely complete recovery looks like.

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Living in a hot, humid, and often coastal environment brings unique HVAC challenges. Excess moisture strains air conditioners, salt air speeds up corrosion, and storm season can interrupt power and airflow. Yet with the right equipment, setup, and upkeep, you can stay comfortable while keeping energy use in check. This guide explains how heat and humidity affect your system, what to look for when choosing equipment, common mistakes to avoid, everyday settings that save money, and maintenance habits that extend system life.

Every home is a little different—construction, insulation, shade, occupancy, and even lifestyle all shape the best path to comfort. Consulting a qualified local contractor can help translate the principles below into a plan for your home. For example, Next Generation Air & Heat, Inc. serves homeowners in warm, humid areas and can discuss options that balance cooling, dehumidification, and efficiency.

What Heat, Humidity, and Salt Air Do to Your Equipment

In humid climates, your air conditioner or heat pump cools the air and removes moisture at the same time. When humidity is high, the system runs longer to wring water from the air, especially during shoulder seasons and at night. Short, powerful bursts of cooling that shut off quickly can leave rooms cold but clammy, because there wasn’t enough runtime to dehumidify. Over time, moisture can encourage biological growth inside air handlers and ducts if filters and drip pans aren’t maintained.

Near the coast, salt in the air accelerates corrosion on outdoor coils, fasteners, and cabinets. Even several miles inland, prevailing winds can carry enough salt to matter. Corrosion reduces heat transfer, forcing the system to work harder. It can also make routine service—such as removing panels or disconnecting fasteners—more difficult. Choosing corrosion-resistant features and rinsing coils periodically can slow this process and protect performance.

Choosing Equipment That Fits a Coastal Home

If your primary need is cooling and humidity control, pay attention to features that lengthen runtime at lower speeds. Variable-speed or two-stage systems can maintain steadier temperatures, run quieter, and improve moisture removal because they avoid the frequent on/off cycles of single-stage equipment. A dedicated dehumidification mode—where the system slows the blower to allow the coil to remove more moisture—can boost comfort on muggy days without overcooling the house.

Look for models with coastal-rated coils, protective coatings, or stainless and composite components. These options can reduce corrosion risks. If you’re replacing equipment, review efficiency ratings and how they relate to your climate. High-efficiency cooling helps in long, hot seasons, but it must be paired with proper duct design and controls to deliver real-world savings. In some homes, a whole-home dehumidifier integrated into the ductwork can work alongside your AC, especially if you prefer slightly warmer temperatures but still want dry indoor air.

Avoiding Common Sizing and Ductwork Mistakes

“Bigger” cooling equipment doesn’t mean “better” comfort. Oversized units cool quickly and shut off before removing enough moisture, which leaves sticky air and can worsen indoor air quality. Proper sizing uses load calculations that factor in window area, insulation levels, air leakage, orientation to the sun, and occupancy patterns. If your current unit short-cycles or certain rooms feel damp, ask about recalculating the load before replacing equipment with a larger model.

Ducts matter as much as the equipment. Leaky or undersized ducts waste cooled air and can lead to hot or humid rooms. In humid climates, ducts running through attics or garages should be well sealed and insulated to prevent condensation. Balanced airflow—achieved through correct return and supply placement—helps regulate humidity and temperature from room to room. If you’re adding a new room or converting a garage, consider whether the existing ducts can handle the additional load or whether a ductless system would better isolate that space.

Settings and Habits That Tame Bills in Swelter Season

Small changes in how you operate your system can add up. A programmable or smart thermostat can raise the setpoint when you’re away and bring temperatures back down before you return. In humid regions, large temperature setbacks may cause the system to work hard later to remove built-up moisture, so moderate setbacks often perform better than extreme ones. Aim for a setpoint that keeps you comfortable without forcing the system to run constantly; ceiling fans can make rooms feel cooler at slightly higher temperatures by moving air across your skin.

Filter changes are more than a maintenance box to check—they affect airflow, which influences dehumidification and energy use. Choose a filter that balances capture efficiency with airflow; overly restrictive filters can reduce moisture removal and strain the blower. Keep doors and windows closed during peak humidity, use bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans to vent moisture at the source, and fix weatherstripping to keep humid air from slipping in. If you notice indoor humidity lingering above a comfortable range, ask about fine-tuning blower speeds or adding supplemental dehumidification rather than dropping the thermostat several degrees.

Maintenance and Storm Readiness Checklist

Preventive care reduces breakdowns and preserves efficiency. At least annually, have a professional check refrigerant levels, inspect electrical connections, clean indoor and outdoor coils, clear the condensate drain, and verify airflow. In coastal areas, gentle rinsing of the outdoor coil between service visits can help remove salt deposits—follow manufacturer guidance and avoid high-pressure sprays that can damage fins. Keep vegetation trimmed back from the outdoor unit to allow free airflow and easier service access.

Storm season adds a few extra steps. Surge protection can help safeguard electronics in your HVAC system during power fluctuations. If a major storm is approaching, secure outdoor covers or loose items that could strike the condenser, and make sure your condensate drain is clear to prevent backups during heavy rain. After outages, allow the system to stabilize before restarting; if the unit was submerged or physically damaged, have it inspected before use. Finally, consider a maintenance schedule timed before peak heat and before storm season so issues are addressed proactively.

Staying comfortable in a hot, humid climate is about more than raw cooling power. Moisture control, smart sizing, well-designed ducts, and everyday habits work together to create steady comfort and reasonable energy use. With climate-appropriate equipment and consistent upkeep, your system can handle long summers, salt air, and stormy weather with fewer surprises. If you’re planning a replacement or fine-tuning an existing setup, pair the guidance above with a local evaluation to turn best practices into a home that feels good year-round.

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By Special to El Paso Matters

By Joe Moody

It was seven years ago now, but it still feels like yesterday that 23 people were gunned down in El Paso because of how they looked. And today, as much as I’m thinking about the 23 taken from us, I’m also thinking of a 24th.

Just a few weeks ago, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot to death by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Houston.

Lorenzo was an unarmed man with no criminal history who was killed on his way to work. Witnesses say ICE agents rammed his vehicle then opened fire – and that they were never in any danger from Lorenzo.

The federal government has insisted on investigating itself and claimed no one had any of the body cameras ICE was given $20 million for. It has yet to provide any evidence to justify the shooting other than leaning into a lie that drugs were found in the vehicle afterwards. Testing revealed that was never true.

What happened in Houston was very different from what happened in El Paso, but it’s on my mind because it came from the same place.

In the years since Aug. 3, 2019, I’ve written and spoken repeatedly about the danger of the political rhetoric being used against immigrants and Mexican Americans. The murderer who drove to El Paso back then did it to stop what he called “the Hispanic invasion of Texas.” His own manifesto and statements by his attorneys specifically talked about the political influences that drove him to pull the trigger.

Politicized hate has only gotten worse since then. National and state voices have shamelessly turned to naked racism and dehumanization, and footage uncovered through recent lawsuits has shown ICE agents using racial slurs on the job.

It’s no wonder that immigration enforcement has turned into an unprofessional and brutal spectacle that’s killed people across the country and led to thousands of detainees, including at camps in El Paso, suffering inhumane conditions that would’ve once been unthinkable in the United States.

That can only happen when people aren’t thought of as people. You don’t shoot someone who’s just going to work or going to Walmart unless you believe they’re “invaders” who are “poisoning our country” or “bringing drugs, bringing crime . . . rapists” who’ve been emptied out of prisons and mental institutions south of us.

Taking personhood is what makes it possible to take lives.

I used to think these deaths would change people’s hearts and minds, but I’ve come to realize that lives mean nothing to those who don’t recognize the humanity of the dead in the first place. They’ll never see us if we don’t make them. I know we can, though.

We saw how to do it right here in an El Paso courtroom.

When the Walmart shooter was sentenced, Yolanda Tinajero, the sister of one of the 23, actually hugged him. “I want you to see and feel all of us who have been impacted by your actions,” she told him, adding that if he’d just come to El Paso, “We would have opened our doors to you to share a meal, breakfast, lunch or dinner, Mexican-style, so then your ugly thoughts of us that have been instilled in you would have turned around.”

What Yolanda did in that moment was put the incredible heart of El Paso and communities like it on public display. She recognized that the only way to disarm and defeat hate is by showing the world (even the worst parts of it) who we are and how we love. She forced the killer to see her. It was the first time in all these years he showed any emotion in court.

There’s a lot to be angry about these days, but anger alone isn’t transformative. We’ll never end racist rhetoric – never be safe or equal – until our personhood can’t be denied.

As we remember the fallen this year, let’s also honor them by showing up and showing out every day and everywhere. And let’s do that not just with our strength and resolve and excellence as a border community, but like Yolanda, with the undeniable love that defines us as people.

Joe Moody represents El Paso’s District 78 and serves as speaker pro tempore in the Texas House of Representatives.

This article first appeared on El Paso Matters and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Who is the most important person in your organization? I don’t know. But it probably isn’t you.

It’s a small universe if you are its center.

You become bigger when you give yourself to something bigger.

Others Make You Matter

Leadership requires others.

A leader is a person with followers. Leadership only exists in relationship.

The way you view others determines the nature of your leadership.

Enough Ego

Healthy ego seeks significance through service. David Letterman, referring to his service to Habitat for Humanity, put it this way,

“When you help others, you feel better about yourself.”

Leaders who live for themselves live small disappointing lives.

Something Bigger

Barack Obama spoke the following words at Senator John McCain’s memorial service.

“By his own account, John was a rebellious young man. In his case, that’s understandable, what faster way to distinguish yourself when you’re the son and grandson of admirals than to mutiny. Eventually, though, he concluded that the only way to really make his mark on the world is to commit to something bigger than yourself.” (September 1, 2018.)

You aren’t the center when you live for something bigger than yourself.

5 Practices

1. Put your team at the center of your focus for one day.
2. Get excited about things others are doing.
3. Talk less about yourself. Brag more about others.
4. Stand up for your convictions with grace. Putting others at the center isn’t being a pushover.
5. Determine if your actions matter. “Will this matter next week, next month, next year?”

Reflection: Habitual criticism reveals a big ego.

How does leadership change when service takes the center?

6 Reasons Egotistical Leaders are Exhausted

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