Here at The You Can Hub, we love upcycling. Didn’t we mention that already? Our friends over at Recreations Up are constantly wowing us with pretty and useful things they make from other people’s rubbish – so much so that when I got married, I chose them to make all of the decorations. Interest in upcycling is growing, but we think it’s more than just a trend, and it turns out someone else agrees – as Poor Pitiful Pearl says, it’s a lifestyle!

Shauna, the lady behind Poor Pitiful Pearl, was interviewed by Etsy about how she got started, and we noticed just a few aspects to her story that sounded familiar:

• desire for change often comes out of a crisis – in Shauna’s case, the loss of a close friend. Maybe this is just another type of upcycling – creating something positive out of a difficult experience!
• whatever change it is you’re trying to make, the most important thing to do is Just Start
• Shauna’s interest in working towards balance and flexibility
• wanting to make a difference – which Shauna does through choosing to donate 10% of sales to charity
• embracing imperfect beauty

We find these themes are coming up again and again for us, and people around us. Which of these themes resonate with you? What changes have you made that were inspired by a crisis?

This great piece in the Guardian talks about all the things we’re finding at You Can Bike Too:

• how incredibly flexible the bike is when it comes to catering for all kinds of abilities in fact, we have found that our bikes are great for people who just aren’t that confident about cycling
• trikes work really well for those whose balance makes using a traditional bike difficult
• riders with disabilities and able bodied cyclists can and often do ride together at club and coaching sessions

It’s great to see our supporter Ian Tierney quoted in the article too! Without Wheels for All Cycling Projects, we wouldn’t have come this far. Don’t forget you can come and try these bikes for yourselves! There are two options:

– Weekend family sessions for mums and dads to cycle with their kids – see here for full details

– Week-day adult sessions for any individuals who wants to give cycling a go – see here for full details

We look forward to seeing you there! And we’re pleased to report that so far, these sessions have been rain-free – though it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.

We think it’s great that the paralympics are having such a positive effect and getting more people interested in cycling. How have the paralympics influenced your view of the world? What did you learn?

Are you Old School Resilient…

• Maintain privacy at all times
• Don’t accept help, and certainly don’t ask for it
• Stay unemotional at all costs
• Be resolute
• Show self-restraint