Wednesday, July 2, 2014

The beating heat

Good day and well being, summer is here and since I'm not in Arizona at this time, I can still feel the heat here in Southern California, but I am so glad I'm here instead, it can get so hot in the Sonoran Desert, so much so, that you can't even go outside any time of the day, although the serious desert hikers do get up extremely early during these unbearable summers in Phoenix. I've avoided summers in Arizona due to the fact that being stuck indoors can be a bit depressing and being outdoors in extreme heat has an effect on my good vibrations, to me extreme heat is unhealthy and it can affect correct thinking, being overheated just doesn't feel good so it's hard not to complain about how hot and miserable it is. A lot of the time heat can have an effect on our daily attitudes, we can become irritated and impatient, it causes us to lose our temper very easily, we snap at others or just complain about how hot and miserable we are, whatever happened to the good vibrations of summer?[Beach Boys anybody?] As a kid I looked forward to summer, school was out and the lakes and resorts were open, and since I lived at the time, in the Pacific Northwest, swimming was my favorite pastime, as were family picnics, fourth of July fireworks, visiting relatives, and camping and sleeping under the stars. Why is it as we age we dread the summer?, is it really necessary to feel this way?, after all the summers DO seem to be longer and hotter, especially if you believe in climatic change, for myself, as I've moved past age 40, I no longer have the tolerance for extreme heat, or anything hotter than 70 degrees for that matter! Another thing about extreme summer heat is some may have no choice but to stay indoors and watch reality TV or play video games, when I was younger TV was the last thing I wanted to spend time doing during the summer, I never missed an outdoor moment, I wanted to be out there camping, partying, chasing girls at the beach, of course back in the 80s, there was no adult dramas, no reality TV, or internet[I'm thankful for the latter though]and no complications in life, just having fun. The past is in the past, but I haven't tossed away that youth mentality when it comes to the summer just yet, instead I choose to relive those days in a newfound perspective, to escape all that ''dread the summer'' drama that surrounds me and the confining heat of the Southwestern United States, the bad air quality that chokes out the well being and the toxicants that are absorbed from high pollution days, the traffic and the overcrowding at the beaches and state parks, the low moral of those enslaved by the dog days of summer everywhere you go. Soon I'm leaving this part of the country and choosing to reside again in the Pacific Northwest for all the reasons above, to camp and fish crowd free, to enjoy semi empty beaches, to breathe cleaner air, to escape the big city dramas and traffic gridlocks, and most of all the extended summers and droughts that are a result of living in the Southwestern United States, that will prove to only compound the problems I've mentioned above. It's hard even for me to endure the summer heat, and I am as healthy and active as a 20 year old, and that's the issue here, since moving to Arizona in 1997, I began to dreadfully dislike summer, so it only makes sense that I go where I can appreciate summer again, where I can remain active instead of being confined indoors due to extended heat warnings and high pollution advisories. Nothing we can't control should affect our good vibrations I know, but I've endured enough summers in the past 17 years, and I can endure no more, the great northwest calls in all it's splendor and I'm answering. Whether we believe in climate change or not, it's hard to ignore the impact that extreme heat and high pollution has on our health and well being, as well as our psychological minds, and I'm beginning to learn that it needs to be avoided altogether, stay cool!

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