by K. Kemper
Writers need to “cut to the chase” – make our points quickly! I agree. In this article, I actually am!
I just watched my national news and I felt/feel sorry for those who are dying or are ill or are disabled by the heat wave. I have good news for you. I have ways for you to FEEL better very quickly and it won”t cost you anything!
I am a free-lance writer, college teacher and son of a man who raised me in the warm Los Angeles, California weather.
Let me start sideways for a minute if you will have patience. Many people were raised in the %5Bmid-west%5D snow country – weather from 50 above to 20 below is of no great concern to you! To me, I feel like a popsicle. NOW, if you were to watch me %5Bage 59%5D, and on my self-imposed exercise program, I not only walk 3 miles every morning – in temperatures ranging from 75 to 105 – but I also walk 3 miles every afternoon in temperatures from 78 %5Bwinter%5D to 125 in the summer. Last week on Tuesday, I think, it was 115. I was warm but not hot. I also JOG every other day, for 3 miles. I do 150 feet walk, then jog the same distance and then walk, etc. I do not FEEL the heat!! I am warm but not hot.
I am not boiling, not hindered and not paralyzed by the heat. I was raised in the heat. I am an Anglo if that matters.
When my dad used to do yard work in Los Angeles, Ca., in 1952, it would often be 115 in the shade. Since people learn behavior from our parents, and since my dad was a sun worshipper, I also learned to love the heat. I could be kidding and say I hated dad keeping my brother and I in the ‘searing heat’, but in truth, he did not do any such thing. He was comfortable, shirt-less and loved to putter on our 1.5 acre land as he weeded and did other land-maintenance chores. We even had contests to see who could guess the temperature any day in the SHADE. I often won. We never had contests to see who could STAY in the sun the longest because it would have been a boring contest. My brother and I %5Bhe is 2 yrs younger%5D and my dad HONESTLY loved/love the heat. Dad is gone now but he died from old age, not heat prostration.
I moved to Phoenix in 1980 and rarely had the air conditioning on. I do belatedly hereby apologize to the few guests I had visit my home %5Bin 1980%5D who mentioned casually “I am sorry your air conditioning does not work.” I would get a bit embarrassed and respond that it indeed did work and that I did not feel warm enough to turn it on – it was only 105 in the house.
HOW do I do it? For me, there is nothing to do. I accept the warmth, like mid-westerners accept the cold. I bask in it, walk and jog and play in it. I cover up so that my skin does not burn but Ido not say %5Bor feel%5D HOW horrible, the temperature is……..
I am not immune to heat or warmth, do not get me wrong. I am simply saying that I am not bothered by it. IF I touch something that is hot, I burn my fingers like anyone would. I am saying that simply because it is ‘x’ temperature outside, does not alarm me or make me feel HOT.
WHEN outside and small gusts of wind float across me, I feel the sweat pouring off my brow. To me, that is a good thing, not something to be ashamed or upset about.
I once watched a TV show about the Marines. ONE hippie kid was always getting intro trouble and when he received a punishment of holding a paint can in his outstretched hands in 100 degree heat, he just imagined himself with his girl friend in the ocean waves. HE got through the “punishment” emotionally and physically unscathed. YOU can too!
IT is a fact that when we say such things as “MY LORD, it is ……….freezing, boiling”, %5Bor whatever%5D, we are telling our bodies to prepare for a negative thing. WE get tense and our blood pressure increases. IF instead, we said nothing…….or we said “what a nice day” EVEN with sweat pouring down our brows, we will feel cooler!!!
TRY It, it works!
%5Bstart trying it alone so your friends don’t think you are crazy%5D
