You're Hot Then You're Cold

Having lived in Arizona my entire life, minus that six-month stint in the UK, when someone asks me: "Do you hate the cold or the heat more?" I've always said the heat. It's blistery and sweaty, and everyone wants to talk about how what they grew up in was the most miserable of weather. I felt I added credit to my answer based on those few months I spent in one of the UK's warmest winters, the cold is also something you can bundle up in. In the heat, no matter how many clothes you take off without breaking laws, you can't really fool your body temperature. Every summer I tell myself I will somehow not hate summer as much as I did the year before. Honestly, because we cruise from our air conditioned vehicles to our air conditioned jobs or errands, we don't get to really experience it. Many are affected by Arizona's brand of Seasonal Affective Disorder. I am pretty sure that my lightly-sunburned chest that is present throughout the summer months still doesn't make up for the lack of sunshine I allow myself because of fear of scorching. Many citizens are only happy when there is "cool" nearby, usually in the form of a pool. In fact, there are friends that I keep around purely because they own a pool. Despite all of this, I think I will stop arguing with those from the midwest and northeast and admit that cold really sucks. I am currently peeling from a sunburn that I managed to get while laying on the beach in California in 70-degree weather.so I can't blame the heat for sunburns either. When I think to when I've actually been MISERABLE because of weather, it's always associated with things like rain, wind and not feeling parts of my appendages or face. You win, northerners. You win. So, for no reason at all, if you ask me in the future, you will know my answer.

This leads to the fact that I change my mind a lot. You know how your mother always thinks that you like the same foods you liked when you were ten? "When did you start eating mushrooms?" she bellows at you fifteen years later... Well, it's funny how, as a culture, we are not receptive to people around us just changing their minds. Our decisions are our reference points to how we view others/are viewed by others in our social circle. That's Jill-- she's a hippie liberal arts activist. Ok, I just described myself, but the point is, we love to throw titles around. At the same time, reinvention is what keeps us alive. I mentioned this in my first post-- that we have to tear parts down in order to build new ones. I started caring for plants recently, and I have been pruning leaves, so I am starting to get this nature metaphor. We have to continue to grow. Yet it's still a shock when someone that we define as X, Y and Z, decides to try something new or even more shocking when they completely reinvent themselves. We're almost resentful of that couch potato who joins yoga and becomes a vegetarian... WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE CHANGING THEIR LIFESTYLE? She's getting all this attention for making decisions she should have years ago and I've done yoga for seven years! Unfortunately, if you're consistently mediocre or just pretty good at something, you don't really get massive popularity one day. This does not mean that you aren't fantastic and doing your best! Don't lose heart just because your story isn't being highlighted by the news. Notice that the best stories are always from one extreme to another: Rags to Riches, Obese to Thin, Cancer Survivor Wins the Tour de France Six Times! ...That's enough, Lance Armstrong...

Yet 99.9% of us work on a smaller scale. So for those non-life-changing, but perhaps slightly view-shifting ideas that just aren't working for us anymore, let's just accept them in ourselves and those surrounding us. "You don't hate Mad Men anymore?" "You hike now?" "You started eating red meat?" "You dyed your hair?" "You're a hipster?" All of these may be followed by an "...well then I don't even know you." The fact is that many of us may be afraid to change these small things that helped define us because we're scared of being judged or for others to see our convictions weakened. Changing is my favorite part of being human. I love to find something that tests my previous notions, even though I might be stubborn or judgmental at first. For example, if someone asked me to go to a Nascar race. Actually, I just laughed to myself out loud. I don't know if I can get over my preconceived notions of being engulfed by a sea of mullets... I didn't think I liked Parks and Rec because I watched two episodes. I then decided to give it a real shot when I was bored last weekend and watched all three seasons. We can now not only call me a fan, but also an expert on Ron Swanson. I also love to surprise myself. For example, I am currently taking piano lessons and I got way too excited when I played Mary Had a Little Lamb with two hands. I start improv lessons in two weeks... Let's see if I'm funny unscripted. Why not? Get out, make some change and try something new. It's scary to prove yourself and those around you that you're capable of expanding and changing, but it's also an amazing quality that I never want to lose. So yeah, I hate the freezing cold.