Back in the day, I’d ski all winter in a skin tight lycra suit. If it was really cold, I might add poly underwear (Lifa brand, of course) to wick the sweat away and a T-shirt, and shorts because frostbite “down there” is excruitiatingly painful, believe you me. I’d orienteer in the spring and fall, and in the summer I was backpacking and canoeing, all of these things done in every condition from hot and humid to freezing rain and snow. I won’t say I was comfortable all the time, but I coped.
Now I can’t seem to get comfortable. Other people’s houses (like my dad and step-mother’s this weekend) are air conditioned to the point where I’m freezing, outside the heat and humidity hit me like a solid wall, and even in my own car where I have complete control over the airconditioning and heat felt like I could get the temperature about right but were still too humid. At least in the airplane I can get up to where the air is thin and cold and turn on the heat. But I just feel “wrong” all the time. And it sucks.
I wonder if the secret to being able to stand the seasons is to spend more time outside in them and less time in over heated or over air conditioned cocoons?
I’m inclined to agree. I tend to get nauseated and experience headaches when I move between air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned spaces in summer, more so when moving from hot to cold. I’ve given up air conditioning at home except in the bedroom, and only when it’s so hot I can’t sleep. It makes me feel better.
Usually, the seasons slide in gradually here in State College, and this makes cold more tolerable for me. During a particularly bad cold snap last year, I remember going outside when it was 20º F and thinking, “Wow, it’s warm out today!” This year, we suddenly went to 90º F in late early June, and it was misery-inducing.
I think there’s also something about whether or not you’re able to adjust the climate. If you have A/C and heat under your control, there’s a sense that you can adjust things to create a “perfect” setting. The quote marks are because there is no such thing, of course — as soon as you get something close to ideal, external conditions or your own body needs start shifting and mess up the balance again.
Since I moved into my new apartment in May, I’ve been experiencing the opposite. May was absurdly cold, and June so far has been sweltering. I know that if I’d already installed the A/C box it would have been on full blast non-stop for the past week. But since it’s not available, I’ve coped with the heat instead, and even gotten to a place where I can appreciate it (most of the time anyway) instead of resenting it.