Why I Love and Loathe Summer
I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I just really, really don’t like summer. I love the sunshine and the awesome Vitamin D it gives me, and I like those perfect, 70ish-degree days (aka spring and fall). But full-on summertime? Uh uh. Not for me.
Don’t worry, though; I’ll keep this short and kinda sweet. First up, let’s just get the bad out of the way. Here are five reasons why I loathe summer:
- It’s just too dang hot. I sweat when it’s hot and I sweat when I get nervous/anxious. In the summer, I sweat (because it’s hot), and then I sweat even more, because I know I’m sweating and I think everyone around me knows I’m sweating and can see it, which makes me nervous and anxious….so then I sweat some more. Are you sensing a vicious pattern here? It’s horrible. On top of that, nursing (in public) in the summer is just ridiculous, because then I have the body heat of two people all up against me. Sweat, sweat, sticky sweat. Yuck.
- The clothes. First up: shorts. My legs aren’t exactly suitable for shorts. I think the last time I wore them was in high school, and it was only because I had to for track and cross country. My second least favorite thing to wear in the summer: tank tops. Same reason as the shorts. I wear tank tops, because it’s too hot not to, but I hate showing off my flabby arms.
- Bugs. Flying, creeping, crawling, buzzing, yucky bugs. Mosquitoes, for one, are obsessed with me, which makes being outside that much more unbearable. On
top of that, spiders and ants come out of hiding and crawl on
everything. No thank you. - Sweet tea. I drink unsweet tea more in the summer, and when I order it down here in the south, I inevitably get more sweet tea delivered to me than unsweet. This makes me sad. The only time the switcheroo was acceptable and I didn’t send it back or request another drink was when I was in Savannah in the middle of July, because I thought I was going to die of heat. If only you could hydrate from all the humidity. Speaking of humidity….
- Humidity. It’s just horrible and the number one reason I don’t like summertime, especially here in Georgia. I’d prefer to not feel like I’m walking through a sauna the second I step outside of my air conditioned house or car. Ugh.
And because I’m a fair person, here are five things I do enjoy about summer:
- Monsoons in New Mexico! I love that the days can be perfect and then a thunderstorm rolls on through—almost like clockwork—around dusk. It rains for a little while, then moseys out of town and leaves everything fresh and refreshing. Too bad I don’t live there anymore.
- I eat much, much healthier in the summer: fruit is in season, salads are refreshing, and a smoothie for breakfast is my favorite way to start my day.
- Iced coffee. My husband will probably never understand how I can drink coffee cold, but I love it. I go as far as freezing leftover coffee into ice cubes so I can have my own iced coffee at home. I have a feeling Starbucks will be seeing a lot of me this summer, because I’m totally in love with their new vanilla macchiato.
- Pedicures. I still get them during the colder months, but during the summer I actually get to show them off. I love painting my toes with bright colors. It makes me happy! Speaking of feet…
- Flip flops. Love them. I don’t have very many pairs of flip flops, but I wear the few I have constantly. They help keep me cool since I don’t wear shorts (see above). Come to think of it, I think I should get a colorful pair of flip flops for this summer…maybe it’ll help me enjoy the season more.
I seriously count down the days during summer as I wait for fall to start peeking its head around the corner.
Do you love or loathe summertime?
You read my mind. Seriously. The humidity is AWFUL on the east coast!
it definitely gets pretty darn hot. but i"ll take that ANY day over the cold. haha! thanks for linking up!!
You read my mind on the sweet tea….I am in Minnesota and I STILL get sweet tea delivered to my table instead of unsweet. Ugh!
nooooo bring on the heat!! i live in canada so our summers are legit only 3 months so i soak up the sun as much as possible. right now it's freezing rain where i am. BOOOOO!
-kathy | Vodka and Soda
The longer I live in the south, and away from Maine, the more I grow to love the warmer months. We'll see if I'm still saying that come June/July … but yea. I can't wait for it to warm up. I just hate the spiders and snakes — nothing poisonous came out of the shadows in Maine. Here? I'm always on the lookout.
I love this post, Jess 🙂 Summer wasn't as bad as I expected in Alabama (though we were only there for one, thank goodness!), but yes, the bugs. Ugh ugh ugh. Here in Wyoming we don't get nearly as many – though we still have spiders and these weird half-scorpion-half-spider creatures that are just plain gross, but thankfully no roaches… blech. I grew up in eastern KS, so I was used to the humidity. When I moved to Colorado people couldn't understand how I could wear jeans to work in the middle of summer — my motto "If your clothes aren't sticking to you, it's not that hot!". They didn't believe me, though. I do LOVE those evening thunderstorms (got them often in Colorado) that leave that wonderful refreshing smell lingering in the air… and I love flip flops, too. I also love playing with water outside with the kids, and eating outdoors on the back patio (reminds me of my childhood really).
I'm ready for summer… but we still get snow here until late May 😉
I have honestly been SO spoiled by the weather here in HI. I grew up in southern Alabama and am dreading going back and experiencing those ridiculously hot and humid summers again, ugh. But at least I'll get to feel some chilly weather too so I guess it balances out, haha. I'm going to miss it a lot here though!
THIS. ALL OF THIS POST.
I'm made for Spring and Fall. Heck, Winter even. I've come to accept I'm one those strange people that doesn't care for summer. Too hot, don't like wearing shorts but I do love the fruit!
If you asked me while in Colorado? I HATED summer due to the blazin' heat. However, now that I'm in Alabama, I'm okay with summer because of the humidity. I'll take humid over dry any day. Way to be real and not pretend that summer is your fave 😉
Living in California for the last 4 years has SPOILED me. I hated summer in Virginia for the exact reasons you hate summer. We've been so spoiled to have 70's and sunny all the time. Even when it gets hot hot out here, there isn't that suffocating humidity or bugs to go with it!
I'll let you know how I feel when we get to Okinawa, land of eternal summer- humidity and 80's all the time, YUCK!
I am not a fan of summer, my ideal temperature is 60-70. I live in the midwest where it gets so humid, it's awful. It also doesn't help that I'm super pale and burn extremely easy. That doesn't make me want to be outside either.
I hate wearing shorts! We've been in Hawaii for 7 months and I am so over them. I miss wearing pants. I never thought I'd say that.
Ah I hate tank tops too! I admit to wanting to be stationed in Hawaii but I didn't think about what I'd be wearing while I was there. I completely love pedicures though. In the summer I like to get a new one every few weeks. When we lived in South Carolina, we lived inside with our central air. LOL
Thank you for reminders 2-5 about the good things of summer (as I've never been to NM!). I have some enthusiasm for feeling warm for the first time in three years, but I am mostly dreading our move to Alabama in July. I despise shorts. I despise sticking to stuff (my hair, furniture, the car, so on). I despise turning bright red when I get hot. I really don't like the feeling of going from steaming hot into super-powered air conditioning. But pedis? Flip flops? ICED COFFEE? Salads? Bring it on!
PREACH. Everything you said I agree with. I love summer, but on a much more real level, I hate it. For all the reasons you listed, but mostly the sweat. And also the shorts and bugs. And I hated the sweet tea when I lived in the south. But the iced coffee almost makes it all worth it.