For the past few weeks the weather has been relatively pleasant here in Arizona. Not too hot. Not too cold. Just about right.
Then a couple days ago I came out the door in the afternoon and it was a little bit over 90°. "Here it comes," I thought, "the beginning of a few months of baking in hell."
Then I reflected on about a month or two ago – in fact about all the winter months – when it seemed like it was the coldest winter on record. I think I might've even read that somewhere.
Like I said, never happy.
But the reality is for me, that hot weather is much more preferable than cold. The thing is, it just takes a few weeks of becoming acclimated to it for me to stop thinking about how warm it is. Becoming used to the warm weather is relatively easy for me; but I never get used to the cold weather no matter how long I'm out in it. As soon as we have a few days above 100° I won't be paying too much attention to it at all.
Quite often I talk to people on the East Coast during the summer and they usually ask the same question: how can you stand living in hundred plus degree weather? And my answer's pretty much always the same: the same way you stand living in freezing weather, you just stay inside when it's cold. And that's sort of what we do here when it gets too warm. Those who work outdoors usually start working at first light, or earlier, and wrap things up by mid day. During the summer most of us live in air-conditioned cars and homes. Or else in the swimming pool for those of us fortunate enough to have access to one – which I am.
Part of the reality of life is learning to accept whatever is going on around us, whether it's good weather or bad. But that doesn't mean we have to be happy about it. Nor do we have to be unhappy about it.
Those of us in recovery learn to live life with acceptance if we want to get the most happiness out of our existence. And if we approach life that way everything becomes much easier.
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