u/grantyraid1991

I wrote the below as a comment in another thread about — you guessed it — the heat, and appreciated my own writing there enough to want to post it here in hopes that it helps at least one person who struggles with the heat.

I’m born and raised in this city over 3 decades and yeah the heat can suck but also there are ways to be okay and dare I say.. enjoy(?) this weather. I love the outdoors, am outside for pleasure and work at least 25% of my total day to day and I’ve never one time in my life gotten close to passing out or feeling heat exhausted. Here are some rapid fire things I naturally just do throughout each day in no particular order:

1. wake up early (5:30-6am) and enjoy the cool quiet mornings, do outdoor exercise while sun just coming up,
2. wear light breezy clothing and sandals (usually w socks so I don’t get my foot stank everywhere). Running shorts and cool-dry exercise/ fishing/ sun shirts are my besties in this weather
3. stay ready to dip by keeping a bathing suit handy
4. stay in the shade wherever possible, avoid the direct sunshine unless having to walk from A to B in the sun
5. keep a large insulated iced water bottle w me at all times and stay super hydrated at 👏 all 👏 times 👏 no exception. If you stay hydrated you’re gonna have a good day. If you don’t hydrate you’re gonna have a bad day.
6. obscene amounts of sun screen always for sun activities
7. frequent breaks in shade or indoors if I have to work outside
8. my summer life revolves around water activities, either running early morning followed by b springs or also I have a cowboy pool in my backyard that has made my summer fun as fuck highly recommend for anyone that can do it.
9. for daytime exercise I go to the gym
10. for snacking I eat a lot of refrigerated fruit that contains high water content ie watermelon and grapes
11. move slowly and exert energy moving quickly only where necessary
12. remote start my truck with AC running a few minutes prior to getting in and also use the windshield shade any time leaving truck in sun for extended periods
13. stay entertained in AC through reading, video games, music, cooking, etc.

I was able to type out the above with minimal thought in a few minutes. There are probably more that I’m missing bht these are all I could think of. 

I know all of these tips and tricks can’t apply to everyone (like the cowboy pool or truck remote start) but there are a lot more that can apply to everyone than don’t. Hope this helps someone.

edit: add paragraph break and corrct numbering

EDIT TO ADD ANOTHER KEY TO MY HEAT-SUCCESS: I’m a runner. I will run up to 10k in up to 95F weather. That said, i never run in heat past 100F: that’s an easy and unnecessary way to suffer from heat stroke/ exhaustion. As someone who loves the heat, there are some temps that are just absurd to expose yourself to for that long while doing an activity that raises your temp and heartrate 😬 to each their own but just as my rule for staying happy and healthy through the hot months I don’t push boundaries running in heat past 100F. And when I do run near my limit (like 95-98F) I try to bob and weave into the shade/ shadows of the trees and buildings where I can.

EDIT AGAIN to put the numbers into ordered list of numbers so it breaks up the text

Deluxe/ extended albums that contain extended tracks, alternate takes, b-side songs..are usually annoying as hell.

You cannot just put on the album in the background and go about your business bc eventually a song you just heard at the beginning of the album will repeat but now it’s a 10 minute extended radio edition version that nobody asked for.

When is the last time you were like “oh hell yeah put on the 15 minute extended radio version of that Depeche Mode song“ or “crank up that 20 minute alternate take of Miles Davis where he’s trying to do Bitch’s Brew but is so zooted out of his mind it sounds like a rusty bicycle convention”.

In cases where it’s a “hidden” track/ b-side song it’s usually mid at best.

I stand on this statement. Name a good deluxe album song. I’ll wait.

EDIT: 1) ok excluding jam bands bc obviously they’re all better live than album, 2) Spotify exists. I don’t “buy albums” and 3) considering this sub‘s purpose, if you’re downvoting this I’d have to assume you agree with me thus you don’t think it’s an unpopular opinion. Thanks.

First of all an obligatory FUCK kratom. I leaned into it heavily when I stopped drinking 1yr 4 months ago and next thing I knew I was spending like $60/ day on 100MG kratom seltzers. Then, when the seltzers stopped hitting like they used to, I discovered 7OH and started taking those alongside my seltzers to really feel something.

Well thank goodness like two weeks after I started 7OH it dawned on me "wait I'm supposed to be sober and... I am going to the mini mart 6 times a day for kratom and 7OH?!? Oh hell no I am HOOKED!!!". I stopped cold turkey the moment I had this realization, knowing it would be a fucked few weeks. I had no idea what was in store.

It was absolutely miserable for almost a month. I'm talking no sleep, restless legs, insane sweating and tossing and turning, severe depression, body aches, etc. etc...

But for anyone reading this that is thinking about quitting, please take this to heart: you are at a fork in your road. You have two decisions you can make right now (yes.. YOU!): you can continue to sit here and read this and think "oh I dunno withdrawals will be too bad" or "yeah I just can't right now, I have too many things going on and can't afford the withdrawals" or "I dunno maybe next month after XYZ". Or you can use this post as your sign to put your goddamn kratom/ 7OH down the toilet RIGHT NOW and change your life for the better starting today.

Here are the things that made it possible for me:

1. tons of supplements: QuitK, Kava, CBD/ CBN, valerian root, TONS OF MAGNESIUM. If you're an addict like me you have to be careful with Kava but I literally just took it until I knew I was weened off the kratom then I stopped.

2. intense exercise: crazy amounts of running and biking in 100F weather, yoga, HIIT and rock climbing. You have to sweat out all the bullshit you put into your body. God knows I did not want to leave bed during this period of acute withdrawals but you have to put one foot in front of the other every single day. You don't do any of those things? Well you better fucking start. Because your body will thank you later.

3. related to #2, staying active and occupied: idle hands are the devil's playground or whatever they say. Being depressed I did not want to do shit. I also knew, depressed (and ADHD), I would not be able to read or make music in my acute withdrawal phase. But I also knew if I was not doing shit I would have wanted to use. So I walked. And I biked. And I swam. I took a blanket to the park and laid in the sunshine and tanned. And I walked more. Outside of running, I must have walked a couple hundred of miles in my acute withdrawal phase, no fucking joke. Because I knew that every step I took walking was one step I more I was not using... and one step FURTHER from using. Other things I did: got back into cooking. Did projects in my backyard and garden.

4. find community: whatever that looks like! I leaned on my family and friends a lot. Most did not know I was going through withdrawals. I just told my family I was going through post-alcohol depression and needed a lot of extra support. Now that I'm over a year out and confidently not going back I would probably feel comfortable telling them if it comes up organically. I leaned on my gym community. I confided in my wife a ton and maintained open communication with her about what I was going through.

5. quit cold turkey as opposed to weening: I get it. You feel like you can't stop cold turkey because your family or job would find out. But dude you are just delaying the inevitable if you ween. I quit on a Wednesday afternoon. I then took Thursday and Friday off work by telling them I was intensely ill (not a complete lie). I spent Thursday through Sunday in salt baths and cramming supplements and chugging water. By Sunday the worst of my withdrawals were enough to go back to work Monday. Even then I told work I was recovering from a severe illness so they had to be patient with me.

6. kept faith that it would get better: .... and here I am! Seriously, it will get better! If you just quit and are struggling, please use this as your message to KEEP GOING!!!! There is light at the end of the tunnel. My depression lasted about six months. It was tough, seriously. But it was so worth it, because now I feel happier and healthier than I ever have.

7. other things: epsom salt baths. cold plunges. freezing cold showers. sauna/ steam room.

Yes I still have a small demon on my shoulder that sees those seltzers sometimes and thinks "aw c'mon just one more won't hurt" but generally, you could not pay me to go back. I was a shell of the man typing this out today.

If anyone is on the fence about this, DM me please.