Gratitude 220722
Despite the fact that it seems like it’s been a day inbetween, I’ve only slept once since last post. It just happened to be past midnight, and I haven’t gone to bed yet. So let’s get started with what I feel grateful for today.
This summer
I am one of those people who can’t regulate temperature, thus hate the summer. Swedish summers has, for the past 20 years or so, increasingly gotten hotter and hotter. Yesterday was the hottest day I think I ever experienced (in Sweden) – about 35 degrees on the shaded side of my apartment. When I went outside to let Boyo do his business very quickly, I thought we’d die, both of us.
But – one thing I am grateful for this summer, is that while there has been very hot days, and one longer period of time (two weeks just after Midsummer), the temperatures actually have been quite decent. Decent for me is about 20 degrees or so, and for most part of this summer, that’s where we’ve been.
And at this very moment, I am incredibly grateful that the hottest day of this summer is behind us. I stayed up until 7am yesterday, me, Boyo and Molly slept until 3pm, and then we stayed up until 4am or so.
And the funny thing is, the weather has changed completely over night. Yesterday was a nightmare, and today, the temperature’s dropped with perhaps 18 degrees or so. And it rained – for hours.
The best part is that we’re past the middle of July, which means that the likelyhood of these superhot summer days will decrease the further along we go. Soon, we’ll be in august, and then come FALL. ♥
Pain killers and liniment
I have such a sore back. It’s partly due to my bed – I need a new one, but also because of the bloody fans I have going. I noticed a number of years ago that my body gets very, very tense and sore by fans, which sucks, since I can’t regulate temperature and my apartmet gets extremely hot in summer. I don’t deal well with any temperature above 20 degrees, and when it gets over 25, I suffer. I can’t afford an AC, so my fans are the only thing to help me get through the summers.
Being so sore with muscles in the weirdest places aching, I am fairly dependent on other stuff to keep me free(r) from pain. Pain killers and liniment is the shit – really. It sucks I have to use it, because my yoga practise keeps me pain free the rest of the year, but I can’t stand being sore and ach-y like this, if I don’t have to – and I don’t.
So – I do have quite the level of gratitude for these things.
LCHF
Because of how I’ve abused my body through lousy food, sugar, even more lousy eating habits et cetera, I chose to start eating low carb, high fat, a number of years ago. This is the only way of eating that makes it possible for me to regulate my sugar addiction. Since I started eating this way, I’ve learned so much about myself and what my body needs.
Sure, I am no expert and I am no biohacker. But I’ve learned enough to know what my body tolerates these days, what I really shouldn’t eat, what I can’t eat, what I won’t risk eating, and so on.
These past couple of days with the superheat, I’ve skipped my usual eating routine – and I’ve eaten stuff I shouldn’t eat too much of. It sucks, but sometimes I need to take care of other bodily functions, such as lowering my inner temperature with cold food (coconut cream mixed with frozen mango). The good thing is – it’s not ice cream (although there certainly is sugar in the frozen mango), and I eat it only when it’s necessary. Once temperatures drop to normal levels, I don’t need to eat it anymore.
I really like the control it gives me, knowing all these things. I am of course human, so sometimes I do fall behind and eat something I shouldn’t, eat too much or whatever. But in general, I’m very happy – and grateful, for the knowledge I have acquired for the past 7 or so years.
My hair
Usually in summer, my hair gets really bad. I have naturally curly hair which I blowdry with a round brush to make it straight. In warmer temperatures, my hair gets very dry and frizzy, is difficult to brush, and in general, looks like shit. Despite the fact we’ve had really warm periods and days this summer, my hair’s actually stayed fairly good. I haven’t had to wash it every other day, like I usually do this time of the year. I’ve been careful to brush it every day to keep it fairly in order – usually, that doesn’t help much, but it has, this year.
I am giving that to the not-so-extreme temperatures, but am enormously grateful still the same. I am quite peculiar with how my hair looks, not to mention how easy/difficult it is to untangle. Therefore, not feeling like I need to cut half of it off at the end of the summer, is reaaally nice… ♥
… and that’ll be all for today! 🙂