Ah, summer. It's that wonderful time of year that everyone just loves so much. Seriously! Ask anyone what their favorite season is, and nine out of ten times, the answer will be summer.
Yes, people are so happy in the summer! So happy, they're significantly more likely to enact violence on others. You know, in a fit of sunshine-inspired joy!
Jokes aside, it is true that there is a link between hot weather and an increase in violent crime due to how the human body reacts to warmer temperatures, such as increased heart rate, blood circulation, sweating, and metabolic changes that trigger the fight-or-flight response.
While I personally have never been the victim--or the perpetrator, for that matter--of violence during the summer months, this is just one of the many reasons I have to justify my sheer hatred for summer.
Here are just some of the many other reasons:
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I'm fair-skinned and burn really easily, and am predisposed to get skin cancer, which means that every single day, even if I am only going to be outside for five minutes, I have to slather myself with high SPF sunscreen--often multiple times daily. And I effing hate the feeling of sunscreen (but not more than I hate the idea of skin cancer).
And on that note, I really hate it when people say they don't need to wear sunscreen because they don't burn; they just tan. Or they don't wear sunscreen because they have darker skin, and don't need it. This couldn't be further from the truth. People of color need to wear sunscreen as much, if not more than others due to the likelihood of hyper-pigmentation, and the prognosis when skin cancer does occur. So even if you disagree with my whole rant here, and you love summer, please protect your skin!
Moving on...
I hate feeling like I need to take a shower...like, immediately after I've showered, because it's so hot that I'm already sweating by the time I get dressed.
I hate that there is no relief from the heat. In the winter, we can layer on clothes to reach our desired level of warmth, but in the summer, there are only so many articles of clothing a person can take off before they're breaking public decency laws.
Furthermore, even when you get out of the sun and into an air-conditioned building, it takes forever to cool off.
I hate when I get out of my car and have a patch of back sweat soaking through my shirt.
I hate that my makeup melts off, even when I wear barely any.
I hate that the sun-worshippers who pray for summer through every other season are the exact same people who complain incessantly about how hot it is, and keep the AC cranked all day long. You don't love the summer! You love artificially cooled air.
So why do so many people seem to love the summer so much? I have a theory! I think people are conditioned from a young age to think they love the summer because, as kids, summer is when school lets out and we're free to play with our friends, park on the couch and watch TV, or play video games all day long. As a kid, summer is the best!
But once you're an adult who has a job, or takes college classes, or are working construction in the arid August heat, you learn that summer isn't what you remembered--but you remain in a loop of nostalgia-driven denial.
Stop lying to yourselves!
