Weekly Lists #89: How to deal with Summer

So for some reason, the weather around here has decided to be hot. The kind of unbearably hot that makes me want to just lie on the floor and not do anything. Ever again. None the less, life goes on.  Which means I still need to get to my internship. And make food. And move to go places. Long story short, I don’t do heat, and now I kind of have to. So learn from my experience, and find out how to deal with summer!

1. Prepare

If you know the heat is coming, prepare for it. Buy water bottles, the big ones. Get ice cream. Make sure you have food that requires little preparing. If you don’t have AC, get some sort of ventilation. If you don’t need to be in places that are too hot, try not to be there.

All the things, but basically: try and prepare.

2. Drink water

Make sure you have a water bottle on you, always. You don’t want to get dehydrated, or just craving a drink and not having anything with you. Most work places will have a tab, a drinking station, … Use them. Usually, you have to drink at least 1l to 1,5l a day. When you’re sweating because of the heat, you need to drink more. Simple as that.

In the same vein: if you’re tired of just water, shake it up. Add pieces of fruit to your water to give it a bit of a taste, freeze some flavoured water to make yourself an “ice cream”.

3. Put on sunscreen

Now, if you’re anything at all like me? You’ll still get burned. I’m the “three layers of sunscreen and a top with sleeves and somehow my shoulders still get burned”-type of person.

None the less, put on the sunscreen anyway. And the cover-ups. And the hats. Get yourself out of the sun in any way possible – either from just not going in the sun at all. Or by making sure you’re protected when you have to!

4. Adapt your closet

This is really another one where I seem to be pre-destined to not get much succes. My  favourite outfit consists of dark jeans, a plain shirt and some sort of cardigan of sweatshirt on top.

Come summer, though, you’re best options are light fabrics and light colours. Always a bit of a stretch for me, in other words. However, even I have to admit that making those changes tends to make my life a lot easier – and cooler!

5. Take a lie down

When it comes to the hottest part of the day? Take a lie down. Hide in the shades. Go the siesta-way. Newspapers and the likes definitely advise the elderly and children to not do anything that requires too much of an effort.

Take this as an excuse to do the same. Sure, you might still have a job, or exams to see to. But if you don’t really feel like going for a jog or doing that extra harsh leg day? Let your body deal with the heat without putting that extra stress on it. You’ll have been putting in quite a bit of extra effort because of the heat, it deserves the rest!

And there you have it, that’s 5 of the things I’ll be doing to try and deal with summer this year! Do you have any other tips and tricks? Please share them with me below – I need them. Seriously, my body can’t cope and we’ve had like 4 weeks straight of above 20°C temperatures. This is a serious situation 🙂

-Saar