Summer
I love summer. I could just end right there because summer is so amazing and needs no further explanation. I love summer! Summer puts my mood on ten, constantly. I get into this chill, everything is all good kind of vibe. No matter what is going on, I can just appreciate the moment in the summer. As I go year by year, I just appreciate summer SO MUCH!!! It is just in my blood, my bones, my marrow – it is in my DNA. I was born in summer, toward the end of summer actually. My birthday was always right before school started when I was a kid. Deep down I think that is why I relish in summer, why I come alive, why I flourish in my spirit. All I want to do is to dwell in summer, truly take every moment for all it is worth. So I soak up every single ounce that I can. The fire for summer is in my soul. I just like to be warm. I just like to feel the breeze. I just like the sun. Vitamin D must be my drug because I crave it so bad all year and immerse myself in it all summer long. It is taking all the self-control and self-discipline that God has given me to sit inside and write this right now. Full disclosure, I actually started this blog about a month ago and I am JUST now putting it all together. I was too busy enjoying summer to finish my thought. I love to write, but summer is my intoxication. I lust for summer because I know it is going to be a short fling. I live in Chicago and you have to grab hold of those fleeting moments of deliciousness that is summer. Even writing, which is my passion, cannot hold me like the sun. The power of the sun is too strong, it pulls me in - a seduction of gravitational proportions.
In the summer I just want to do my life better and to enjoy it fully. Since there are less clothes to be had in the warm months, I am always more motivated to eat better and to work out more intensely. More skin and less clothes will do that to a person. It is not just the scant nature of the lack of clothing in the summer that motivates me though. I just want to be better. The warmth and the sun just makes me desire for health and the ability to enjoy everything and anything that comes my way. Friends, family and get-togethers abound in summer. I am such a relational person. I do enjoy having time alone and enjoy just being, but I also thrive when I am around people that I care for and love. In summertime, everyone comes out of their holes and into the light. Vampires become beach bunnies. Hermits become social butterflies. Everyone comes alive in summer…well, I guess not everyone. There are those rare birds who love winter, but that is not where I thrive. As far as everyone who comes to play in the summer, we get along so well.
You may not be surprised, but I have zero desire to work the summer. Not exactly zero desire because I do actually enjoy being a productive member of society and I also enjoy getting paid on the regular. Summer though really does weaken my drive for mundane work tasks. Maybe it would be different if I was blogging full time…oh wait, we already established that I barely do that in the summer either! I actually have a pretty good work ethic, but summer just makes me want to work on trying different tequilas in my margaritas over working at the job. To sit and work at a computer all day when the sun is shining and the temperature is rising feels like punishment for a crime. Since I still have to pay bills in summer, I continue to work, but I save most of my paid time off for the summer months. If only someone would pay me to chill and relax at the pool all summer! Now that would be epic. Keep reading the blog friends, one day the blog will help me realize my summer dream. If you do that for me, I will buckle down, be consistent in writing and not a flaky mess like I have been. Love you by the way, thank you for reading even when I take WAY too much time off!!!
All wonderful things have their deadly dangerous sides. As we have established, laziness is one of my summer foes since I have a great desire to do nothing but pool, sun, fun and socialization in the summer. Also, with all the socialization there tends to be a lot of eating. Even though, I like being healthy in summer, there are a lot of calories at all these parties. Before you know it, cheat day turns into cheat weekend and cheat week! Those are not the most enticing of my summer temptations though. There is another aspect of summer that really comes alive when the temperature rises…my amorous side. For better or worse, I am definitely feeling myself (and pretty much everyone else) in summer. Beautiful guys with less clothes are more tan, confident and relaxed in summer than the rest of the year. They also appear to be feeling the health kick of summer as well because these men have been to the gym frequently let me tell you. A ravenous awareness of the opposite sex is definitely one of my favorite and one of my greatest downfalls in summer. Thankfully, this girl is holding it together so far because I really am trying to stay on the purity train after my plethora of life mistakes in the dating and sex arena. Lord help me to discern the dangerously dark, delicious, dreamy dudes that come out in season vitamin D!!! It is a little more difficult for me to prioritize a man's character over his hotness in the summer. Progress, not perfection…I am definitely a work in progress people.
Speaking of vitamin D, let me calm down for a moment and tell you that I love the sun in large part because of the increase in vitamin D. I feel the vitamin D steep into my pores when I am in the sun. There is some debate on whether vitamin D is actually a vitamin, but I will leave that discussion to those more scientifically inclined than I (feel free to research on your own). Regardless whether vitamin D is truly a vitamin or not, there are a multitude of benefits to vitamin D besides just putting me in a better mood. Vitamin D supports the immune, brain and nervous systems (so, what I hear you saying is that I should probably use my brain more in the summer). Cardiovascular health and lung function are assisted through vitamin D (which is great for those summer workouts and for the fellas getting jacked at the gym for me – sorry, I really am calming down now). Bone and teeth health are managed with vitamin D (which is great because I smile a lot more in the summer). Regulation of diabetes and insulin production; as well as, a reduced risk for developing diabetes can also be benefits to vitamin D (there are all those sugary desserts at all these summer parties, so bonus on that). Protective effects to some diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis (hey, whatever the sun can help with – I am all for it). There are also links to vitamin D helping with healthy pregnancies and healthy infants (well that is just fantastic, but seriously though – these gorgeous men need to for real keep their distance). [Ware, Medical News Today].
Until next time, enjoy the summer (you know I will be)!!!
“Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth’; and it was so.” Genesis 1:14-15 (NASB)
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV)
Reference:
Vitamin D: Health Benefits, Facts and Research by Megan Ware RDN LD, reviewed by Dr. Helen Webberly (April 7, 2016) http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/161618.php