(Nimue)
For some, the heat of hot summer is a time to play and celebrate. Others find it takes a bodily toll. There is of course no one right way of responding to the conditions, only the way that is right for you and the body you have.
It's important not to make anyone else feel ashamed of their responses. If a person is honouring how their body responds to heat, that should be fine. If a person is in a situation where work or other pressures mean they are suffering because they are not allowed to meet their needs, that deserves compassion.
We've clearly evolved to have bodies that work in different ways. Some of us thrive in the sun, and some of us thrive in the quiet darkness. Some of us want to be up with the dawn and some of us do better going to bed then. That diversity is really powerful, and if we accepted it, we could collectively handle all sorts of things far more effectively.
Unfortunately, humans seem intent on structuring human societies in ways that ignore all of this. We demand that our teenagers get up early in the morning even though we have a ton of evidence that this is counterproductive for them. We expect people to work in unbearable heat.
I think it's because we have been so keen to separate ourselves from nature. If humans are superior to nature and need not be ruled by it then we can do without the rest we need, ignore how our bodies react to heat and cold and so forth. It's insane. We are animals. We have bodies, we exist in the physical world and we are not all the same. If we could just get to grips with this simple truth we could start building human habitats and societies in ways that actually relate to real human needs.
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