Meditation: Headspace, Wind Down: Noting
Length: 3 minutes
Where: Bedroom, Los Angeles
How It Felt: Fast but calming
Another rushed night, another quick meditation, but at least I’m sticking with it!
Got through the most fast-paced, stressful part of this week. Now I have a couple of days to get a lot of stuff done at a somewhat more leisurely pace. Somewhat.
It’s hot AF in LA right now, at least in the valley. Honestly, though, it’s nothing compared to what we have waiting for us in Vegas! Look at this madness:
At least by the time we arrive it will “cool down” from that 117 high! Oh my gosh.
I used to think no heat could bother me. I loved being hot, as long as I could be near any type of water. (Ok… not any type. I’m more a pool and ocean person than a lake or pond person, but honestly I can make any of it work if I have to.) I was the weirdo who loved 110 degree days, loved soaking up the sun, loved baking down to my bones.
Then I went to Dubai.
I ignored the warnings to avoid the beach because of the heat. Beaches are MEANT to be hot! That’s the whole point! You swim in the water when you can’t take the heat anymore. Then you lay out. Everyone knows this.
In Dubai, we went to a “secret” beach near a palace where people had caught photos from time to time of tigers swimming in the water- apparently they live at said palace. I had to see that if I could! It also had great views of Burj Al Arab which I also wanted to see, so it seemed like a no brainer.
We took an Uber to the beach, got all settled, and were immediately hot to the point of misery. Perfect! The water will feel so good! I told myself.
Twist. The water felt like a heated pool. Like bath water. Like hot bath water. We got out no cooler than we felt getting in. We drank our waters in big gulps. We tried to find shade and it didn’t matter. Suddenly my heart was racing and I was so dizzy I could barely stand up.
Seemed like time to call a car to take us back to the hotel.
But no cars wanted to come get us! Because this beach was off the beaten path, and because every Uber there is super fancy because Dubai has so much money it doesn’t know what to do with it, cars kept refusing to drive past the normal road and they certainly didn’t want our sandy bodies on their soft, clean leather.
We literally ended up begging a guy to come, promising a huge tip, telling him I might actually be dying. At this point I was sure I was dying. My heart was beating so fast and hard I thought it would explode. I could barely stand. My head was throbbing and my eye sight was blurry.
That, my friends, was the day I discovered “too hot.” I’d lived in the valley for years, no stranger to 100+ degree weather. I’d been to Vegas in the summer more than once. I even spent 2 weeks in Thailand during the hottest part of the year, where I though I would literally start melting at one point. But I had never experienced anything like this.
Ah, silly White tourists in the Middle East…
After that, though, I don’t stress 115 degree days too much! I’m a survivor (haha)! Vegas has pools that are not hot tubs, it has AC blasted to the max everywhere you go, and it has no tigers swimming anywhere I know of that you might have to almost die to try to see.
I never did see those tigers. Sigh.
Look, is the world burning and probably going to kill us all off because we refuse to react to climate change properly? Almost definitely. These record temperatures are no joke and should be taken seriously.
But this girl needs a few days where I don’t worry about how the world is ending or how much work there is to do or how Republicans are once again blocking people from voting however they can get away with it or how racist our country is or how much we need to be doing to fix things. Just a few days…
Then I’ll get back to trying to help save the whole world again. I promise. Just a few days to melt in the insane heat, which will be made bearable by the freezing casinos and nice, cold water…
I can’t wait!
My Year of Meditation 