The Task
Review the weather for one week in September. Spend time outdoors and try to enjoy the weather each day, even if you normally wouldn't like the weather. If there are legitimate health concerns relating to the weather, you should make an exception and spend time indoors. When the month is over, try to figure out what you have learned about your handling of various weather conditions. If there are time concerns, you have one full month to review seven days. Just try not to select the days based off of the weather.My Idea
As I have previously stated, I already spend a significant amount of time outside regardless of the weather. I also have opinions that I feel are my own. Before starting this exercise, I tried to find a way to reach out. I personally don't enjoy warm and sunny like the mainstream. I decided that I would try to move closer to the mentality of those who do and to provide myself with an experience that I have not already rejected. Growing up in an ultra-conservative household, I have generally avoided showing skin. That changed with this exercise. I spent a significant amount of time each day outside without a shirt and in shorts.I should also point out that I didn't want to force anyone to have to see more of me than they wanted. I didn't want to sacrifice my normal life for this exercise, so I still maintained my walks at Chambers Creek Properties. For those walks, I was covered as normal.
I decided on six different things to measure each day (and the text used to identify these things in my reviews):
Clothed for the weather and walking (Walking and Covered)
Without a shirt in the sun/rain and exercising (Active and Exposed)
Without a shirt in the sun/rain and relaxing (Lazy and Exposed)
Without a shirt in the shade/sheltered and exercising (Active in Shade or Active under Shelter)
Without a shirt in the shade/sheltered and exercising (Lazy in Shade or Lazy under Shelter)
I used the review that I developed in the exercise, Redevelop the concept of a review. I also updated it a little. I figured that spending time without a shirt could create a slight sense of discomfort (since I'm not currently used to it) that does not properly reflect whether or not I can enjoy the weather without a shirt. Compensation will be marked as a plus or minus to indicate the direction of compensation. In this case, a plus will indicate that I might provide a higher score due to compensation (if I feel that it’s sufficient enough).
I have also decided to include approximate times. If you want to see the actual weather conditions that I am reviewing, you can look up University Place at a site such as WeatherSpark. Just remember that I test these exercises a year ahead of time, so the information will be for 2011 instead of 2012. (Probably for the best considering how lousy September 2012 turned out)
My reviews were consolidated into a single file that can be found at:
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=2E6EFB80915ED5BD!3927
Since the reviews were just a mechanism to ensure that I spent time outdoors, I will toss them aside right now and share my feelings regarding the weather. I still prefer cool and drizzly. The feeling of the sun hitting my skin is still a problem, but my primary issue is still with the back of my neck. Increasing exposure does not seem to increase my discomfort since the back of my neck is exposed either way. I would still rather not spend too much time in the sun, but I feel that I can better handle the heat itself than I have previously thought (except this year). I also have found that exercise is not a significant contributor to problems in warm weather. When I am still, the sunlight feels like it focuses on certain locations. When moving, it feels like I can break up the concentrated UV rays. The hottest I felt during this exercise was actually while I was not moving.
Notes
There is no question that this has been the least demanding exercise in terms of mental activity that I have created so far. I still feel that there is a definite mental value for those who actually took the time to form their own opinions when they would have normally mindlessly accepted what was already in their head. Keep in mind that a mental exercise is usually designed to promote mental activity. While exercises that are mentally challenging are what we usually think about, I do feel that developing strong mental habits (developing our own opinions) and reducing mindlessness qualify.The problem with this exercise is that the weather varies a lot more throughout the year than it does over the course of one week. It may take me awhile, but I might revisit this exercise for the three other seasons.
Unfortunately, this exercise has been portrayed by some as an exercise in removing a shirt. Some people that I know won’t participate because they don’t want to approach the exercise the same way that I did. This portrayal also back the idea that this exercise did not provide enough mentally. Like I said, I might revisit this exercise, but don’t count on it. This is my most questionable exercise posted so far, and I don’t know if it’s worth the revisit.
No comments:
Post a Comment