cold fingers and warm heart

Today's run: 30 degrees and cloudy with the wind in my face. I am fully aware that I complain about the weather or lack of warmth too much these days and I apologize for that but I'm warning you it's not going to stop- not yet at least. I understand nobody likes complainers and that I should just either shut up or move my ass to a warmer climate. I get it, believe me. But here goes: today's run sucked because It was fucking cold out! I don't enjoy running against the arctic wind; it's not pleasant or relaxing. That's one thing I hate about the cold, it's not easy to deal with, it's annoying and a pain in the ass. My face was frozen, fingers tingling, ears a bit nippy and my nose always runs when it's cold out. I was thinking that I need that huge red Easy button that Staples advertises - I always just want to make things easier in life.

The other day I walked into work and as usual started to complain about how cold it was outside- like that particular day was any colder than the last-it wasn't. Right after I said "man, it's cold out" a co worker said "I like the cold". What?! this woman is like 90 pounds and very frail but whatever. At that point I was so tired of saying it myself, I just wanted to understand exactly what it was she liked about being cold. At first she said what everyone else in the world says " well I'd rather be cold than hot because you can always get warm by putting more clothes on but you can never cool off by taking clothes off". (I despise that statement, but in the interest of time I won't go into it). I then composed myself and decided to listen to everything she loves about the cold in hopes that I may gain some insight as to how others feel about the subject. after she told me all her ridiculous reasons I said "OK, here's how I think about the cold" and I walked over to her and started to tap her arm, hit her gently and begin to annoy her. Then I said " this is how I feel about the warmth" and I slowly rubbed her arm in a circular motion. "You see, to me, the cold is harsh, rough, annoying and hard and being warm feels soft and gentle, now wouldn't you rather feel that"? . She responded with "well if you put it that way, yeah" Now I don't know if she was somewhat mesmerized by the circular motion or shocked that I was rubbing her so she just said yes out of confusion- or she was really being honest. Whatever.

My point is, and I was thinking about this later in the week while my teeth were chattering, that dealing with being cold for me is simply unpleasant. While I know there are so many people that are unaffected by the cold I was wondering if it's because they are used to dealing with pain and suffering whether it's from their past or in their lives now. So the cold in turn becomes no big thing, it's just something else to deal with. As I said, I'm all over the easy button; having things feel good, soft, gentle and slow are what I'm all about. I've had it literally since day 1. My childhood was blissful and the rest of my life has fortunately been void of any violent, outrageous or harmful acts. I'm just wondering if there's any correlation between a traumatic childhood/life and having a high tolerance for the cold.

Now please don't go responding with comments like "my childhood sucked and I hate being cold" or "I've had a rough life so far and I live in California". I'm not talking about that, I'm merely questioning the possibility that if someone is accustomed to loudness, harshness, and lack of human intimate contact could there be a possibility that these same people (in general, as a whole) can deal with the cold weather more so than say... someone like myself. Someone who prefers the Easy button. Just a thought as I froze on my run today.