It's summer. It's hot. We live in Florida. No matter where you go, you're likely only an hour at most away from a beach. So it seems like a no-brainer to go to the beach as much as possible while you're off of school.

But what if it's not that simple? What if some people just don't like the beach? I bet you didn't even realize these people existed, and that's why, for the most part, I don't bother telling people. But after asking around a little bit, I've come to find that, even in Florida, there is a sizable population of people that just don't care for the beach. We may feel like outsiders. We may feel like we're doing summer wrong. But at least we have each other to understand how we're feeling.

If you're not a beach person, you most likely don't like sand. I'll be honest, I think sand sucks. It has no redeeming qualities. It's hot; walking barefoot in the sand can be a literal pain. But it's also messy, so walking on it with shoes is a tough feat in itself. Speaking of walking in sand, have you ever realized how hard it can be? It's just an unnecessarily difficult obstacle. What's even worse is that it follows you home. It's impossible to keep it off of you--it ends up in the car, in your food, in your drinks, even in your pants (which is really unpleasant). Why can't the beach be made of that rubber stuff you find in really nice playgrounds? Easy to walk in, doesn't absorb heat as much and it doesn't get caught in your swim suit and give you a rash.

"Oh, but a trip to the beach is such an easy getaway." Is it, though? Is it easy driving in the car with wet, sandy clothes for an extended amount of time? What if the closest beach to you isn't New Smyrna? Then you have the extra hassle of trying to find places to park. I've once walked about half a mile lugging towels, lawn chairs and a cooler filled to the brim from my parking spot to the beach. Not exactly the most relaxing thing ever.

I will say that I'm definitely not in the camp of people who are afraid of sharks…but jellyfish are some serious monsters. Have you ever seen a victim of a jellyfish sting? It's nasty. I can't say that I feel all that comfortable being in water (which I can't see in, by the way) with the possibility of those things floating around in there. You can call me a wimp, but other non-beach people have got to be thinking the same thing.

But even when I can manage to suck it up and deal with the sand, the hassle of getting there, the imposing threat of jellyfish…I still can't get over how boring it is. At its core, it's sand and water. The lake in my neighborhood is made up of the same thing but nobody's in any hurry to get over there. What's so special about the sand and water at the beach? No matter how much volleyball, football, drinking, eating, tanning, talking, jogging or frisbee-ing is going on, there's still only so much you can do before it just gets old. You can't go anywhere without packing everything back up. You can't really change up the typical beach stuff. You're just kind of stuck there until everyone else is ready to go back. For a non-beach person, no matter what it is you're doing, doing it in the same spot for hours at a time can get really old really quickly.

I know I'm a square. I wish me and other non-beach people liked the beach as much as everyone else does. We just don't really "get" it. Chances are, given the opportunity to go, we still are going to. But these things are definitely going through our minds while we're there.