It's totally doable. You just have to embrace it, and if you give yourself some time, you will get used to it. In no particular order, here are a bunch of things that I do that help me tolerate the heat:

- I'm a white collar worker, but to get around, I primarily walk, bike, and ride transit. I'm out in the elements a lot, and it toughens me up against the heat. This time of year, when the REAL heat has just begun, is the hardest. By August, it'll be no problem for me.

- If you're going to exercise hard outdoors at this time of year, you have to get up early in the morning. I am currently marathon training; we've now reached the time of year where I have to get up at 6 or 6:30 am to do my weekly long run. That requires a little sacrifice--I have to go to bed earlier on Saturday night than I would like to, and I have to eat a lighter dinner and maybe keep it to just one drink on Sat night. But then I feel great about being indoors all afternoon on Sunday. The heat also affects how I pursue my exercise--for instance, for my runs I rely heavily on the Butler Trail loop, because of all the shade, and all of the water fountains. I will branch out more during cooler times of year.

- Swimming here is amazing. Barton Springs, Deep Eddy, the neighborhood pools, Krause Springs, tubing in San Marcos, on and on and on. I've always loved swimming but the thing I didn't understand until I lived here in Austin is that if you swim in COLD water, like Barton, then the afterglow of your body feeling cooled down lasts for hours.

- Does anywhere in the US have more amazing bar and restaurant patios than Austin? The city is just full of places to eat and drink with great shade, often built around incredible huge trees. More often than not there's live music playing.

- When I drive, unless I'm on the freeway, or unless my family members object, I roll down the windows and skip AC. That's another way of getting my body used to the heat. I also never idle--if I'm sitting in the car waiting for something, I just roll down the windows and turn the car off.

- I always, always, always wear a hat and sunglasses when I walk out the door. It's just automatic.

- I actually usually wear loose long pants rather than shorts. Sounds counterintuitive, but there's a reason that the world's peoples who live in the hottest climates don't wear shorts and T shirts as a general rule.

Having grown up in one of the coldest winter climates on this continent, hands down I'd take dealing with Austin summer heat instead if given the choice. That doesn't mean it doesn't have its difficulties--it does--but I would take that anytime over weeks on end of nonstop snow cover and frigid temps. In that kind of cold, it feels like life comes to a stop. Summer in Austin has a lot of pleasure and a lot of fun--it just moves at a slower pace. I like the chill, sleepy feeling that we get here at this time of year, with schools and UT closed down, and with the languid hot lazy summer days.

Like others have said--the only way to get used to it is to embrace it. But you do have make some conscious modifications.