This will make you want a cold shower (IN THE MORNING)
If you say ‘no’, I will change your mind.
About five years ago, I was introduced to a book called Boundless by Ben Greenfield.
This extremely comprehensive (yet surprisingly readable) stack of 600+ pages made me realise I was unhealthy.
Even though I thought I was a healthy chap, I was not.
I did not realise how many ways there were to burn fat, improve my diet, get better sleep and improve longevity.
It basically told me everything I learned in school about healthy eating and exercising was mostly outdated and simply wrong.
My biggest takeaway was the idea of the ice bath (which sounded savage at the time). The idea that a simple cold plunge could make you live longer, reduce inflammation, and improve heart health was exciting when it seemed so simple.
However, I was simply not keen on getting freezing cold.
But I tried it nonetheless.
On a cold winter morning, I anxiously strolled over to the local Wim Hoff trainer and spent two hours doing some crazy breathing exercises and getting mentally prepped for the dreaded ice bath.
Surprisingly, it was no way near as bad as I thought it would be.
I actually kinda enjoyed it.
The sense of overcoming the uncomfortable fear of being submerged in ice was incredible.
Local Wim then explained the new science of cold exposure, which made me reassess my daily routine. I had no idea that a simple two-minute cold shower every morning could make such a difference in my life. Not only in the long term but also in the short term.
In addition, I decided that if I could get the hardest and most uncomfortable part of my day out of the way within a few minutes of waking up, then it the day will only get better!
Five years have gone past and I have taken a grand total of 1,825 two minute cold showers every morning.
That’s 3,650 minutes of cold showers.
That amounts to 2.5 days of cold showering over five years.
That doesn’t even take into account the cold shower I have immediately after getting back from work, which probably adds on another 1 minute per day.
My mindset goes like this:
- Get the hardest part of the day out of the way first.
- It has significant purported health benefits that make the effort and short discomfort worth it.
- Committing to it has made committing to more simple things easier.
- I am 10x more awake after the cold shower.
- Oh, I also save money on the heating.
I find that leaning on the long-term benefits of something incredibly uncomfortable gives me discipline.
Put the benefits at the front of your decisions, and hard things can slowly become easier.
Enjoy!
