60 Days Of Cold Showers
Here is what happened.
I wouldn't say I like the cold.
In summer, for me to swim, it has to be hot. Hot!
So why 60 days of cold showers in the middle of winter?
Well, I have my eight-year-old to thank for an exciting two months.
Sitting down at dinner one night, my son says, “Hey, Dad, I reckon you should give cold showers a go.”
Initially, I thought there was no way I would do that to myself.
Thankfully, I saw this as an opportunity, and I replied, “Sounds like a good challenge; I will give it a go for a couple of weeks.”
He was impressed, and I started feeling motivated to step out of my comfort zone.
Having running water is a blessing we can take for granted in the Western world. Having steamy hot water in winter is an even bigger blessing that I neglect to appreciate as much as I should.
Before I go any further, I should mention that I have a history of anxiety and storing pain in my body. I would often take pain relief multiple times a week to function normally.
At university, we learned about the Premack principle, a motivational technique used to help you complete tasks by rewarding yourself when they are finished. It is about helping you to do the hard things first.
I applied this to my cold shower ambitions by getting up in the morning and making my burst of freezing hard adrenaline my medicine to start the day. I would get in the shower, and when I had finished washing, I would have a quick countdown before shutting off the hot water and letting the cold water wash over me in a torrent. Gee, it was cold! My goal was thirty seconds which started to feel like an eternity as I counted my way towards the milestone.
Day after day, I would follow the same routine, I would love to say it got easier each day, but it did not.
Every day was a battle and a challenge to follow through.
The good news, though, was every day, I was starting to feel a sense of achievement in that I was achieving my most challenging task of the day before most of my household was awake.
This sense of achievement helped set the tone of my day. If I could manage a cold shower on a winter’s morning, the rest of the day should be pretty straightforward.
It really encouraged my kids as I would report on my progress, updating them on how it was going. They were inspired by the fact that their Dad was willing to step out of his comfort zone.
Though it is hard to measure with actual data, I can undoubtedly confirm that there were positive changes in my general well-being and my capacity to complete tasks.
The most significant benefit was that I only took ibuprofen twice throughout the 60-day period, which was a massive breakthrough for me.
Are cold showers for everyone? Perhaps not. Was I thankful to take on the challenge? I think many would benefit from at least giving it a go.
Let me know if you do.
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