The Cold Path to Discipline

After a day of stress, noise, and clatter, few things sound more welcoming than a hot shower. As a culture, we are addicted to the notion that heat equals relaxation, and relaxation equates to comfort. We strive our whole lives to attain a level of comfort, in our retirement plans and in our personal lives. Warm water for a weathered body, you would be hard pressed to find a better recipe for luxury.

As someone who relishes the soothing sensation of a hot shower, the prospect of a shower in water more akin to the depths of North Pole than Hawaii sounds about as attractive as eating a spoonful of sand. However, just like the youthful thrill of taking that anxious, nerve-wracking plunge into the deep end of a cold swimming pool, the benefits of doing so put the risks to shame.

During those hazy moments, having just dragged myself out of bed, I can feel heart pounding at just the thought of the arctic welcoming committee waiting for me.

Breathe in, breathe out, in, out, until you take that first step into the icy abyss.

All that anticipation, all the thrill, for what? Aside from the health benefits of taking cold showers, like better blood circulation and increased immunity, you also experience a seldom spoken of benefit:

You were alive, right there in that very moment.

You were fully present, waiting with levels of anticipation only matched by children waiting for the ice cream truck.

For better or for worse, everything else in your mind was blocked out in those first moments. No worries about paying this or that bill, or this or that pestilence to be found later at work that day. Just you, the water, and the discomfort that accompanies character development.

The discipline it takes to start your day with discomfort is unprecedented. For whatever reason, as a culture, we are afraid of anything that makes us uncomfortable, that deviates a little too far from the norm. We like our 9–5’s, our suburb look-a-likes, and our shopping centers, topped off with sugar, spice, and everything nice.

Not too hot, not too cold, just lukewarm enough to open up my wallet without the sweat from my fingertips making it stick.

Because of this fear of the uncomfortable, we come to fear the progress that comes along with doing things that challenge us.

By no means are cold showers or any other disciplinary act a sure fire a way to success on their own, but there is something to be said about the benefits of starting the day out with increased toughness. Whatever other nonsense you are to come across, whether that be a manager you’d like nothing more than to smack into next week, or a fellow driver who see’s you as part of their live action “Need for Speed” reenactment, you have already proven to yourself you can handle whatever life throws at you.

Discipline is built in, engraved in unbreakable stone, little by little with each small victory we achieve. We may be a work in progress, but we must stay as sharp as battle-tested blades during the journey.

It can take immeasurable amounts of patience to remain cool in moments of intense emotion, but just like our morning plunge into the depths of discomfort, here too can we conquer ourselves. We are instinctive creatures, animals just as hooked on gut reaction as we are on reason. However, our unique ability to use foresight to our advantage is what really sets us apart from our four-legged contemporaries.

As with any tool, though, foresight can also be a giant pain in the ass if we let it. Figures like the Buddha, Christ, Odin, and I am sure countless other gods and goddesses have warned against the dangers of thinking too far out into the future.

As the saying goes, “The problem with the future is that it hasn’t happened yet.”

With this notion in mind, we discover yet another previously alluded to benefit of cold showers, this being one hundred percent present there in those minutes, those seconds. Gone are all distractions, off into the distance not to be heard from for at least the next five or so minutes. When put into context, what a luxury to be so free, so at peace. To be completely focused on the task at hand, without the constant, meandering troubles taking up quality real estate in our brains. It’s just you, the water, and frigid freedom.

When I sit and ponder what improvements I could make to myself at any given time, two things perpetually at the top of my list are to become more disciplined and to remain in the moment more often.

Being an anxious person, so easy it is to forget what an indescribable joy the present in fact is.

In every second of every day, in each malicious ray of sunlight currently burning my skin, there exists an opportunity to make a memory, crack a joke, or improve myself.

The issue comes in the form of conquering the challenges I am faced with daily, while also avoiding getting too caught up in preparing for the next one, the next beast to be slain. I’d say stop and smell the roses, to take your time and really appreciate all that you come across during your journey, but it all starts with a cold shower.