It’s been 172 days since I started experimenting with daily cold showers.
For the past 172 days I’ve taken my normal hot shower, but have switched to cold water at the end. I started with 30 seconds and worked my way up to 60 seconds. It’s been an incredibly positive experience.
Today I had to take a cold shower. As in, ‘I had no other choice’.
The heat is out in my building. I woke up to a cold apartment and only cold water running in the taps.
The ‘me’ of 172 days ago would have been pretty upset. A cold apartment in February is bad enough, but not having the chance to get warm in a nice hot shower makes an unpleasant situation even worse.
Earlier I said that I had to take a cold shower but that’s not entirely accurate. I could have skipped my shower today. I could have put on a hat and lived with the grubby feeling you have when you wished you’d taken a shower.
Today I chose to take a cold shower. I knew from my experience with cold for the last 172 days that it wasn’t going to be that bad. Sure, I wasn’t going to have the benefit of getting nice and toasty warm beforehand but I knew that the cold wasn’t going to kill me.
The cold didn’t kill me. It took a bit longer for my core temperature to get back to normal, especially with the cold apartment, but that’s what extra layers of clothing are for. I’m here. I’m typing these words. It wasn’t that bad. I didn’t completely freak out or get really angry when faced with the prospect of a cold shower. I knew that I was resilient enough to handle the situation.
All of that that seems like pretty good reasons to keep going.