Cold Showers

"I feel tired" I said. "Then stop feeling", he said. 

This is one of my fondest memories of my first job. My mentor just casually slipped it in, but it's a constant reminder that I have a choice.

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Cold showers. The Internet says it's healthy for your skin. Huberman adds a bunch of biology and says it gives you a 4 hour dopamine effect. But more than anything, I say it's your mind's win over your body.

It's been half a year now, but every day I step in to the shower, my body doesn't want the cold water. It sends signals to my brain saying this too much, this is too cold. I start with my feet, go up to my hips. And then my body begs me not to pour any over my chest. My innermost fears of visualizing a shark in deep waters surface the moment I close my eyes. Every single day.

And yet when I pour the cold water all over me, I feel great. I realize I can just decide the water isn't cold. And then it isn't. I don't shiver, I truly enjoy what it feels like all over me. And after a while, the water isn't cold any longer. Maybe it's my body heat, but I start to feel the water is far warmer than when I stepped in. And that's that. The mind conquers the body's impulses.



Like most things worthwhile in life, I don't enjoy cold showers, but I love having taken them.

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