Bit weird, not necessarily FIRE, but for the last two or three months I’ve been inspired by a video on Tedx to try showering cold. Here’s how it went and my reflections on the experience.
F***! FFFFF******! AAAARGH!
I couldn’t breathe! My ribs started freaking out. All six feet of me was trembling and my extra-wide, super-flat feet were putting Michael Flatley’s Riverdance to shame. The best I could do was hope that my girlish shrieks sounded more like Masculine Swearing than Childish Squeaking.
The things you think of when you’re in shock…
Short version: my first real cold shower sucked. So hard.
I got here because of a boiler… and stayed here because I’m clearly an idiot
The first cold showers happened because of a boiler breaking down. Can’t help that. A week of lukewarm before the plumber repaired it under warranty.
We’d thought it was pretty cold then. The boiler had gunked up somewhere and we’d had a trickle of warm mixed in with the cold, and it wasn’t great.
Like anyone would do, I did the obvious thing and tell my mates how bad it was.
“Like that Wim Hof guy?” someone said.
“Err… yes…” I thought, knowing that I didn’t have a clue what a Wim Hof was.
And that’s when I hit YouTube.
No, I didn’t get into the Wim Hof Method
I found out that a Wim Hof is a crazy European guy who likes to take ice baths and claims that it helps with the body’s inner chakras. Well, whatever chills your beer I guess. After watching a few videos and trying to read the book on Kindle (I really don’t rate his book), I decided it was a bit more cult-y than I’d like.
Deciding that nordic skiing in my pants wasn’t on the cards for me just yet, I let it slip out of mind. However, a couple of days after getting the boiler fixed, I was doing some tedious chores with TEdx talks on.
I’m a big fan of the TEdx talks, especially when you’re doing something tedious. You get to learn something while doing something you don’t want to do but have to do, so it feels like you’re getting some value back from that wasted time.
Anyway, I found this guy’s video.
I’m not sure I believed him.
The way I figured it, this video was probably b********. Really? Cold showers can change your life?
Then again, the central point of Joel’s speech has nothing to do with showers. The cold shower is just the medium – it could be replaced with a lot of things. The point is that doing something uncomfortable and overcoming it early on sets you up to deal with other – less uncomfortable – things in your day.
Well, with energy bills going up and nothing to lose, I figured: what the hell. I’ll give it the 30 days like Joel recommended and see what happens.
I’m now well over two months into this 30-day experiment
I actually have no intention of switching back to warm showers any time soon. Weird, eh?
Here’s what I’ve observed so far.
You have to switch soap
Regular shower gel doesn’t foam in cold showers. Instead, I’m now using some eco-friendly bar of shower gel/shampoo/soap combo which works a treat. I guess this has made me more eco-friendly now, which is something I like to try and do.
I really could have made this switch at any time, but it was the necessity of confronting my situation – albeit self-inflicted – that made me find the solution. Now I’m showering plastic-free and my bar of shower gel/shampoo/soap is on track to last longer than a bottle of shower get ever could.
I’m definitely leaner (but I don’t think the showers did it)
If you try to stumble through The Wim Hof Method – which is difficult, because the storyline meanders without a clear thread – the guy talks about how your veins are a huge bit of under-used muscle. By getting really cold, you’re causing them to tense and strengthen as your blood does its thing to try and keep your core cool.
I don’t think this is what’s causing my improved muscle definition, though.
In my case, I really think it’s the mindset of it that gets me to do other hard things, like add kettlebells to a really hard day or take adult swimming lessons (a story for another time). Those are what’s setting me up with this weight loss. However, it’s hard to take cold showers like a double-hard badass on the regular and then decide a bit of sweating is too hard for you, so I guess the showers are having an effect.
It gets easier by about shower no.7
I’d like to say I didn’t squeal like a pig, but it’s just not true. Things get easier though, and after a while you don’t even gasp for breath.
Great cure for a headache
I was unlucky enough to get COVID a few weeks ago. One of the big observations for me was that the COVID headache was significantly reduced during and for an hour or so after the cold shower. There’s quite a bit of research on showers (bizzarely), but one of the cold shower benefits was reducing inflammation.
All I know is that it soothes a headache.
By-the-by, this seems to work for hangovers, too.
My skin looks fantastic
Honestly, I have no idea if this is linked to the showers or to changing soap. It might be neither? My skin looks great though, so that’s pretty cool.
What’s any of this got to do with FIRE?!
Financial independence campaigning is a bit like committing to cold showers. Hear me out!
- You give up a little comfort up front… which sucks to start with, but quickly becomes bearable.
- It takes a little while and consistent effort to see benefits…
- …but the benefits do arrive and once you’ve gotten them you’re maintaining the habit.
I’m not telling you to take cold showers
You don’t have to follow my experiment. I get it, I’m weird, but I’m happy with who I am.
The point isn’t the cold shower.
The point is to do something uncomfortable or difficult – but easily achievable – every day, to build up the tolerance to discomfort in small doses and reap the benefits later.
