I started practicing taking cold showers in the morning after attending Wim Hoff’s event. Wim Hoff is also known as the Iceman and holds a number of Guinness book records for running marathons bare feet on snow and longest body contact with ice. The guy is mad, there is so much energy and fire in his eyes that you can’t help being inspired by it. It has been 5 months since attended the event and every morning no matter what I step into the cold shower after a minute of rapid breathing.
I will not go into benefits of cold showers as it is a large topic however there is something about the experience that I want to share with you. Some mornings I am full of courage and step in right into the shower cabin once I set my timer on. But there are some other mornings. I turn the shower on and while looking at the cold stream coming through the holes of an old facet I sense the fear and discomfort building up inside. There is a distinct moment of hesitation that I have to consciously push through despite the fear. It the same moment I experienced when raising my hand to ask a question as a part of an audience at a big event, approaching a girl that i really liked to strike a conversation or jumping out of a plane for the first and only skydive.
A few mornings ago I realised that the fear of walking into that water pouring down is much more unpleasant than the actual experience is. So today was the time when I was looking at the cold water splashing on my feet I remembered that. The anticipation of how bad things will be is much worse that the actual freezing cold water. With that realisation stepping into it was easy.
In fact it was so easy that I started laughing. Have you heard the expression feel the fear but do it anyway? Well another reason for it is that fear is a liar and a cheat. So next time it comes up you remember that. And step into that cold shower, take the new project, start a new job, go on a date with a new person. Dont let the fear rob you of experiencing life.