I am a big proponent of cold showers.
I believe they make you mentally strong.
I believe they give you a burst of energy to start the day.
I believe they allow you to start the day in control of your actions.
Think about it, if you can start the day by forcing yourself to get into a freezing cold shower, you’re setting a great tone. You’re basically starting the day by flexing your willpower muscle. Hitting the gym or starting a tough project? Psh, you got into a blistering cold shower today. On purpose! Those are going to be easy in comparison.
Whenever I tell people that I take cold showers, the reaction is often a combination of awe and disgust. They look at me a bit like I’m a crazy person. When I recommend that people just try taking a cold shower, I’m met with this type of reaction:
If you’re interested in the power of cold showers, check out this post by Gary Gehiere. Today, I’m just going to be talking about HOW to take a cold shower.
How to Take a Cold Shower (When You Want to Wimp Out)
Your physical body can easily handle a cold shower. Your brain? That’s the part of you that will try to get you out of it any way it can.
Cold showers are NOT comfortable. They are intense. You’ve been taking warm showers your entire life, this will be a stark, stark contrast to your brain’s understanding of a shower.
So to successfully learn how to take a cold shower, you have to realize that overcoming the mental blocks surrounding that are really the key.
Here’s how I do it:
1. Turn your shower faucets to the coldest setting.
Don’t muck around by trying to start the shower out hot, getting in, and then turning it gradually to cold. You’re missing the entire point! That blast of cold when you first get in is amazing. Well, it’s amazing once you get out and realize how amped up you are.
2. Get In With Your Butt First
Your back and butt are the least sensitive to the cold, so start by slowly backing in. You’re going to be taken aback. You are going to uncontrollably gasp. Your breath is going to get shallower. But hey, you just completed the hardest part! You got in!
3. Turn Around and Go For It
The front of your body will really feel the cold, as will the top of your head. Each new part you expose to the cold water will result in a new gasp and a new level of discomfort. And that’s okay.
4. Unleash a Barbaric Yawp
This is the part that made cold showers so fun for me. Instead of trying to escape the discomfort by detaching, I tried to lean into it. I felt an intense sense of power come over me. I let out a powerful “WOOOOOO!”
5. Shampoo and Soap Up!
You’re in this now. May as well finish up with what you came here to do – get clean and get pumped up. I always felt an intense sense of presence when I was soaping up. Maybe it’s because I knew that when I was done I was allowed to get out!
6. Get Out and Love Yourself
You just took a cold shower! Bundle yourself up in the warmth of your towel and feel the wonderful touch of room temperature air on your body.
No longer do you have to worry about being cold once you get out of the shower!
No longer do you have to bandy about in the warm water, dreading getting out and facing your day.
No longer do you have to stand there naked, continually testing the water temperature before you gingerly step inside.
Instead, you just tackled your first obstacle of the day with a warrior-like attitude. And that is the beauty of a cold shower!
Ha, awesome. Have been taking cold showers for a couple years now (only if I’m showing in the morning though…afternoon and evening showers I let be warm). I’ve realized that my shower doesn’t really have a very cold setting. Was recently in a hotel with the coldest water I’ve ever had in a shower; completely different experience and much more invigorating afterwards.
I usually stand under the faucet and let the water hit my head first then slowly move back, letting my chest get wet before my back.
HA! The same thing happened to me. The last place I lived had an extremely cold shower. I would have like a cathartic experience every morning and it was incredible. But the place I live now has luke warm water basically and it doesn’t have the same effect at all!