If you have ever owned a self help book, scrolled too far on instagram or listend to any self help influencers; you have heard about cold showers; it is the most famous cookie-cutter approach to cultivate mental discipline. We have all heard about how cold showers will change your life, how they will clear your mind, and make you attack the day with renewed energy. I am here to tell you that this is the truth—every single word of it is true. There are a lot of exaggerations about the effects of taking a cold shower online, but don’t be fooled; this is not a myth.
I remember when I started taking cold showers, I had spent a lot of time on the internet, especially on Instagram, and naturally, I bumped into a lot of these motivational nibbits. They get you ultra-fired up but just for a fleeting moment; I craved something more to get me out of the rut I was in. At that point in time in my life, I had just graduated from university and was back at my parents’ home, jobless, with nothing to do in the mornings, just sleeping in, only ever leaving my bed after 1 PM. I was a complete mess. My dieting was a mess; I started to lose the gains I cultivated at university, where I took working out seriously. I would work out 6 days a week and eat good food to secure the gains. You know, I think it was because I studied a lot of the time at university that doing anything outside of this was a little exciting to me.
One day as I was scrolling, the sun hit me, just as a manscraper reel was playing in the background. At that moment, I had enough of my loser status; I was done with the sloth I had become. The combination of the sun, the state of my room, the words from the Instagram reel, the thought that I wasn’t good enough, the fact that all my mates have jobs and I didn’t, the fact that I don’t have anyone to look up to, and the realization that nothing changes unless there is change, ALL collided together, giving birth to an extremely potent motivational nibbit. I was off the bed and at the gym in 20 minutes. It was almost like I was in a trance the entire time, only waking up in the gym.
Now that was just the first step; I needed to be consistent enough to take another step every day, and that is exactly what I did, over and over again for 2 months. My moment of motivation was long gone by then, but the change carried through because of momentum, consistency. People say consistency is key; I say consistency is king. It gives the power to turn a single snowflake into an avalanche.
During those 2 months, no matter how cold it got, if it rained or was raining, if I felt like I couldn’t do this, if I was too tired, I GOT UP AND WENT TO WORK because I remembered how terrible I felt staying in bed. I remembered the heartache of feeling left behind by my peers, I remembered all the rejections and people telling me that I am not good enough for this job, or to be with me. All of that hate, anger, and pain became my fuel, my lifeblood.
One day I went into the shower and wanted to face the one thing I wasn’t able to do even at my best: it was the cold shower. I had heard lots about it when I was at university, in peak physical condition; I wanted to do more at the time and cold showers were the most convenient thing to add to my routine as I take showers every morning before going to campus. I never added it to my routine; it was too hard, I couldn’t stay in the shower, my body just reacted very violently to the temperature change. I knew this is something I will not attempt and succeed. It was always on my mind from that time on; why can’t I do it, many people do it, what is my problem. So, I treated it like a test of will. I will take the shower and I will take it for 1 minute. I set the timer and prepared my mind with manscraper reels. Then I took the plunge and let momentum do the rest.
I will end this with a quote from a famous UFC fighter:
Everything is possible in your life when you believe, and when you believe everything is possible. you have two hands to do what ever you want, GO! GO!
Yoel Romero
