On April 20, 2017, I set a challenge for myself to take cold showers every day until November 30, 2017. 

It started when I was in Colombia, on vacation in April, 2017. In Colombia, where my family is from, there really isn’t a lot of access to warm water to shower with. Sure, my grandmother had just installed a new water heater, but I remember the old days when I was a lot younger, that I had to take really cold showers! This particular time, I showered with cold water, as usual. It sparked something in me, “why don’t I shower with water this cold back home in the USA?” I thought to myself. Everyday, before my vacation there, I had been taking showers with warm water, because we had it easily at hand. However, it stuck with me, to see what could come of it. Would it make me different? What would change if I showered with cold water in the mornings back home? All of these thoughts were the beginning of my making the challenge real, and test my strength.

Now I know, I know… during the warmer months of June, July, August, it was a no-brainer to take cold showers; although a lot of people take hot showers during the summer, no matter if it is 90 degrees (Fahrenheit) outside! Besides the health benefits of taking a cold shower, the reason why I decided to make take this challenge on for myself, was to test my discipline.

Why Cold Showers?

1. You’ll Be Awake, and Stay Awake: This one is clear-cut. Cold water activates all of the energy in you, as an instinct for the body to stay warm. Your brain starts to function automatically, and reverts to “survive” mode — which will get you pumped.
2. You Are Warmer with Cold Water, Than With Warm Water: This might sound weird, but hear me out. When the cold water touches your body, your skin, the brain works hard to stay warm. This causes us to shiver, vibrate as much as possible to keep blood flowing smoothly through out bodies. Our muscles contract to ensure there is enough warmth for easy blood flow. On the flip side, when you shower with warm water, your body doesn’t really have to work that hard to stay “warm”, because you are already covering yourself with warmer water.
3. Recovery: This one is interesting as well. For those athletes out there, weekend warriors, or just anyone who likes to workout a few times a week, this is important to note. I learned this from a video I watched on a Navy SEAL explaining the benefits of cold water, and this was his main point. Feel Free to watch it here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUvZNpFLtGs. Basically, what he was explaining was that after a workout, cold showers are amazing because of something called “vasoconstriction”, which basically squeezes all muscles tight, and squeezes out all of the lactic acid that one accumulates during physical exertion.

Overall, taking all of those cold showers taught me that self-discipline can only be attained with persistence. There are some people who think that just because they woke up one day at 5:30am to go to the gym and the rest of the week slept in, that they successfully created a new habit of self-discipline. It takes time, and hard work. It really wasn’t easy to take all of those cold showers. Believe me, there were times I just wanted to cheat and turn the shower back to “HOT”. Each time the urge was stronger, and each time I kept pushing because I knew there had to be something good on the other side.

Now, I am celebrating this small victory with all of you, because it means the world to me and I feel energized. Not just because I just hopped out of the cold shower and am writing this, but because I know that with this small, seemingly insignificant accomplishment, I can go out and achieve much more. I feel I can challenge myself to just about anything, and take it on with the same persistence shown in the cold showers. It has helped me be more disciplined in going to the gym, disciplined in getting my work done, and disciplined in learning more and more everyday.

So I invite you to not only try a challenge for yourself (doesn’t necessarily have to be cold water, although I recommend it) and push yourself to new limits. What would your challenge be? How do you think you will change because of it? What is stopping you from taking it on?

And always remember to celebrate the small victories, as these small victories add up, and help you get prepared for the big victories that are coming your way!