In 2010, a millionaire named Jesse Itzler invited a Navy SEAL-turned-endurance athlete, David Goggins, to live with him for a month. One winter day, Goggins carved a hole in an iced-over lake and jumped in. Per their agreement, Itzler followed. Watching the spectacle unfold, Itzler's wife asked Goggins to explain the medical benefit of the exercise. Goggins responded, "There is no medical benefit. This is what your husband signed up for. I wanted to see how far he's willing to go to get to his goals."
I hope this story will now live rent free in your head as has in mine because it contains an ultimate truth: sometimes we have to do things simply because we don't want to.
Here's another ultimate truth: cold showers aren't fun. Regardless of who you are, we all experience the same breath-snatching shock when cold water hits our skin. It's a genetic reflex. So why do we endorse taking a cold shower each morning? Precisely because it sucks!
Let's get deeper into that logic.
A core value of ProFriction is intentionally adding friction to your daily life. Experiencing and overcoming friction is imperative for growth. Physiologically, when we experience and persevere through challenge, a region in our brain called the anterior mid-cingulate cortex (aMCC) grows in size. As our aMCC grows, our capacity to endure grows in turn.
Likewise, intentional exposure to a stressful environment--like a cold shower--can help us learn to self-regulate and decrease our perceived stress. That is, in learning to breathe and remain calm as my body experiences an onslaught of cold water, I am actually training my body to remain calm when I get a new assignment, an email from a boss, or am running late for a flight.
Of course, there is a body of literature debating the medical benefits of controlled cold exposure. But, as is clear by the Goggins example, the medical benefits of cold showers are not our focus. Instead, we endorse cold showers because they are a great source of daily friction. Each morning, you have an opportunity to become a little bit grittier, a little bit calmer, and a little bit more capable of thriving in a modern environment riddled with distraction and anxiety.
My least favorite moment of every day is rotating my shower handle ever so slightly, putting my hand in to confirm the water is indeed freezing, and taking a final deep breath before stepping in. But so long as I continue to detest these situations, I will force myself to endure them. What will you do?
If you love 'em or hate 'em, share your cold shower thoughts with the rest of the community below!
