Embrace Discomfort

Most mornings I get up and get straight into my morning routine, which starts with stretching, priming, cold plunge, walking with my buddy - my rescue dog Bono, etc.

Ahhh, the cold plunge.

As Michael Easter states in The Comfort Crisis, "We are living progressively sheltered, sterile, temperature-controlled, overfed, under challenged, safety-netted lives." Could too much comfort, and too much social media, be a leading cause of many our most urgent physical and mental health issues? Easter and many others believe the answer is yes.

𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞.

Intentional discomfort can take many forms, from having a conversation with a stranger to my personal go-to of a cold plunge.

For me, cold plunging started with reading Tim Ferriss. Filling the tub up with ice and getting in. Next it was plunging at wellness facilities as they started adding cold plunges to their menus. Then it was, ‘Why am I spending $80/month to go get in ice water for 5min at a time?’ Not wanting to spend $5,000 to $15,000 on something I only use 5min a day, I found online plans for turning a chest freezer into a cold plunge for about $700.

I’ve done 100’s of cold plunges now, and still don’t like it, but it always makes me feel better about 20 min later :)
🥶