Why would someone endure such pain and abnormality of behavior by taking a cold shower?? In this episode, we discuss a very specific way Austin chooses to be intentional; cold showers. The way this got started was one day Austin was feeling extra unmotivated and undisciplined and thought; "What's the most disciplined thing I could do right now?" He decided that a cold shower would be the most disciplined thing he could do. So he did. It's a real-life test every day that shows whether or not you're in control of doing hard things. 

Physiology it's grueling, which is the point. You are being attacked by a thousand droplets of icy death. Your body goes into full freakout mode and you basically feel like your going to die for the first few seconds. Of course, you don't, but it's the thought that counts. Your vision may blur a little and you'll probably lose your breath. It physically hurts your body. Of course, there are many health benefits to doing this, but as discussed in this episode, the health benefits aren't the reason. WHAT?! Nope. 

So what's the reason then? Hopefully, we can all agree that a large part of bettering ourselves is expanding the level of experiences we allow into our lives. If we shrink away from doing hard things our worlds will slowly close in on us, shrinking our experiences and hindering growth. We all experience something called "The Flinch" when we come upon doing something that makes us uncomfortable. It's the moment right before, where we freeze up or question ourselves. We can either choose to embrace that challenge and push through or shrink away and live a life of avoidance. It's not about the cold showers and it never was. It's about deliberately placing hard things in our lives and embracing "The Flinch." This can be done in many, many ways, cold showers are simply one way of doing it.  

Life is like a river. We all go down it and at some time or another hard experiences will come toward us. We can either choose to jump out on the bank and avoid it, or we can face it head-on and become better people for it. The choice is yours. However, it is much easier to grow when you do it on purpose, instead of being forced.

Jonny Harris - Cold Exposure 

Documentary on Wim Hof (Yes Theory) 

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Mind Castle is where Reagan and I (Austin) discuss how to develop our optimal selves, be productive, and the lessons we're learning from what we're reading. Plus, the occasional story from our many travels. New episodes as we have time to make them.