(Cold) Shower Epiphany!

So, I’ve been doing a new 30-Day Trial for the last couple of weeks where I end my showers with 20 seconds of ice cold water. It’s good for blood circulation, firmness, your skin, plus it is really funny when you’re showering with your boyfriend who has NO idea you’re currently on that. TRUST ME.

I didn’t think it was really worth writing about, I just wanted to give it a go. I like it, and it was easy to install. I do it without even thinking about it. I’m conditioning myself so easily lately you’d think I’d was a Pavlovian dog or a Skinner pidgeon.

Anyway, yesterday I was in the shower, and as I was getting ready to get out, this happened in my head. “Oh shit, I still have to change to cold water.“– “Ugh, dude, I am not in the mood – let’s just end with warm water this one time, okay?”

And literally, before I could even consciously process what was going on, I automatically thought, very clearly: “I don’t care what I’m in the mood for!”, yanked the thermostat to Ice Age Degrees Celsius (and okay, maybe screamed a little bit after but that’s not the point I’m trying to make).

That thought, albeit about an insignificant thing this time, is a big deal. Because it overrides our temporary state of ‘not being in the mood for something’ and focuses on the bigger picture. Not being in the mood for something is a stupid reason not to do the things that are really good for you!

Why? Moods change! Goals don’t!

The things we want to do for ourselves are constant. How badly we want to achieve them and work for them, that stuff is under the influence of temporary and variable external factors, like moods, life events and biological changes. Now, how important are we going to let those things be? The right answer would be ‘not very’.

Think “I don’t care what I’m in the mood for” every once in a while. Just wave at that part that’s “not in the mood for something”, maybe even stick out your tongue in some friendly mocking and start doing the things that are going to have good effects on your life anyway, despite what you’re in the mood for. I bet you’ll be in an excellent mood soon thereafter.

*or at least not a billion times a day like our moods can do: Oh, life of the emotionally unstable. 

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7 comments

  1. I think that’s pretty much what discipline is all about (something with 5 pillars 😉 ?). Doing stuff you don’t want do, but have to do anyway. “You can still get stuff done even if you don’t feel like it”.

    In a strange way I actually enjoy going to the gym when I don’t feel like it. Besides having a physical work-out, It’s also a great training for my discipline.

  2. “Not being in the mood for something is a stupid reason not to do the things that are really good for you!Why? Moods change! Goals don’t!”

    Love this forever.