UNCOMFORTABLE.

This week I’ve been experimenting with cold exposure. I first heard about it in the book The 4-Hour Body by Tim Farris. Being exposed to sudden cold is said to have an effect on your metabolism, help fight depression, and even help fight infection and ward off colds (believe it or not!). But I chose to ignore it.

Until, one night at 2 am, my friend Dave Whitley says “Let’s go outside and pour a bucket of water on our head!” So, we did. It was 20 degrees outside. I was in a pair of shorts and I proceeded to pour two buckets of ice cold water over my head. Obviously, there was pain. You have to fight for your breath and constantly remind your brain that you’re not going to die. But once it’s all done, the feeling it gives you is incredible and you realize two things:

1) It didn’t kill me.

2) I really want to do that again.

All the health benefits aside, this for me is more about getting UNCOMFORTABLE. We live in a constant state of comfort and as my friend Dave reminded me, we are not designed to live this way. By design, our bodies are built for changes in temperature and light, both of which remind constant everyday. But when we get uncomfortable and realize it didn’t kill us, we feel alive. It’s because uncomfortable is literally what we were made for. That’s why we make such better art when we get uncomfortable.

You don’t have to pour cold water over your head outside in the snow today. (But I dare you to ;)) But If you want to make better art. To make better stuff. We have to get used to what it feels like to be uncomfortable.

I Dare You

DARE:

It’s really cold today. I DARE someone to go outside and pour cold water over your head. If you do, tell me about it.