Stage 1: Discovery
You are fated to discover the possibility of not turning on the heater before showering. If you're reading this, you're probably in this stage.
Possible responses to this discovery of this new possibility:
- doubt (why would i do this?)
- nonchalance (why would i do this?)
- excitement (probably some kind of a masochist)
One of these responses allows the individual to pass the selection test and move on to stage 2.
(First impression plays a big role in determining whether or not you will do something/someone)
Stage 2: Regret
As you stand in the shower inches away from touching the icy 30 degrees water, you might regret your moment of folly. (Why did I trust someone on the internet?)
But since your dumb brain is incapable of viewing the "sunk cost fallacy" as a "fallacy", you are not going to get out of the shower unscathed. You resign yourself to the fate that you are going to take a cold shower, and you feel resigned now that it is inevitable.
Stage 3: Just do it
Despite every inch of your body dying to NOT freeze, you take a step forward. Then, you take another step forward because like the water is quite cold, but your the place that the water hits you is actually probably the most sensitive area of your body, so 1 step makes you much colder than 0 steps and 2 steps.
Stage 4: Panic
The water hit you. You feel so cold. You feel like you can't breathe. Every inch of your body screams cold. Your brain knows that it's going to freeze to death if you stay in there long enough. Adrenaline rushes through you. You feel attacked. You feel like you have to fight for your survival. But, you set on a journey to prove yourself when you went to take a cold shower. So, despite your body telling you otherwise, you muster up the courage to do the act of not moving.
Stage 5: Shivering
You have been under the cold water for about 30 seconds now. Initial wave of freeze is over, you are now just cold. You don't dare turn your body because that'll make your back cold as well, assuming you are facing the shower head in the frontal direction. That would be going through the most terrible stage of taking a cold shower all over again with much less return due to the law of diminishing returns, and so you rather not do that.
You probably feel happy now. This isn't because that you actually did something good or hard or meaningful, or you improved of some sorts. No, you feel happy probably because you aren't freezing anymore, and instead you're just cold. And you probably feel happy that stepping into the cold shower part is over.
Stage 6: Acceptance
You accept that taking cold showers is part of your identity now. You research about the benefits of cold shower, how it supposedly sends chemicals to your brain, or something. Often, coldness is associated with calmness, so either that or the placebo effect allows you to seem calmer, which actually makes you calmer. You are glad that you took a cold shower.
Stage 7: Go on with life
You realise taking cold showers is not as consequential as you thought it would be. However, you definitely don't regret taking one, given its unique experience.
Either that, or you absolutely love taking cold showers now. You take them everyday. They make you much more special that you already are. You see tangible benefits in your everyday life, such as being more focused, calm, optimistic. You feel glad that you took the first step.
Conclusion
To make this seem like it wasn't just me having absolutely nothing substantial to write about, I shall now tell you about how these stages are actually present in almost everything that you do.
For you to do something, you must first be exposed to it. Some (most) people have something called a "fixed mindset", so they don't actually try it.
Then for the people who try it, some prefer comfort to tryharding. They fail at stage 2, where they just give up.
Some do not have the "just do it" blood in them, so they don't do it.
Some simply cannot take how hard it is to "stand in the water" for extended periods of time, so they lose interest.
Some journey to the end, but didn't really enjoy the process. But at least they were the one choosing what they want to do, and not their primitive bodies.
And some, find "taking cold showers" to be their calling. They give it their all, truly benefiting the "taking cold showers" community.
Anyways, you should try it.
Backstory: The heater broke.
