December Chills

DECEMBER CHILLS

Two years ago, my wife and I came across the book 75 Hard by Andy Frisella. I cannot, with integrity, tell you that I completed 75 Hard. I modified it for my own sort of challenge. We completed “75 Medium”, as we nicknamed it! 75 Hard consists of doing 5 things every single day for 75 days in a row. If you miss a day, you start over from the beginning. 1- Workout twice a day for 45 minutes each, and one of those HAS to be outside. 2- Drink 1 gallon of water 3- Read 10 pages of self-improvement books, and don't switch books until you've finished one. 4- Choose a meal plan and stick to it. 5- Take a progress picture. Our modification was only doing one workout a day (and I only took a progress pic every week). See? 75 Medium. It still took discipline and planning. It still took mental toughness. But I cannot say that I completed 75 Hard.

Here is what it taught me: I like challenges. Maybe you do too! I'm completing one right now. It's called 23 Strong. It's a simple 23 day challenge that involves 2 things I know I have to do every single day. 1- Read 13 pages 2- Simple breathing exercise However, there's a random task that I don't find out about until each morning when I wake up. I have to complete it, or I start all over. Today is Day 21 of 23, so I'm almost there. I was talking with someone today about it, and the hardest one was when I was tasked with “Cook a new recipe”. Today's is do 25 pushups every hour for 8 hours. I mean, that's only 200 pushups, right?! But to knock it out, I've had to set an alarm to remind me not to forget. I've successfully completed 6 of those 8 sets as I write this. Hold on… Thanks for pausing. I just knocked out the 7th set!

Here's the deal! I like challenges, like I said, and I'm going for a new one. One I've never done before, and one that will stretch me. I wasn't even challenged to do this, but I'm doing it all on my own. And yet I'm inviting you into it as well, for free, if you'd like. Can you guess what it is? That's right: December Chills! Ice barrel plunge every day in December.

I know you're curious what benefits there are to the ice barrel and snow baths and cold showers. Yet you're holding back because of some fear, honestly. You don't like being cold. You're afraid the cold is going to hurt you. But I promise you this: if you step toward this challenge, you will realize that the cold actually makes you stronger. In lots of ways. That's a promise!

So what does this look like? It looks like getting chilly every single day in December. The starting point is a cold shower for 30 seconds. That's how I started years ago! Commit to that every day in December, and you'll be amazed how much you enjoy and look forward to it each day. If you're local and interested in feeling the rush of an ice barrel plunge, let me know. I have a buddy coming over tomorrow morning to do just that! But here's the point: let's develop some discipline of getting uncomfortable so that we can not live life afraid. Are you up for that? I know you are. Let's do this! We start tomorrow!

GO FOR THE CHALLENGE,

Chris