Developing Resilience in the Winter

In this episode I am sharing about the benefits of getting outside and immersing yourself in the cold wintery weather. In today's day in age we have the luxury of comfort, like hot water and furnaces to heat our homes. Most people are afraid of the cold and love to go somewhere warm in the winter. It's a great escape strategy but the buzz is very short lived. Soon you have to come back to reality. And despite these lifestyle comforts, people are still unhappy and feel rather dissatisfied and want more. A counter-intuitive approach like cold exposure may be a great idea. We heard growing up: "Put your jacket on, don't catch a cold" Well, as a society, we are programmed for instant comfort and pleasure. And the instant gratification mentality can often rob us of joy, wellbeing and happiness. If you are like me, you know the internal benefits of discipline. Doing what is hard so your life will be easy is the philosophy here. When you expose yourself to uncomfortable stimuli for brief periods frequently you will very likely experience more long term happiness, satisfaction and more appreciation for the simple things in life. All things pleasurable like food, a warm fireplace, netflix or scrolling on the internet become more of a joy and pleasure when you do something like a hard workout, go outside in sub zero temperatures with minimal clothing, cold showers and such. I have found it builds up your immunity and tolerance for harsh environments so you can thrive in the more conventional states and life actually becomes more of a joy and pleasure. It is a no pain, no gain approach in a way, except you don't live in pain, you just deliberately put yourself into a situation of acute stress and build up your mental and physical strength and resiliency. And by doing so you will feel better about yourself and ability to handle life situations better. Because who doesn't want that? PS: This is not for the faint at heart, only for those who want to try at their own discretion. Be safe but don't be afraid!