How doing hard things changed my life

This has been something that has been on my mind for quite some time now. Since I started doing ice plunges around 2 years ago it has made me perceive difficulty with high reward. Before you build up the courage to dip into an ice-cold body of water for around 3-5 minutes your body is just screaming for you to not do it. However, once you are in for about half a minute things will start to slow down and all of a sudden it will become relaxing to sit in literal ice water. Once you get out all you want to do is just hop back in because of how good you feel right after the fact.

This is something I think about on a day to day basis. Even though I no longer live in an area where naturally freezing water can occur right in your backyard. I do miss doing ice plunges every single day. Everything I do that is difficult or uncomfortable makes me think about how good it feels to have gone through it.

I am sure this is common place for most especially if you have been going to the gym for a long time or if you have ever done any strainous physical activity for long period of time. There are days you do not feel like going to the gym but a sublte reminder of how good you feel once you are coming back from the gym is what sometimes drives us to get up to go do it anyway.

I have probably started the compounding effect of doing hard things when I first started skiing which seems like a life time ago at this point. I always kept pushing the limits even if it hurt, even if my hands were on the verge of frostbite (probably not).

Without making this blog get too drawn out what I do want to end it off with is that doing hard things rewards you. Ice plunges have taught me to run as far away from my 'comfort zone' as possible. There is no growth in comfort.