“I’m not afraid of dying. I’m afraid not to have lived.” – Wim Hof
It turns out, the cold can not only teach us — it can heal us, too.
Although I don’t talk much about my routine when it comes to keeping my body energised, I do work out, mind my food, and take cold showers.
“In order to serve, you have to be fit to serve” comes to mind during physically uncomfortable moments.
Yet the last element, cold exposure – something I had started over two years ago – came as a surprise even to me myself.
“Me? The person whose feet are cold even in subtropics? It doesn’t sound appealing, sorry…” (if you stick around, I’ll share some photos with you that prove I haven’t exaggerated anything here).
Yet what it took for me was one interview.
It wasn’t even two years of my brother-in-law mentioning the benefits of cold exposure to me.
It took me to sit down and watch an interview by Russell Bran with Wim Hof, also known as the Iceman.
‘The Iceman’ sounds weird, not too scientific, and for me, personally, it didn’t sound interesting at all.
Yet once I started listening to this man I quickly realised two things.
One, the science behind cold exposure is very much real and not even that new at this point. There’s no controversy, really – only a lack of knowledge in this area that I myself showed.
Two, if I can be a bit more like Wim – as enthusiastic, engaged, and fun! – I’ll take it. I’ll take aliveness over sickness, vibrancy over stagnation, and optimism over depression. I wanna go to the source of what makes Wim how he is.
This interview is also a reminder that our physiology matters, that it has a direct effect on our mental state (if we see them as separate in the first place), and that we have to help our bodies to help ourselves.
I know I write and speak about personal development and mindfulness by summarising different disciplines and conceps, usually something that doesn’t have to entail physical action. Yet how we treat our bodies is something we can’t disregard if we want to live more fully. And although it took me some decades to understand and to admit it, to challenge ourselves physically IS a part of that investigative selfism.
In this interview, Wim shares a lot. He talks about the tragedy in his personal life that has pushed him into exposing himself to cold, the science that turns out to be behind all the benefits that it brings, and how to live with more joy.
Watch it, take it in, and maybe even take that cold shower today!
…and now, as promised, the proof that when I say “my feet are cold in the subtropics”, I do mean it!
The photo on the left is from Saō Paulo, October 2016 (so…spring in Brazil!), while the photo on the right is from Lithuania, just now, August 2022.
I call this style home elegance. It hasn’t changed much throughout the years.
Maybe you have a version of this style, too?:)
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Investigative Selfism 