Cold Showers

Last night, Lily was taking a shower before bed and was freaking out. She was yelling through the door that it was broken and wouldn't get warm. Abi was sitting by waiting for her turn to shower, and just rolled her eyes and told Lily to stop turning off the water and just hurry and finish. I thought maybe the shower handle was stuck or something. We didn't really pay attention to her wailing. But then Peter misfired in the bathroom and got himself wet, and when I went to draw a bath for him, behold - there was no warm water! Hm, interesting. I went to check the basement and it looked like the water heaters did not have their pilot lights on. So Peter had a baby wipes bath and we learned that Lily wasn't being dramatic. Her shower wasn't tepid or room temperature, it was legit COLD. I laughed and said lucky for me and Wes, we've spent over a week getting used to cold showers! Wes told me about Wim Hof on Saturday Jan 14, on our way to Momentum, and after watching this video with Yes Theory (and several other people on youtube saying all the amazing benefits of cold showers for your brain and body...) I've taken several cold showers, done some snow exposure, like sitting in it, laying it in, taken out the trash barefoot (to the street) and yeah, it's kinda fun to shake things up with a little cold exposure. I tried to increase my time last Thurs and spent 6 minutes laying in the snow, before we went to St. George, and then on the drive down I noticed that the tips of my thumbs were still numb. The tips felt kinda numb/asleep for a few days, and my left one still does a little bit, so maybe I did some nerve damage. Sorry, thumbs. No more 6 minutes in the snow. I'll keep it quick. Maybe I got a bit of frostnip? So I'm not doing it that long again. Just 11 min a week. I know, I know - the disclaimer in the Yes Theory said to not attempt, and I didn't do a 4 hour hike, I was just feeling ambitious/crazy by choice. Looks like everyone else gets to be forced into it now for a day. Abi took a shower after, and she was washing her hair (I told her that's a bad idea) but she did it, cleanliness must prevail, and Abi afterwards let us know that it was a horrible experience, and that she "was screaming like an opera singer the whole time!" 

"I don't think opera singers would say that they 'scream'..." "I was like the bad lady on Phantom of the Opera" and I was laughing again thinking of Abi in the shower singing like Carlotta. We didn't hear her case we were downstairs playing around with the pilot lights. 

Corey got it lit on one tank briefly (Dec 2013 tank on left), but then it didn't seem to be on again, and the other tank looked like it was having problems (water at the bottom, Feb 2018 tank on right). Good news: we didn't cause an explosion. Bad news: we didn't fix anything. Water was still cold. So this morning it was a VERY cold shower for Wes, Corey showered at the gym, and I haven't showered today. I could have done cold, but I didn't feel like it today. Hmm, maybe that's why I've been in a kinda bad mood today. Note to self, go take a cold shower in the morning, don't skip it. 

I texted our landlord and she gave me the plumbers that we used last time (Neerings) and they were able to come out within an hour and had a new tank in by noon. It was under warranty, only a $49 service fee and yay, I thought we were back up and running. They said to give it 30 minutes, so I started laundry and then I had carpool and was busy until 4. Back at home, I went to wash dishes and hmm, it still felt kinda cold. I checked another sink, then went to the basement again. Seemed like it still wasn't working. I called Neerings again, they sent out another technician, I actually wasn't sure which tank was the 2013 or 2018, but he said the 2018 was the one that was under warranty and was replaced, and that the 2013 one on the left wasn't working either. It was an old brand that they don't use anymore. The pilot lighter needs to be replaced, but he said it's such an old tank, and would be $700 to fix, but he didn't think it was worth it to fix on an old tank, we should replace that one too. Doh. That one's warranty is expired. Sooo. we'll still be having cold showers tonight and tomorrow morning, and they will be back here at 9 to take a look again and then we'll see if we will be having warm baths tomorrow.

But I like the Yes Theory's idea of "Seek Discomfort". Maybe all these warm baths and comfortable homes have turned us all into pansies. A little bit of cold discomfort might make my body toughen up a bit. It's been making Katharine all the more lovely though. We discovered how soft she really is after we got calloused hands from bouldering, and now I'm really seeing how warm she is from getting myself a little cold. We'd never give her a cold bath, that would be so sad, she'd cry like a baby. She's  everything we want to be if we're just hanging out in our comfort zones, but we need to seek discomfort. It's good for us. We're not babies anymore, time to grow up and enjoy the dignity in calloused hands.