Warmduscher, or how to love the morning cold shower

Our new pet is of the species Nuctenea umbratica. I caught it in our own apartment and it made a audible shriek-like sound when I did. The kids first hated the idea, but now we're all taking care of it.

I recently hosted a friend from Germany for a night. The routine that he told me about changed my life, and it might just change your life as well. So here it is.

In German, there's a derogatary term Warmduscher, which literally means 'warm showerer.' Now this term might be associated with people that feel a little bit too comfortable in their skin, they maybe procrastinate, or they are anxious. That's what a Warmduscher is in my own vocabulary, but there's translations as well.

Now it doesn't help to offend with this term what's essentially a majority of the population. Very cocky, some might say. But here's the upshot and another reading: the term Warmduscher provokes you into thinking via making you feel bad perhaps. Via feeling guilty, it gives you an incentive to question your ways. So much on this German term and why being provocative is sometimes a good idea!

Photo of a cock that I took a week ago near Helsingborg

Similar life hacks exist and I read that there's best-sellers around routines like cold showering. Sometimes word-of-mouth works just as well, especially if it comes with instructions on how to do it, and again this might not be new, but here's what works well for me:

1. Start showering like normal, warm, maybe 5 minutes. Do your soap or shampoo thing if you haven't done so already yesterday.
2. At the end of those 5 minutes, start being conscious about your breathing, and start breathing more heavily. Extend your arms forward to touch the wall.
3. This is when you can turn the shower all the way to the coldest point. You point the shower head directly at the top of your head. You continue breathing as before, maybe increase the pace of you feel like it. You may want to scream or yodel at this point to let out steam or frustrations, but beware of thy neighbours.
4. After maybe 10 seconds you step out of the shower as another person.

Happy Winter and let me know about your similar life hacks in the comments!