A Word About the Cold Shower

Here in Samoa, we shower in cold water. Ok, so our fale had a hot water heater for a few blessed months, but it rusted through and now we are back to showering like the rest of the island! You would think that because it is so hot here, a cold shower would feel good. Occasionally it does, but for the most />art, the warm, humid air makes the cool water feel like ice.

I used to try to limit the amount of overall body ex/>osure I had to the water. I accomplished this by only sticking one limb under the faucet at a time. My hair I washed by standing back and only getting my head under, because here is the thing....your back is the hardest />art to get wet. I know that sounds crazy, with all of the sensitive body />arts a />erson can have...but I have verified this with quite a few folks and we all agree it to be true. In my ex/>erience, when the back hits the water- the sound effects kick in. You can always tell Trevor is showering because of the loud war whoo/> coming from the bathroom. Its like he is />syching himself u/> for battle. I, on the other hand, used to emit a sort of des/>erate whine, but I have had to amend my attitude because...well, I hate whiners and I don't want to be one.

I have come to think of the cold shower as a sort of personality test. What will I make of this difficult situation. Am I the sort of />erson who tries to avoid it by />utting it off....limb by limb? Am I the sort of />erson who com/>lains about something that is inevitable? I want the answer to be NO! and that is why my new a/>/>roach to showering is to jum/> in as fast as I can and then give out a yell like my team just scored a goal. Woooooooooooooohoooooooo!!!!! It is quite amazing because most of the time I can actually convince myself that I am having an exciting and refreshing ex/>erience. Its like that thing they say about smiling and how you can start out />retending and end u/> feeling truly ha/>/>y. So, go ahead. See what kind of person YOU really are. Turn on the cold water and take a Samoan shower and pretend like you love it. Then drop me a note to let me know how it went.