I can do hard things. Can You?

So I did a cold plunge last week.

When I got to the place, they talked me through the process before I got in the water and gave me some breathing tips, and still as soon as my body hit the water, I panicked.

I lasted 30 seconds the first time and jumped out as fast as I could.

As I was debriefing with my friend while warming up in the sauna, I realized that I probably could’ve stayed in a little longer. But I had let my mind tell me I couldn’t.

So I resolved to stay in a little longer the next time and even longer the next. By the fourth (and last) time, I’d worked my way up to two minutes, though I had to modify by poking my toes out of the water for part of it.

Your mind is so powerful. It can make or break your life. It dictates whether you act, react, or don’t act at all. I don’t know about you, but I want to choose my life, not just let it happen to me or miss it altogether.

Of course challenges will arise. Of course things happen that are out of your control. But if you’ve trained your mind to do hard things, you’ll be able to handle what comes your way.

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Easeful living doesn’t mean that you don’t have to do hard things. It just means that you can get through hard things with a little less resistance.

Changing your lifestyle and adopting new habits is hard at times, I’m not gonna lie. Getting up and going to the gym before work or eating that vegetable you don’t really like or going out with friends when you’d rather crawl into bed because you know it’ll be good for you or clearing out your home and giving away things that no longer serve you — it’s hard!

When you’re not mindful of the hard, you let your feelings of resistance take over and you just don’t do it. But when you’re mindful, you notice the thought that says, “I don’t want to do this.” And you stay present to your goals and vision for a more expanded life experience. And then you do the hard thing anyways.

What is something you know you need to do but you’ve been resisting lately? How can you push through to just do the thing and prove to yourself that you can do hard things?

​As always, comment below and let me know! Sharing it with someone makes it more real and a little bit easier to follow through on.