Author: Ryan

No accidental consumption or weird topics this time. Coffee. That’s what I’ve had to dodge this week. Well, in addition to the previous challenges of course. No caffeine, that was the extra goal this week, and so far, that was a success. It’s been the challenge I expected. Rough until about noon, then I don’t really even think about it.

For a couple days last week, I had to sit in a room at work with a fresh pot every day. My work-roommate, is that a thing? So my work-roommate is a pot of coffee by day type of guy. He’s been out of the office traveling for work, so I haven’t had to torture my tired morning self with the smell of fresh coffee throughout this week. That has definitely made the past few days a lot easier, though I still get the occasional craving.

The biggest question and comment I think I’ve gotten about not drinking coffee anymore concerns headaches from withdrawal. I, fortunately, have not suffered this side effect. For a while, I only really drank tea, which has a fraction of the caffeine in coffee. When my aforementioned work-roommate moved in, I switched from a cup of tea in the morning to drinking three to four cups of coffee. Fortunately, when I stopped, no headaches.

A side effect that I think has crept up on me has been a weakness in other areas of self-control. Today alone, I’ve drunk probably about a pint of eggnog, and I doubt I’m calling it quits there. I do believe that willpower is an expendable resource we have. We can build up what we have, and we can train ourselves to decrease the willpower certain tasks take, but we do have a limited amount. Piling on limitations over the past few weeks has required tons of willpower, especially in the first few days of each. Resulting in letting things slide elsewhere.

One thing that has helped this past week and I feel is totally underrated is decaf coffee. I basically grew up on decaf, not by any intention really. It’s just what my grandpa had back in those days, and I enjoyed sharing a cup or two with him, still do. I was spending some time with a few friends this weekend, and (shoutout) my friend Ashley made a pot of decaf. It was absolutely fantastic.

It’s been a pretty tough few weeks, some parts tougher than others. I’ve been able to commit pretty well so far, save accidental cup drinking on Thanksgiving. After week one, I decided I would keep adding a new piece to this trial every post. This final week I’ll be forgoing video games, a frequent pastime. I hope this will open up some free time towards focusing on some bigger projects, including one I hope to release next week. Stay tuned for the stunning conclusion next week!

Disclaimer off the bat! The majority of this post concerns my giving up pornography and masturbation for the past week. If that’s something you’d prefer to avoid having that image of me in your head, feel free to skip this one. For the next week, I’m also not going to consume any caffeine, thanks for dropping by!

For those of you hanging around, here’s a quick update on the trial as a whole. I did my best to avoid discussing this at Thanksgiving, though my mom did try to pry out some details. I was able to change the subject thanks to a cousin of mine (Thanks Jason!). On the subject of  Thanksgiving, I do have something I need to confess. Due to a minor mixup, I accidentally had a drink of alcohol. My brother was drinking a nice dark stout and I had a cup of root beer, after a bit of moving around I picked up the wrong cup. The smell caught me off guard a bit but figured it couldn’t be my sweet delicious root beer. I was quickly proven very incorrect. Regardless of intention, that’s a strike for me.

While I may have slipped up on not drinking, I have thus far been successful in addition from last week. It helped that for a few days I was staying with family for the holiday, but even just the couple days I’ve been home have been an interesting thing to reflect on. Until I straight up forced myself not to watch any porn or choke the chicken, I never realized how much of a habit I had formed. There have been days where I’ve gotten home from work and started to wind down. Then I stop and think, “what do I do now?” I used to just fill a small chunk of my day watching bad acting that afterward feels like a bit of a waste of time. There are days when I actually become frustrated and look for something to distract me from the thought.

Putting myself on the spot to write about this has got me thinking a lot about how contradictory our culture’s approach to sexuality can be. Writing this makes me a bit uncomfortable thinking about the fact that nearly anyone in the world can read this post. At the same time, I can hop over to numerous websites or flip on the TV to watch a program or advertisement that is overwhelmingly sexual. I feel that pornography and sex are somehow simultaneously celebrated and demonized in popular culture. Who knows, maybe it’s just the sexual frustration building up in me.

Measuring the effect of not masturbating is not only difficult but a fairly odd thing to try and do. The time put elsewhere is a straightforward measure, which I’m glad I didn’t get a stopwatch out for a “control measurement.” This is weird enough to write about as is. Something I’ve heard from time to time is that porn and masturbation tend to allow complacency in intimacy and/or relationships. I’ve been single for quite some time, but recently have been thinking about trying that whole dating thing again, even if it’s not anything serious at first. I wonder if this trial will give me the push to do something about that, I guess time will tell.

Overall, this challenge was mostly inspired by something I heard on a podcast which the interviewee, who I am failing to find the name of, called the month of rage! The month of rage involves no alcohol, caffeine, or sexual activity. The plan seemed like something fit for this blog, so when I stopped drinking, I figured why not slowly introduce the other elements too. The full month might still be something on the table for the future though.

If you made it this far, I appreciate it! This was pretty tough to write. I found myself second-guessing myself and questioning what the hell I should write here. As I already mentioned, I’ll be adding caffeine to the list of sacrifices for the next couple weeks. I’ll be adding one more next week to add a final cherry on top of the psuedo-month of rage, so stay tuned!

If you read last week’s post, then, of course, you know that this past week I’ve given up drinking alcohol. All in all a week of not drinking is really easy. The real difficulty arises if I want to continue beyond this trial. Right now, it’s easy to tell people I’m not drinking, and it gives me a moment to explain the blog. Beyond this trial, I will need to deal with the often lengthy conversation of “I don’t drink,” which I did get rather used to last summer when I went thru a similar decision, though without a blog to write about at the time.

One moment of having to explain that I had stopped drinking came literally the day after pledging to give it up. A few minutes after posting, it dawned on me that I had plans to meet up at a bar that were made about a week in advance. My options were to cancel, change the venue, or to show up and explain that I had stopped drinking. I chose option three. I ended up getting a water and inspired by my abstinence, my associate ordered a 7-up. So there we were, sitting at a fairly packed bar, not a drop of booze between the two of us. I had a great time.

Before this trial, I’ve had a fair amount of experience dealing with social situations completely sober. When I lived in Texas last summer, I stopped drinking completely. I decided that I would only drink on my terms, not because I felt inclined to in order to deal with a certain situation. This decision was sparked by a couple nights that I simply felt the way I was acting while drunk wasn’t how I wanted to be known for acting, as I’m sure many drinkers can relate. One day, I just stopped and I definitely felt better about a majority of things in my life at that time. When I moved back to Dubuque, that habit sort of slipped. Coming back, I was surrounded by people I was habitually drinking with throughout the entirety of knowing them, and that led to many weeks of casual, and some not so casual, drinking. Which in of itself isn’t a bad thing, just a habit I want to try and break. I don’t want to rely on alcohol to get thru social situations, a place I know I’ve found myself in on a number of occasions. I do believe that simply not drinking for a few weeks will build some resolve even beyond this trial, at least I hope it does.

All in all, I’ve found that not drinking is pretty easy. Not only is it a clearly obvious health choice, but the amount of money I’ll be saving is quite nice. Do I expect to have an occasional drink when this is all over? Definitely, but again, it’s something that I want to decide on my terms, not because I feel it’s what I should do in a moment. I should be able to embrace any situation which others are drinking while stone cold sober and still have a great time.

As I mentioned in my last post, each week, I’ll be adding a new level to this trial. I’m going to be dipping into something a bit taboo in our culture though it’s something that’s been on my list to tackle for some time. Typing this is weird, especially since my mother is a frequent reader, but this coming week, in addition to not drinking alcohol. I will be not looking at pornography or masturbating. Well, this next post is probably gonna be little awkward…maybe you just shouldn’t read the next one mom.

This was for some reason a lot harder than it should’ve been. Picking up a book and reading somehow was one of the toughest things to do on certain days. I find myself procrastinating to do what felt like anything to not have to sit down and read. Thru it all, I definitely learned a lot in trying this though. I’ve had to do a lot of thinking on daily habits, short and long-term goals, and motivators over the past few weeks. I’ve learned not only from the process of trying (and failing) to read every day but also from the books themselves.

First and foremost, Ben Franklin was a crazy dude and I’ve got a ton of respect for him. He can be a great inspiration in times of trouble. His philosophies alone would’ve made him a legend, but he didn’t stop there. He became a renowned scientist across the world and was the only founding father to sign what are considered the four major documents to craft this great nation, the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Peace with Great Britain, and the Constitution of the United States. He did have his flaws, however. Franklin was far from a family man, and while he never cheated on his wife, he was very flirtatious with a number of women in his time in both England and France.

Franklin, as it turns out is Nick Offerman’s “Most Respected Illuminatus,” as stated in his book. I really enjoyed this read. It was fun, full of pictures, and plenty of comedy. This was refreshing after the rather straight edged read of the biography. The read was fun, skills, however, are tough to work on without actually participating hands on. I had a good time reading the book and maybe learned a little bit, but I definitely wouldn’t consider myself knowledgeable in the world of woodworking without actually have worked with my hands.

The last book I challenged myself to read, and first to finish no less, was The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. I mostly picked it up because its name seems to be the inspiration for one of my favorite board games, Betrayal at House on the Hill (link is non-affiliate). Overall, it was just an okay read, but I did find myself using my mind a lot more to visualize the scenes, characters, and objects. This made the experience so much better. I visualized the house and the frightening things that were happening within it. I’m glad I gave it a chance, but I may be doing a bit more research before hopping into any future works of fiction. Let me know if you have recommendations.

My biggest takeaway is the importance of deadlines. I tried to set this up by hardcore scheduling my days in order to meet deadlines, but all in all, I knew when push comes to shove, if completing these books was a number one priority, that deadline would push me to do so. This is something I’m trying to apply elsewhere in life. From work projects to side projects, having deadlines for a particular idea or task helps me to finish beforehand. Batting 1.000 on those isn’t always possible, but I still feel a bit of a sting when I go past it. My mind keeps coming back to an article I shared in my newsletter a week ago. The gist is that it’s important to know what factors truly influence you. Can you operate purely based on personal goals or do you need an external force pushing you to do so? For me personally, I think having publicly announced deadlines helps me to actually push myself to finish things before or at least close to those deadlines.

Now for the next trial. I am going to try shaking up the formula a bit. Not only am I going to start a new trial, but every week I am going to add a new challenge. To start off, I am giving up a delicious and sociable pastime, alcohol. Let me know in the comments below if you think you are up for the challenge!

1. It is necessary for me to be extremely frugal for some time, till I have paid what I owe.
2. To endeavor to speak truth in every instance; to give nobody expectations that are not likely to be answered, but aim at sincerity in every word and action — the most amiable excellence in a rational being.
3. To apply myself industriously to whatever business I take in hand, and not divert my mind from my business by any foolish project of suddenly growing rich; for industry and patience are the surest means of plenty.
4. I resolve to speak ill of no man whatever.

Four long weeks of cold showers, exactly what I needed to remind myself the importance of committing, even when the commitment sucks. The whole experience made me think, “if I can take this freezing shower for no reason other than I said I would, why should I go back on anything else?” There were definitely days where I thought, I could totally just take a warm shower today and write about the excuses in my head for doing so. “It was raining and very cold out. I was sick. One day won’t ruin what I built up over the month.” Still, I just made myself get in and do it. By the time I got out, I looked back on the excuses I was looking to make and knew they are the exact reason I needed to start this trial in the first place. Now that the trial has come to a close, it’s time to reflect on what I can take away from these past few weeks.

I’ve been asked a lot if I will continue cold showers once the trial has ended. For the next few weeks, I’ll answer with a resounding no. However, I do foresee myself taking the occasional one when I know I need to get some things done afterward and don’t want to waste a few minutes standing still, or if I need to quickly shower before leaving home. I can also see myself turning the water to cold is when I need a jolt of “Hey dumbass stop making excuses and whining.”

A similar but slightly different approach I may stick with is to take contrasting showers. While trying to pull up some real research on benefits of cold showers, beyond the sensationalist articles with names like “Top Five Reasons You Need to Take Cold Showers Now,” I found a report by the Australian Coaches Council that briefly mentioned benefits of temperature contrast for muscle recovery. Here’s the whole document. Page 15 discusses hydrotherapy thru the use of contrasting temperatures. Right now, I’m looking to get back into running and biking, and the claims made for muscle recovery can be quite helpful. During the trial, I looked for benefits of cold showers specifically and found a few pieces on the topic, but I’m sure I could have just as easily found articles highlighting the benefits of hot showers. In reality, there are probably benefits to both, so why not just switch it up from time to time?

One problem I catch myself in when taking hot or warm showers is loitering in the shower and not getting onto the things I need to accomplish that day. The biggest benefit I’ve seen in my weeks of cold showers is a huge drop in the time spent each day getting clean. I gave an estimate of six minutes based on how I would listen to about one and a half to two songs per shower previously. During my cold shower trial, I had was in and out in an average of 2:27, 3:16 for time including drying off, cutting time well in half. Having had this experience, I wonder to what extent I will be conscious of the time I spend showering going forward.

Along with time spent, someday this could translate into dollars saved. RIght now, the apartment I’m in I don’t pay for most utilities, but I decided to look at the factors. I found this calculator after a quick Google search. I entered in the local utility costs I was able to find on the city of Dubuque website, an average time of 6 minutes and a warm shower (defined as 90° F) for a result of $0.19 per day which comes out to over $67 per year. For cold showers (65° F) at the same time, the cost is cut well in half, $0.09 per day or $32.87 per year, but as I mentioned above, a cold shower tends to push you to go a bit quicker. At 3 minutes that total drops down to $0.05 per day, $16.43 per year. At 2 minutes a mere $0.03 a day which comes to $10.96 every year. Is that warm shower taken every day worth a couple dimes each time? Maybe. That’s up to you, but a definite benefit to keep in mind.

Now that I’m done freezing myself by choice, what will I be doing next? The mail list subscribers might have noticed I was spending quite some time at the library this past weekend. While there I took out a handful of books. In order to actually read the near 1000 pages, for the next four weeks, I will be reading at least 35 pages of a book per day. My reading list has gotten a bit out of hand with more books added every week from podcasts, blogs and even within books themselves. Most recently, I was turned onto the biographies by author Walter Isaacson after he appeared on the Tim Ferriss Show, a highlight mentioned in my newsletter. During my trip to the library, I grabbed his book on the life of Benjamin Franklin along with a few others. With October coming to a close, I realized I haven’t watched any horror movies this month, so I decided I should dig into a horror novel instead, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson in this case. Lastly, developing new skills is something I love doing and one that I’ve been long interested in has been woodworking and carpentry. After several minutes of walking up and down the library stacks I found Nick Offerman’s Good Clean Fun, which I hope to be an enjoyable, yet educational, read. I hope to finish each of these over the course of the next four weeks. If you want to join along, I challenge you to try reading differently than usual. For example, I never read fiction, I figure I’ll wait for the movie to come out or watch a YouTube video summarizing the events and themes in a few minutes (I personally enjoy Sparky Sweets from Thug Notes). So if you usually read fiction, pick up a biography or nonfiction book on a subject you know only a little about, or, if you’re like me, dive into a story crafted from the mind of a great author. October is a great time for horror.

The next few posts may be a bit different than what I’ve done in the past, but I hope you still tune in and join me thru each book!

Every time I am trying something new, I have a few conversations with friends or family in which they make it seem that I am doing the wildest thing in the world.

This past weekend, I participated in a cross country race hosted by my alma mater. It is a damned tough course, lots of hills thru the same loops for five miles, and the weather this year did not make things any easier. It was cold and rainy, “great cross country weather,” as my old coach put it. I joke with myself every year that there must be something wrong with me that I come back and take part in these events in track and cross when I am definitely not in the shape to do it. “Who cares about a running around in circles, I thought this was about showers?” You might be asking, and here’s the point. When I saw some friends for the first time in a while, questions were posed about the showers and how they couldn’t imagine doing it, but each one of them had run on the course described above without question. Some of them were back out of choice to run that very day. Having once been a cross country and distance track runner, I feel like I will always be ready to do something regardless of how crazy it sounds to others. Perhaps that is the very essence that this blog came from.

Looking back on instances of my past self being opposed to certain experiences have led me to be shocked by how boring I once was. Earlier today, I recalled two specific moments of despising the idea of a cold shower and never imagining taking one out of choice. The first was a time when the water heater broke at my mom’s house. The second experience was at summer camp in Boy Scouts and we were there for a week or two, depending on how long you were staying. Being out in the woods, there were select showers that had minor warmth, and apparently, it was worth the hike to get there. In both cases,  I remember bracing myself for cold water like it was the toughest thing I had to do, which looking back it very well may have been.

When I first decided cold showers would be my next trial, I was hoping it would rebuild toughness I felt I had lost. Ultimately, I believe that is a success. I’ve done every shower without complaint. Observing that they are less enjoyable sure, but whining or complaining, no. After a few weeks of this, it will be weird going back after this next week. All in all, if I was stuck doing this for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t think twice. Speaking of being done with this next week, I need the idea for my next trial. Leave a comment below and I’ll add it to my list to pick from next week!

This week I noticed a trend with the blog that has started. The first week I feel one way about something then the next week my feelings become the complete opposite. Last week I raved at how great the cold showers felt, it helped that Dubuque was abnormally warm those days. Now that the weather is cooling off, I get out of the shower and am freezing cold. A similar thing happened during the last trial with the diet. I struggled the first week. In the second post, I felt I was enjoying it much more. We’ll have to see if this trend continues.

A big thing I wanted to focus on moving forward was objective measures of benefits, or hindrance, in trying something new. Last week, I mentioned using the time I spend in the shower as that measure. I’ve been timing myself the past week and I am showering for an average time of 2:30, 3:18 including drying off. It’s tough to determine how knowing that I am being timed is impacting my time in, but with the cold, I was already trying to get in and out as quickly as possible.Regardless, I am cutting the time I am spending by more than half, based on a rough guess of 6 minutes prior.

Something I was hoping to see based on some reading with cold showers is it’s helpfulness with muscle soreness as I’ve started to workout again, but damn does my body still hurt. Maybe the years of neglect aren’t really helped by just a few days of cold showering, but hey maybe it will help someday? I’ve tried to throw in a morning stretch routine to help with this, so fingers crossed that will do the trick. All in all, still not seeing the health benefits there.

One place that I think I am seeing some of the positive effects of cold showers is weight loss. I do want to state for the record here, I am not a medical expert or even close to someone who really understands how the human body works. In other words, I really have no idea what I’m talking about, seek professional guidance before seeking certain results, whether following a trial I’m running or something on your own. I’ve read that colder showers can help lose weight. I didn’t read anything with deep scientific evidence, but was an interesting insight. I did find myself under 160 lbs for the first time in years though. Though, without a good control measure, it’s tough to say what impact the showers may have had if any at all.

Overall, I don’t hate that I’m taking cold showers, but damn it got a lot harder this past week. I think the benefits thus far are outweighing the pain caused by doing so, but then again the winter hasn’t rolled in yet. We’ll have to see how this week goes, will it get better? Will it get worse? Find out next time on Dragon Ba..wait I think I’m in the wrong place.