Hola, my folks,
Happy Thursday š. At the moment, I’m super energized and happy. Why? Because one of my sisters reminded me of the benefits of cold showers, and well, I just took one.
Loved it.
I used to take cold showers–all the time! In fact, back in 2010 when I was living in my car for nearly a year, I built myself a shower/waterfall up Provo Canyon, got myself some biodegradable soap, and that’s where I’d shower! (once my gym membership ran out, that is). Nothing like taking a freezing cold shower in snow melt!
I think I’m gonna go check out and see if it’s still there (my waterfall/shower) when I visit in a few months. So many memories. I worked so hard on that thing. Days… I want to say I rubbed the skin to bleeding from carrying so many rocks. Don’t remember for sure though. I also made a bath tub and installed drains!
Yeah, I was pretty dedicated to my homelessness. š
Then when I lived in Salt Lake before coming to Arkansas, I’d do the same thing (not homemade waterfall showers. I’d transitioned, regrettably, back into “civilization” by that point and was using a modern shower)–cold showers.
Anyway, it’sĀ so invigorating! And there are so many benefits. Of course it’s not a cure all, but, among other things, it increases metabolism (not that I’m needing any more weight loss helps right now [I’m up to 170 lbs, though!! Wahoo!], ups your endorphins (which I’m experiencing quite nicely right now š), can help reduce depression, improves circulation, improves immunity (one study I read a results summary of said that there was a 29% reduction in the number of sick days taken by those who took hot-to-cold showers vs. those who took normal showers. Cold showers also help you deal with stress better–including overcoming fear reactions!
So that’s that… that’s the immediate and present thing for the moment. Also… let’s see… lowers the electric bill. So many benefits. Sister! Thanks, for the reminder! This is gonna go back on the list of staple activities for my life. IĀ loveĀ it when I can find things that I’m already doing but can do differently and gain increased benefit from. No extra time needed! Don’t have to figure out how to cram one more thing in. Just… do itĀ differently.
Boom.
Yeah.
Okay… on to my day. Let’s see. I was feeling a little confused and discouraged last night, and I completely forgot everything about how I was working at tossing all my peace-reducing emotions and thoughts to the wind. That might have something to do with the lack of sleep, which disrupted my morning meditation/study/prayer routine. So… I’ve got two days off that right now, and I’m betting that had a hefty roll to play in my slipping a good bit.
I bring that up because I woke up feeling worse, and I missed my morning stuff again today, and with all that, and the million things on my mind, I was starting to slip more toward depression symptoms instead of just confusion/discouragement. Not to mention the last couple of nights I’ve had that “night thing” issue I’ve mentioned before. If you don’t remember what it is, just search my blog for “night thing.” I’m pretty sure I’ve written about it before. That’s been a killer to me over the years, dragged me down low (the night thing stuff).
As a side note, cold showers probably aren’t gonna do me any favors in that regard, as I believe they also boost testosterone š. But… whatever.).
The first job of the day was rather frustrating, so that didn’t help either. I was already on a shorter fuse from my lack of taking care of my sleep/emotional/spiritual needs. Then I was dealing with a customer who tried to fix his car himself and ended up messing it up even more, making it cost him probably three or four times what it would have if he’d just had us do it in the first place. And… it made it super complicated.
His car wouldn’t start, so he tried replacing the ignition switch and the interior fuse panel (the latter because he didn’t understand how fuses are powered). So he bought the switch and the panel and installed them, but then the car wouldn’t do anything.
CarsĀ rarelyĀ develop two problems at once, and his fiddling with things made it so much harder to figure out because whatever he did made it so power wasn’t even getting to the starter. I was able to diagnose that he did actually have bad starter, but after the issue with that one car last weak or whenever it was, I wasn’t 100% confident even after running through a bajillion tests that it was for sure the starter.
Anyway, I decided to go with the starter diagnosis as part of the issue but not the whole issue because, well, I’d tested the living daylights out of the car, and… what else was it gonna be? So… he got a used starter from the junkyard, and I put it in for him, and the starter itself worked, turning the engine over. So that part was solved. That was the original problem.
Next came the task of figuring out how he screwed up the electrical system in the car, so that no power was even getting to the starter at the ignition wire. It took, I don’t know, an hour or so, and I finally had him put in his old fuse panel, and boom–the engine cranked over.
Buuuuuuut…
Now it had no fuel pump kicking on. So instead of being a no crank, no start, it was now a crank no start. After lots of figuring out, come to find out that he messed up the fuse panel install–both times. I finally removed the panel myself, swapped the old one back in, realized he’d left out a fuse altogether (one related to the ignition system I think that was preventing power from getting to the fuel pump).
Anyway, it took what, a couple hours, but I finally got him going, and he was happy.
The next car… they were happy with me, but it was not happy news. Their motor locked up. They thought they only had a fuse problem, but the motor itself was locked up. š I gave them about 25% off, even though I drove all the way to Fayetteville just for them. They were happy about that. New parents. Brand new baby. Busted car. Mom footing the bill up front and they paying it back.
Tough day.
Anyway, I did one more car and then went home just as the rain moved in a little bit.
Love the rain.
It’s gonna rain tomorrow, and we’ve got an absolutely packed day, so I’m not sure what’s going to happen there. Hopefully, the rain won’t kill us too badly.
I got some of the weeds from the garden removed. The grow like gangbusters. Let me tell you. Wow. Might buy some more gas and have some… uh… fun š.
Driveway is looking almost normal now. Nearly all my junk is off of it. In fact… it might be? I don’t remember if I got the last of it. I think I might move the burn barrel, too. We’ll see. It’s a bit of an eye sore where it is and in the way. It’ll be less convenient elsewhere, but whatever. I’ll deal.
I’m feeling so much better than I was this morning. I don’t know why for sure. I was already doing much much better, good even, when I took my little cold shower that spiked my endorphins and made me feelĀ reallyĀ good.
In the midst of my not-so-good work day (emotionally), I did manage to do better at taking care of myself. I made a promise yesterday, I think it was, that I was going to take care of my body. So… I loaded up on food and powerade for hydration, and I drank more than I probably normally would. Still not enough, I don’t think, but IĀ tried. I also went to Burger King to get dinner.
Progress.
#1. I’m grateful I was able to get that gentleman’s truck figured out today, even after he’d messed it up multiple times.
#2. I’m grateful that I have the financial flexibility to give people discounts. The last job, I gave her over $100 off what she was offering to pay, but the hoped for repair didn’t take (apparently the new computer she bought either wasn’t programmed properly or didn’t have the correct instructions for resetting the security system afterward), so since we didn’t really accomplish anything, I didn’t really feel good about charging for two hours labor which is about the time I’d spent on it. I charged just the quickie 15 minute price and called it good.
#3. I’m grateful that the driveway is clean. It feels so nice to swing around to the garage door and not have my trash and junk everywhere. Hopefully, I’ll keep it nice and clean from here on out.
#4. I’m grateful for cold showers and for my sister reminding me about them.
#5. I’m grateful it’s only 11:05, and though I’m not quite on time, I’m not bad either.
To be better…
#1. Top priority is my sleep, which impacts my morning soĀ heavily.
#2.Ā GottaĀ get that morning meditation/prayer/study/ponder time in.
#3. Need to get back to exercising. That one slipped a ton with the events of July, with both physical and emotional health causing issues.
Well, folks. I’ve got a slight dehydration headache, I think it is? Or maybe IĀ didn’tĀ get enough to eat? Hmmm… I’ll eat and drink a little right now to see if I can stem the coming tide. I just brushed my teeth, though š.
Hope y’all had a beautiful day. Thanks, for being a part of mine.
Lift the World.
~ stephen
Oh! Funny story. When I was testing the old starter from the second car (seized motor), I think it might have had a short in it? The wire gotĀ superĀ hotĀ superĀ fast and burned me pretty good in three places. I leaned over to smell the starter, and it smelled burnt (which can happen with starters), only to realize that the burnt smell was because the skin on my finger and palm had crispified.
The burnt smell was… me. š
I’m fine, by the way, just some blisters and a funny story.
Loves and hugs!
Lift the World 