I did it. I did a polar plunge with my two mates. Yes, I did something I never thought I'd ever do. I seized the day, and conquered a fear. It was painful; it was good. I knew I had to do this. There was no question. I'd been toying with the idea for years. I am a big fan of Wim Hof, and wanted to experience this collision of my will and the power of nature. I talk a big game about the beach, and how it has been a landscape that's empowered me like only a temple could. I knew I needed to do this, but wanted other congregants to submerge into the ice water with.
Gary, Lenny and I went out to the water. Gary was the first to call us crazy, but he was crazy enough to be the first one in the water. That's a lesson I learn time and time again; nothing is what it seems. Mostly, it seems like the real heroes are the reluctant kind. We had no time to think. Gary went full steam ahead charging into the water like a lunatic on methamphetamine. Lenny followed and I followed behind him. We plunged into the water. I felt the fires of Hephaestus inside me, and yelped like a newborn baby. We ran out of the water only to return to try to find Lenny's glasses; it had been taken by the ocean, and we humbly accepted the trade. Nature takes what she wants when she wants it. Nature doesn’t care about how you feel. It is a force indifferent to the will of its inhabitants.
What spurred this being the moment I finally said “yes” to the plunge? If I’m going to be real honest it might not make me look so good. A young lady came into the place I work. Somehow this came up in conversation. She claimed she went once a month to do this plunge. So, naturally I couldn’t allow myself to not do what this lady did. Yes, it’s probably more than a little sexist. I admired her, and knew I had to do it. I started driving later in life (I lived in big cities and didn’t need to). I took a trip to LA, and knew I needed to drive while out there. I was scared, but thought of my little cousin. She drove all over LA at the age of sixteen. I thought, dammit, if my little cousin can do it then by God, I could do it too. I think that’s a big part of what motivates me. Competition is a driving force. My friends started competing in BJJ before I ever did. So, naturally in time I’d work up the nerve to try as well.
I’m a late bloomer, and always late to the party. I’m imperfect, a sinner and striving to be more. Why not make the most out of a life journey, and take the lump of turd we are and mold it into a totem. I have an affinity for seagulls, because they simply are. Man is different than all of the other animals though. We weren’t made the same. No we can’t be seagulls floating on the water without a care in the world. Seagulls can’t draw, write or do Jiu-Jitsu though. So, they pay the price for their being. It’s a price they’ll never know though. We humans pay the ultimate price with our self-awareness. We were cast out of paradise, and had to endure suffering. We have to work with what we got. The seagulls work how seagulls work. They all work the same. Once you’ve seen one seagull you basically get the whole picture. Humans also all work the same way, but we have different modes to get there. The “there” is never a stagnant point though, so we mustn’t ever stop.
We may wish we were seagulls sometimes, but then we’d cease to exist. So, we wouldn’t gain the spoils of that transformation. My friends and I submitted to the will of nature. In a grappling match of these proportions we have to find the victories in our limitations. We will always come up short to the might of an indifferent power. That doesn’t mean we can’t still win.