Building Tolerance — Something More Project

Oct 21

Oct 21 Tolerance

Remember how when you are back in your drinking prime (alcohol, not Koolaid) when you could have 5 drinks before you really felt a thing? And then 5 years after you graduated, you now have a single drink and feel tipsy and maybe even have a headache the next day? That thing, what we call tolerance, has showed up time and time again lately, but not with drinking. Because let’s be real, I’m nearing my 30s and I presume that “single drink hangover” will persist until maybe I have children or if Trump gets re-elected…who knows! #voteTODAY

Anyways, lately I’ve been building my tolerance - in things other than drinking. It’s amazing how it applies to all concepts. I recently opened up The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (amazing book) and kept being brought back to this same word - tolerance. You want to, let’s say, stop eating so much sugar? Make a new habit. Take a few days off. Then a few more. Then all of a sudden you don’t get that sugar craving. Your body is no longer demanding it because it’s learned to adapt without it. It’s reset its sugar tolerance. Still following me?

The latest thing we’ve been inadvertently working on our tolerance of is SHOWERING. You know how you meet people and they tell you how they only wash their hair once/week? (Queen B-Mad) And you are baffled and cannot believe it…but something makes you curious. So you start going 2 days w/o washing your hair…and then 3…and then 4…and then all of a sudden a 7-day wash cycle doesn’t sound so outlandish (& has other benefits - see post here!) That’s where we are at. I’ve been building my hair grease tolerance for some time, even pre-bus life, but still attempt to take body showers on the daily. Because working out and not showering doesn’t exactly make me cuddle-able at night. Let me elaborate why we’ve been building our NO-showering tolerance…it’s not necessarily because we are saints that want to save the clean water of the world, although that does play a part.

Close you eyes and imagine these conditions, you can try to meditate while you are at it, pretzel legs -

Outdoor shower
Air temps averaging in the 50s (or lower)
Limited water supply
Impossible water temp regulation
Paying for every REAL shower, sometimes up to $12
Always being on the move and searching for public showers if you want a REAL shower

Now that you picture yourself naked, shivering, and alone in the woods, ask yourself, would you shower with the same consistency as you do today?

Don’t lie to me. For Jake, the answer is always no. For me, about 50% of the time, I power through. Sometimes because we are cheap and don’t want to pay for them, sometimes because all public restrooms in a 30-mile radius are closed or non-existent, and sometimes because we didn’t properly plan and it’s dark out and we are in the middle of the woods. In the latest states we have been (CO and NM), many places have closed their public facilities - campgrounds and at recreation facilities. Rest stops are usually a solid place to go, but you aren’t always in the vicinity of a Love’s and their shower prices are steep. We also have been only really staying off-grid lately, so we aren’t at campgrounds with facilities. Choke me, I’ll stay a little smelly for another day.

But now that we have gone 5-6 days without a proper shower, going 7 doesn’t sound so out of the question, especially when we get a little nighttime cold bath in the chilly mountain air out in the middle of nowhere. It can even be refreshing if you get yourself in the right mindset! ;)

I guess what I’m trying to show is that your tolerance to anything - sugar, caffeine, heights, showering, alcohol, your crazy aunt - it’s all controlled by a muscle that you build. And you are in charge of building it. It’s the same as the showering principle -7-days sounds crazy until you work towards it and it doesn’t. Sure, you have to change your habits and your expectations and your ways, but that’s not impossible. It just takes intention (or all shower facilities closed).

Maybe you’re afraid of heights and even a swing at the park drives you dizzy (I know a lady - cough Mama cough) - just know, if you want to reduce that fear, you can. Maybe just jump off the ground on day 1, and then do baby swings on day 2, and then a little bigger swings on day 3 until you ride the Wild Thing (CRAZYYYY, right!) It’s all in your hands. If you want to stop eating so unhealthily, take a week off from buying processed foods at the grocery store. If that’s too tough for you, order in your groceries for the week, so you don’t have the option to let your eyes wander down the shit aisles of the store (& America LOVES aisles of shit - so many that they are tough to avoid). Maybe you want to reduce the amount of sweets you eat - take a week off of that, too and by Saturday, I guarantee sweets won’t look as good - and if they do, you can have a bite and it will take much less to satisfy that craving. You built that tolerance you now have. YOU have the power to change it. If you want to :)