In high school, I took cold showers every day for about a month or two. Last year, I did one meal a day (OMAD) fasting for the better part of 40 days. This year, I’ve put a lot of time and energy into school and work, probably more than I ever have before.

I don’t mention this to say I’m “better” or even that doing these things is right. I don’t take cold showers anymore, and I certainly like food too much to do OMAD fasting forever.

I certainly also don’t tout these things as gospel of “the grind” like Joe Rogan. I do have a life outside of working and exercising. Instead, I want to gain some insight into the discipline and resist some of the comforting temptations we indulge in all the time.

Comfort is a luxury that a lot of us in this country can enjoy. Especially as college students, the amount of the “college life” we have access to is something of beauty.

Free food and events, as well as hundreds of clubs and classes, restaurants, and nightlife. Given the means, it’s a paradise of indulgence.

As a disclaimer for what’s to come, this isn’t to say that there aren’t legitimate challenges to overcome for a lot of students, including financial, mental, and physical health issues. In commenting on comfortability in college, that’s not assuming everyone has the same experience.

This, instead, comes from my own experience as someone who’s interested in maximizing my time at school to be as productive and happy as I can.

College is not easy, but if you’re in an “easy major” (I won’t fight about which) and scrape by classes with the “C’s get degrees” mindset, you can make college become more about the lifestyle and pleasures before the bleak promise of adulthood catches up.

I can’t speak for the bleakness of being a full working adult, but for college, I think that scraping by can’t be that good for us.

Being productive and happy are not mutually exclusive. In fact, I’ve found they go together quite often. What matters is intentionality.

Having a purpose is linked strongly to happiness, according to a 2013 article from the University of California, Los Angeles, written by Mark Wheeler. Though the literature isn’t limited to this, it’s a good example.

The article takes from a UCLA study connecting different types of well-being to gene expressions related to antibody and antiviral responses.

Basically, they studied how two different types of happiness, “eudaimonic” and “hedonic,” affected the genes driving immune system responses.

“People who have high levels of what is known as eudaimonic well-being — the kind of happiness that comes from having a deep sense of purpose and meaning in life…showed very favorable gene-expression profiles in their immune cells,” Wheeler writes. “They had low levels of inflammatory gene expression and strong expression of antiviral and antibody genes.”

Hedonic well-being, which comes more from “consummatory self-gratification” (more pleasure, less purposeful activities), showed the opposite.

“They [The participants] had an adverse expression profile involving high inflammation and low antiviral and antibody gene expression,” Wheeler writes.

How does this connect to cold showers?

Every day, we find ourselves at a crossroads: what is easy and what is challenging.

A lot of the time, I’ve found that what is difficult is also what is necessary to add to my purpose as a student, a worker, or a person.

I feel content when I’m disciplined since that brings me closer to doing the things that are purposeful to me.

The cold showers or fasting were ways to challenge me and make the difficult decisions to do more important things. That’s the way I feel like I’m doing my best work.

It also helps me get closer to a more stoic way of thinking and living. That’s a whole different subject, but challenging myself helps me to have more self-control and also feel more grateful for the luxuries and comforts I am afforded.

That’s not to say there isn’t good hedonic pleasure. I like to hang out with friends, have a lazy weekend, or feast on a Caniac combo like many others. I’m human too, and humans like Cane’s sauce.

However, I know what I’m here at college to do. I’m focused on now and next so that I can try to be the best version of myself in work and life.

That means working late hours writing, missing hangouts to focus on my health, finding that balance that we so often desire, and making plenty of mistakes along the way (a side note: never underestimate the power of making mistakes in college. Pushing yourself to make mistakes is key while you can in a learning environment).

Sometimes, that means challenging myself further (though never dangerously) to push myself ever closer to the ideal me.

Do you have to take cold showers and eat once a day for a month? Absolutely not.

There’s solace to be taken, however, in thinking deeply about yourself, your goals, and your motivations. What gets you up in the morning? What kind of person do you strive to be?

And finally, what can you do to get closer to that person?

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