My Life Changing Polar Plunge

How plunging yourself into 45 degrees might just change your life….

About 3 weeks ago on a phone call with a friend I pledged to make a donation to support the Special Olympics and it happened to be to support the Polar Bear Plunge... you know it, where you plunge your half naked body into frigid water for a good cause… well at the end of the conversation said friend asked if I wanted to do the plunge with his team? “Sure, I said” after all it sounded good at the time but what I didn’t know was that the universe was putting into motion something that would forever challenge me and change me.

I went to college to become a psychologist, doing for others has always been in my DNA. As a matter of fact, if you hear me talk sometimes, I refer to my mom as Gandhi. No offense to him on the comparison but her heart is huge and anything she takes on she either leads or becomes the president of. As you can imagine growing up our filter was always about what we could do for others. I feel this constant push and pull – am I doing enough, am I enough? I know we all wrestle with these feelings and the days become months and months become years and we find a place to put this question because we have commitments and others that rely on us and so on…but what if one day we blocked it all out and followed our hearts? Today was that day for me and my heart is so full.

I made all the arrangements so this day could be free for a bigger and higher purpose than myself. I had anxiety about the unknown (like would my body literally combust when it touched such cold water - LOL) and felt that nervousness about what I so easily agreed too and now as they say, had to put my money where my mouth is. As I walked on that beach however what I felt was an incredible sense of pride, it’s amazing the things we will do for others, to help others, well, today was a reminder of all the good in the world.

I know a lot of us are bombarded daily with good news, bad news, not so great news etc but today 3000 people assembled on that beach with only good in their hearts and a reason to push us all forward. I am so grateful to have had this experience, to do for others with no ask in return. I encourage you to find your “plunge” literally or figuratively because as humans we are so much better together.