I Dream of Flower Fields
and THE COLD PLUNGE GUIDE!
“Do you ever just question absolutely everything?”
My mom laughed lovingly, “Of course, sweetie. At least once a week.”
I laughed with her, “But what if I do it every day? And what if I’m not wrong to? What if everything is wrong with the world? I mean why do we do what we do? Why do we commit to a life spent behind a computer? I just don’t think I’ll ever be well if that’s my existence…. What If I just want to run a farm – to grow flowers and rescue animals and live with my body instead of only my mind?”
Recently, I lose myself to these questions once a day. As Waffle’s health becomes more uncertain and I become more grounded in my body with daily cold plunging, I see with clarity that the happiest days I have spent on this earth are the days I am outside with my dogs and people when I am actively using my body. They are days spent backpacking or building stone walls – days in the mountains or afternoons in the water. Yes, the more I think about it, the more I see that a good life for me is not spent mostly online and likely is one spent far from a computer.
Of course, I see the great irony in sharing this here, especially since the digital world – and my past decade of sharing my story tirelessly online - has brought me to you. And you are one of my greatest gifts. I adore you. Truly. I adore you all more than anything but I don't want this community to be one built exclusively on and of fluorescent boxes. I don't want it to be one that consists solely of digital divides.
I want it to be in real life too.
I want it to exist around campfires, over potluck dinners, and flower crown-making parties.
I want it to be one of community cold plunges, camping trips, and late-night dance parties.
Yes, I want this community to be in real life too.
I don’t know exactly what this means for me.
All I know is that I dream of flower fields and days spent tending to them.
I think I’m just showing up in my mess as I question the fabric of our society – as I crave to feel less alone and less tethered to the wasteland of digital media and constant content overload.
Now, don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. I’m just sharing this dream with you all because when I share my dreams, I begin to work on them. So, in five years, after a book or two and a solid attempt at using social media for good, I don't want to spend my days behind a computer screen. No, in five years, I want to be writing with pen and paper each morning and frolicking in a field somewhere with you all in the afternoon.
And today, as I weather the thunderstorm of these relentless questions, I invite you into them. I invite you into this quest for life on purpose.
What does a good life look like for you? What is a life that holds hard work alongside the meaning and joy you crave? Can you dream it with me? Do you dare?
I sure hope you do because if we are both brave enough to claim it maybe together, we can build it and enjoy it together.
Hope to see you there, wherever there is,
Kindly,
Kate
And now, I present you with
Cold Plunging 101
This guide is a summary of everything I learned as I tried cold therapy over this past year. It also includes everything I found as I researched it along the way and what I wish I had known before beginning.
The guide speaks to:
What cold plunging is
My experiences trying it and its profound impact on my mental illnesses
Best practices if you want to try to start plunging yourself, and most notably –
Why on earth people do it — ie — the science-backed benefits
As with all things I share, this is a solidarity offering. I am not here to pressure you to do anything. I am only here to show up, exactly as I am, sharing what helps me with hopes that it also helps someone else too.
This guide is a paid offering. It costs $6 a month or $60 a year. If it is possible, please consider supporting my work.
That said, as with all my paid offerings, if that is untenable right now, please do not think twice about it and send me a note to hi@katespeer.com with ‘subscribe’ in the subject line and I will add you. I am never here to add more barriers to access in this already gatekept world.