River Thames Cold Therapy | Starting Something Kooky on Twitter to Raise Awareness for Mental Health + Steem + Crypto
This is the video of my DAY 0 trial run of jumping into the cold waters of River Thames. Something I'm planning to do every day from now on.
Read on to find out why!
Anyone else here who's ever experienced any Mental Health problem at some point in their life?
According to www.mentalhealth.org.uk:
And so have I. Especially in my teens. I had some dark times of severe depression and suicidal tendencies.
And again after the birth of my first child. I had post natal depression and developed social anxiety.
There's more to share about my mental health journey and how I've "come out of it", which I will, as time goes.
But the truth is sometimes these feelings still creep up.
Even though I consider myself to be an extremely positive person, especially nowadays, sometimes those emotions can still hit me.
There is obviously healing still to be done in that area for me.
Lately, I was feeling them again. But thanks to my life experiences and incredible emotional support system around me, I am in a much stronger place in my being and my mind, and I managed to not get sucked into that downward spiral, too much.
But I know I need to keep up with my mental health practices to help myself stay in positive vibes and good energies.
One thing that caught my attention recently is the Wim Hof method which is based on 3 pillars: Cold Therapy, Breathing and Commitment. Check it out!
Lots of other Personal Development gurus also rave about a lot of the same things.
And in case some of you didn't know, I have the cold river that is River Thames right in my back garden. That I can jump into for some cold therapy, anytime of the day.
Nothing too crazy sounding yet so far.. I know.
But combining this with what @nathanmars and so many others have been diligently doing on Twitter to raise awareness for Steem and Crypto.
I'm going to milk my free use of River Thames, do something a bit different and most likely weird, every day at a set time, before I jump into its freezing cold waters.
Weird costumes? Weird make up? Anything PG goes!
So how is this going to raise awareness for Crypto and Steem?
At some point, I will be asking for PG suggestions of what I can wear and what I can do before I jump into the river.
AND accepting donations only in Crypto, that I can cash out and make all of it happen.
So let's see where this goes!
If it gains any traction at all, I know it can raise lots of awareness to Crypto and Steem. And especially to Mental Health.
Who knows? If lots of people decide to donate, it could mean donations to charitable causes as well!!
And if it doesn't, I hope to have achieved, through committing to this, my peak mental health state.
So I really have nothing to lose.
The plan is:
Every day at approximately 8am GMT, I will be posting a clip of me jumping into River Thames on Twitter.
What I wear and do before I jump in, will differ every day, and will most likely be a bit kooky.
I will post only a clip on Twitter, and will post the full video on Dtube and Youtube.
ANY SUPPORT APPRECIATED!
Let me know if you have any fun suggestions or thoughts!
And feel free to send me lots of encouragement, because trust me, I am doing my best not to give in to my self limiting doubts that are pretty effing loud right now.
Much Love from Red
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hahahah that video is the bomb @redrica ! The truth is, I think most people have experienced some darkness in their lives, and once those feelings have snuck upon you, they will always be lurking in the corner of your brain ready to come back again. It is good of you to get the awareness going, because what I always find weird: there is a doctor for nearly every body part, but when it comes to mental issues all of a sudden the option reduce a lot, which isnt fair...
I am liking the idea of @cryptocurator of the Steemit cold water challenge... I have a Swiss glacier water river in front of my door that also screams this, but uhhhh...i dont want to be on the video of freezing my ass off :D
Thanks for sharing this, and you experiences @redrica. More does need to be done about raising awareness of mental health and I feel that we are doing that well in the UK at the moment. Where in the River Thames are you jumping in? PS. I am asking as I am a trustee of a charity called the 'London Waterkeeper' and he might be interested to hear of your campaign :)
Thanks @dronegraphica :) And wow!! That charity sounds great! I don't want to say exactly in public (happy to tell you in private), but it's further down the river after Shepperton :)
Pretty much all our neighbours swim in it in the summer!!
Ahh amazing! I was only asking as a matter of your physical health! Shepperton is quite far upstream. If it was further downstream it may be quite dangerous on account of the treated effluent that comes from Mogden sewage treatment works in Twickers. Please don't jump in the Thames anytime after it has rained!
Oh gosh yea... I'm far from Twickenham. I wouldn't want to swim anywhere near there.
And yes the river can get a little bit dirty after the rain, but is there a bigger reason not to? I'd love to chat more to you about this actually, because I was planning on sticking to doing this, as long as it's not crazy storms. Especially since I could just go straight from my mooring and dip in for 2 seconds and come straight back out.
Oh that is good! A quick 2 second dip didn't really hurt anybody eh! Yeah, I would be intrigued to chat more on the subject. Sounds like something I could do as a London Waterkeeper!
Yes! Let's chat more! Are you coming to Blockchain Expo next week? I still need to try and organize a Steem meetup, and could make it one of the days it's on! Would be great to meet you :)
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Excellent, i'd love to meet up! There is a possibility I will be attending that event yes, if so it would be Friday. I'll let you know for sure as soon as I can :)
Well Done to you. 100% upvote incoming. I’m worried it will lead to a viral “Steem Cold Water Challenge” (I’m not joining!). In a very nice way someone once said you were “as mad as a box of frogs” in a totally nice way and to follow your blog - which I still follow with interest. You make some really strong messages and mix it with some humour - I wish you the best with this and the awareness campaign. How much Steem would you need for a frog costume? And please be very very careful - I’m not sure if costumes and water mix well - you might need a Lifeguard.
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Hahah your comment just made my day! Whoever said that about me must know me very well ;)
And I love that you get my style. I'm always trying to find my own quirky way of showing my passion and enthusiasm, and I'm super excited about this particular one.
A frog costume would be hilarious! Or a frog mask perhaps? I'd be very tempted to swim like one too. I can find a range of either of those for £13-20 on Amazon.. So that's 40-60 Steem? :)
And don't worry, I will always find the best and safest ways of doing things as I go, and I know I can choose certain parts of the river in front of my mooring to jump into, where I can stand. So it's pretty minimal risk I'd say. My dinghy boat will always be moored, so there's always that I can hang onto as well.
Thanks so much for this comment and your support, Chris! I hope we'll meet again soon :)
Okay Red in the green costume with the frog mask!! I’d like to see a Steem based Fundition Frogometer to collect those funds!!
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OMG!!! You are so brave! And crazy!!! :D
The best part was, "It's not as bad as I thought!" XD
Hahha thanks lovely! I'm totally letting my inner crazy shine ;)
And that's the thing with life isn't it.. It's almost never as bad as we think. I'm learning so much by doing this, and I'm really loving it :)
I’m seeing the Wim Hoff guy pop up everywhere, but I never click on him! 😂 Greetings from 40 degrees... 🥵
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Ha ha, it looked a bit 'King Billy' (chilly) in there redrica!
Great fun addition to the twitter steem promotion movement. I love that you're committed to jumping in the Thames every morning. That's some next level creative activity 🙂
For such good reasons as well. I've suffered mental health issues at different points in my life and now struggle with a chronic health condition.
Mental health is such a tricky thing to address. Both for the person suffering and for someone looking in trying to help.
One of my long time friends still suffers very severe depression, and it can be hard knowing some coping mechanisms I've learned could help the guy, but he's not interested because he's entrenched in it at the moment. All I can do is be as supportive as I can because the truth is he has to want to change. Well, that's how I remember it when I was going through bad depression. There were certain circumstances that made me actively want to change how I was thinking. And you're right, it's an ongoing process.
I shall look into the Wim Hof method once I get over the treatment I'm undergoing at the moment.
Best of luck with the daily cold water challenges Red 🙂
I really appreciate all your words of support! I've been trying to find ways to take control of my life, and embrace my inner weird and creative side, so even better, if I can do it for good causes! That's definitely motivating me to want to get up early in the morning and do this crazy stunt I'm committing to doing. The nights before, I've been dealing with self doubts and mild anxiety about doing something like this so publicly, but all this encouragement and support from everyone is helping so much, so I just remember my "why" and get over it!
Mental Health issues affect us all so differently, and I don't have all my shit together, but who knows, maybe this crazy stunt of mine can help someone realize that they can always find a way to break free from their "mental prison".
I think it's awesome you decided to look into the Wim Hof Method. Thanks so much for sharing your story, your friend is lucky to have your support!
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Absolutely spot on! I love your attitude. Awesome 👍🙂
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OMG you actually did it you but case!! Wow! Hahahahaha
Are we going to ignore the fact that you have the largest garden swimming pool in the world?
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Oh yes I did!! I love surprising myself :D
Here you are again with the hints, yes there is plenty of space for you to join in. In fact, I expect you to do one of these with me at some point. I have life vests and I have a certified Life Guard on the premise, so you can't pull the "I can't swim" card.
Swimming/canoeing party sounds really fun ;) We can have a crypto water meeting over there :))
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Let's make it happen this year :D
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Dare! @redrica @teodora @meanmommy33
I love it! I would love to send you a Steem button if you want one:
I recall something of what u've mentioned before. Cold therapy might just help Red.
Ok, no funny costume for me but i can hold your hand when we do jump! I can feel the cold already.
You'll love it :D
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@redrica , just covering all bases here but you can swim, can't you? :-)
Joking apart, brilliant initiative to highlight a major health topic that has for too long been stigmatised and hushed up.
This is the best way to learn, isn't it?! Haha all jokes aside, yes thankfully I can, and funny enough, I used to swim competitively for my school, when I was much much younger.
Thanks for the support @nathen007! A lot more people are speaking up about this topic, which is great, but more need to!
You were struggling initially balancing... But when you jumped OMG!!! It must be shivering cool water.
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The cold was a bit shocking, but it really wasn't that bad. I'm sure the Wim Hof Method breathing techniques I did beforehand helped though!