#polar bear plunge

[whatsupspaceman]

we could have mobile games like cool math duck life and papas pizzeria and bloonz tower defense and old masterpieces like original angry birds and jet pack joyride and small online games like webkinz home before dark and polar bear plunge and flash games like holeio and snake and we could have barbie dress up and horse riding and we could have them all without thousands of shitty 2 minute ads and microtransactions and unskippable popups and imbedded app store links and we could have new games new incredible story based adventures, puzzles, well designed mini platformers, we have an entire universe of unexplored medium right here in the palm of your hand! we could have REAL games! real wonderful games not misleading not clickbait we could have everything in the whole wide world and we could have them them on the phone! WE COULD HAVE THEM ON THE PHONE !!!!!!!!!!! DOES IT NOT MAKE YOU SICK???? DOES IT NOT SHATTER YOUR HEART !!!!

[alnair-jpg]

January 1: Polar Bear Plunge Day

(Also Happy New Year!)

[drag0nflyandbear]

Happy New Year

[murfreesboronews]

Polar Bear Plunge 2024

The Polar Bear Plunge for 2024 at SportsCom in Murfreesboro was a huge success. People from all over Rutherford County and Middle Tennessee came to show their support for Special Olympics and jump in the frigid cold water, which was reading at 41 degrees that morning. A big thanks to everyone who donated as well as came out to support Special Olympics during the plunge. Every year the Polar Bear…

[tulsatrot]

Naturally Cyprus

[mattschiels]

Coney Island NYD 2023

[screaming-weevil]

starting 2023 off right by freezing my ass off

[horrocious]

fourteen

#14: something you always wanted to do but are maybe scared to do

lots of different jumps and stunts. also legally changing my legal name lmao

[childoferebus]

I need to be out. I need to put my feet in some water. I need to go tromping through the woods and take pictures of the same little brown mushroom every three feet.

[dbphantom]

I want to go swimming

[annastrxng]

Anna jumping into a FREEZING cold Sound is always so underestimated

[drag0nflyandbear]

Winter Bliss

[foldingfittedsheets]

Before my beloved and I moved in together they were living with roommates in a place that didn't have a bathtub. Now, a reasonable person might conclude from this that baths would be out of the equation in a home with only one standing shower and no tub.

But these people weren't quitters. Naturopathic doctors and acupuncturists they were dedicated to treating their bodies well and one of the ways they liked to do that was hydrotherapy. Most people are familiar with this through things like polar bear plunges. You sit in a hot tub then jump in freezing water.

It's supposedly good for you and they were way into it. But again, no tub. They'd do hydro showers but it just wasn't the same. These people were not quitters, though. (One of them is the boob soap person, so it really isn't a surprise that she goes hard on everything). So they got what looked like two big metal old timey tubs but which were actually animal food troughs and set them up in the garage. They set up a water heater and god knows how they emptied the tub after, I think there was hoses involved? A pump maybe? I honestly can't remember. Anyway! Voila, hydrotherapy on demand.

I was not aware of this. So when I came over after a long day and my beloved said we should take a bath I was extremely puzzled. I only knew about the one shower. They showed me the garage tubs. I did want a bath and I wasn't really sure about the setup, but honestly I'll try anything once if only for the story, so I agreed.

Fun fact about me though. I haaaate being cold. I've been 0% body fat most of my life with skin barely keeping my bones enclosed. I'm always cold. My favorite activity at the time was sitting directly in front of space heaters. My shower temperatures turn me lobster red and make my beloved cringe. Willingly dunking myself into cold water is the antipathy of my entire deal.

On the night in question I happily submerged into the warm tank, pleasantly surprised by the big silly improvised tub. Which again was meant for livestock. My knees bumped companionably against my beloved as we soaked in the hot water. After a while they rose to go into the cold water. "You don't have to," they told me.

But I was haunted. I wouldn't be doing hydro if I just stayed in the warm tub. Maybe hydro was amazing. It has all these health benefits. I desperately didn't want to but I stood up with them. We were having this nice intimate evening in the garage, just us, I felt safe. I was gonna do it.

They stepped easily into the cold tub, dunking matter of factly into the frigid water. I went to step. I did. I really really tried. My foot went in and I started shrieking, my progress arrested by the total state of shock I entered when my warm toasty foot hit that smug arctic water tension. My beloved started laughing as my pitch ascended the deeper my foot went into the cold water.

I started loudly narrating my discomfort as my foot touched the bottom and I willed my other foot up to join it. "THIS IS VERY COLD," I yelled, "IT'S SO COLD I THINK I MIGHT DIE HOW ARE YOU JUST CASUALLY SITTING IN THIS FREEZING COLD WATER?! I'M DYING- I THINK I'M DYING! I'M DYING BUT WE'RE HERE, TOGETHER! I CAN DO THIS! I CAN DO THESE EVEN THOUGH IT'S SO COLD ALL MY MOLECULES HAVE COMPRESSED INTO A SOLID STATE!"

I ended up with both feet planted in the cold tub, water up to my shins, bellowing and panting while my beloved laughed so hard they couldn't breathe. I hunkered over the cold water, squatting like a frozen gargoyle.

My beloved was trying to psyche me up while I willed my body to obey me. In a sudden jerky drop like a puppet whose strings have been cut I plummeted my body into the cold and let out a shriek that I’m sure could have shattered glass and then leapt up out of the water at a speed relative to a rocket achieving space flight. I didn’t like it.

When we got back inside my beloved's roommates were collapsed on the ground with tears in the their eyes from how hard they'd been laughing. They and probably every neighbor down the block had heard my pterodactyl screeching and narration because the garage was not remotely soundproof.

[softgrungeprophet]

hi, for people in the PNW who might be unaware (or for anyone else it might be relevant to)

i know it's getting warm pretty suddenly (esp for spring) and there are heatwaves and stuff but don't just go jump in a lake or dive right in without some caution 👍 (because it's may— and there is still snow in the mountains and the water is still very, very cold)

i only mention this because this time of year there are always a bunch of people in the news who drown or almost drown or get hypothermia or w/e because it's suddenly unusually hot but a lot of the water is alpine meltwater or otherwise hasn't had time to warm up yet even when it hits 90 outside.

[laurastudarus]

I am standing on the Coney Island boardwalk violently shivering. It’s January. Despite the obvious winter weather, I’m wearing only a bathing suit and towel — a choice I’m starting to question when the Coney Island Polar Bear Club parades by blasting “Eye of the Tiger” on an oversize boom box. Despite my initial misgivings, I’m here to join 85 euphoric club members throwing a dance party on their way to the beach. After participating in the pre-swim ritual of a few sandy jumping jacks, I grab hands with the people closest to me and plunge into the Atlantic Ocean.

(via I Went Ice Swimming in Search of Uncomfortability)