The Cold Reality of Camping

I had a great time this weekend. A group of friends and I went into the middle of nowhere, hung out at a beautiful hot spring, and spent the night there camping.

Now, here’s the thing: I don’t love camping. I mean, I actually do for the most part. I especially appreciate the ethos of it—stripping life down to the bare bones and just kind of surviving. I love all of that. But the part that I don’t love, the part that makes it tough to say yes sometimes, is the sleeping.

I’m a cold guy. I have been for as long as I can remember. I get cold easily, quickly, and deeply. I mean, chilled to the bone in a way that’s nearly impossible to come back from. And it’s not just a camping thing—I get cold in everyday life too. Most winter days in the warehouse, I’m wearing two jackets.

But I digress.

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When Time Is the Only Solution

When it comes to camping, if the temperature dips below a certain threshold, I just can’t make it through the night—asleep, anyway. But that experience has helped cement a lesson that I’ve learned many times before: everything changes with time. In this case, it’s literal—it’s 2:30 AM, the sun will rise around 7, and it’ll gradually start to warm up. All I have to do is wait four and a half hours, and my situation will start to improve.

Now, four and a half hours is not nothing—especially when you’re in a moderately to severely uncomfortable position. But if you know you’re not going to die, what’s the real problem? There isn’t one—and there never was.

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Experience Changes Everything

And the older I get, the more I truly understand this. Not just intellectually, but based on my experiences. Being older in and of itself doesn’t mean much—what we’re actually interested in is experience. More days lived usually means more situations faced—and more lessons learned. And from these experiences, I’ve learned that many ‘horrible’ situations aren’t nearly as bad as they once felt. That fear and discomfort largely comes from the uncertainty of never having experienced it before.

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Practicing Discomfort

Being in a tough situation overnight—where you have no choice but to wait it out—can be a really powerful lesson. And now, having survived many of these situations myself, I know that the next time has always been easier than the time before. I’ve gotten better at it. Why? Practice. I’ve practiced being uncomfortable. I’ve practiced being in uncertainty. And so, the next time it happens, I’ll be that much better equipped to deal with it.

Whether or not I actually handle it better is another story. But from a capacity standpoint? I’ve grown.

This has been my experience, anyway.

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Do Hard Things

It reminds me of a mindset I’ve tried to adopt in other areas of life—one that’s shaped a lot of my decisions over the past few years.

Years ago, I came across a guy on Twitter named Zach Homol. He’s a strongman, strength coach, and writer. One of his main beliefs is: Do hard things. And this concept has really stuck with me. It started with doing physically hard things to challenge my body. But what I quickly found out is that by challenging my body, I was also challenging my mind. And over the past five years, I’ve made an effort to actually live it. To do hard things, periodically and purposefully.

It’s been fun. It’s been interesting. It’s been rewarding. But also—surprise—it’s been hard. Like, actually hard. Who would’ve thought?

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Voluntary Struggle and Lasting Strength

But here’s the thing: it’s never been impossible. I’ve been 100% capable of doing all of it. So at the end of the day, it really comes down to me. And I think this mindset becomes especially important when you’re not being forced to grow—when things are generally fine, but you choose to lean into discomfort anyway.

Everyone wants the good life. And there is so much beauty and joy in this world. But there’s also pain, loss, and hardship. It’s part of the deal. Good and bad—two sides of the same coin. So why not learn how to navigate the hard stuff before you’re thrown into it?

I’d argue that’s not just smart—it’s essential. Because it makes you a stronger, more competent, and more capable person.

And that’s who I want to be.

So, if that’s the type of person that you’d also like to be, get out there and push yourself to do hard things!