Hi @bizi,

I now see that you did not start this thread "I took a shower today! number 2", but have been with it almost since its very beginning in 2018. This thread has helped me a lot. I cannot find it now, but at some point, when I thought I would be able to build the habit of taking a shower by doing so not at home, but in the clubhouse of our apartment complex, next to the tiny gym where I would go exercise, you wished me success and said that "whatever works". Well, that exact idea did not work for me but an extension of it did. Why that one did not work: the shower did not have a lock on it, which made me feel uncomfortable. There is this area in the clubhouse with the gym, two half bathrooms, a sauna, and one shower stall, and the shower stall is on the way to the sauna. Usually there is nobody there, but once when I was taking a shower, somebody walked by. I did not like it, to say the least, even though I was behind a frosted glass door.

I also eventually realized that the gym was not enough for me. It has three pieces of outdated equipment: a treadmill, a rowing machine which does not offer enough resistance even on the highest resistance setting, and an elliptical. But it was more than insufficient equipment; what I realized was that when I would get home from work, I would be distracted in my apartment by the proximity of the computer (that included MSF...) and I would fritter away time. I needed an environment where I would not have access to the computer. I also realized that I needed an environment where other people would exercise by my side as that would be a motivating factor; in the little gym in our complex, I would often exercise alone.

I made these realizations right before Thanksgiving and thought that I would look into local gyms, compare them, try them, and then purchase a membership in January when gyms offer sales as they chase people who make New Year resolutions. But it turned out that Black Friday deals at gyms were even better. So I looked at 6 full service gyms, 4 speciality fitness studios and 1 yoga studio. All of this was free, either via free day passes given out by gyms in hopes of attracting new clients or via a free fortnight membership in ClassPass, which gives you free passes to a certain number of specialty fitness classes.

As a result of looking around and trying various things, I selected:
- one full service gym
- one yoga studio
- one specialty fitness studio called Orangetheory fitness.

I have been going to them since the beginning of the month. Yoga studio and Orangetheory, once a week each, and the gym, I try to do more than once a week.

The gym and Orangetheory have showers onsite. I have been taking showers there. And it is very easy to do so. During all of December, I probably took a shower at home only once (I posted about it) and I found it very hard to do. Even now, when I look at my shower at home, I feel that I detest it. So it is not that I have changed my attitude towards taking a shower at home, it is just that taking a shower in an institutional setting and especially after a workout, being hot, being sweaty, is so much easier and so much more pleasant.

You probably wonder if I have lost weight. I haven't. I have become hungrier from all that exercise and the number on the scale has not budged. But I did not start this rather intensive exercise program to lose weight; what I wanted was to get stronger and more flexible, to feel better physically and mentally, to invest in preventing injury and inactivity as I grow older. If I eventually lose weight, it would be icing on the cake.

I do look better after only a month of frequent exercise and my clothes fit better as my muscles are more toned, so there are benefits even at the same weight, and since you and I have discussed at length how unpleasant and sad it is to look at one's naked belly (which one cannot avoid doing when one takes a shower), I wanted to share with you that the belly, too, becomes less lax (it is tighter). I hope that factor might one day make its contribution if you consider a fitness program for yourself.

At this point I see that when I do exercise away from home, taking a shower afterward comes effortlessly to me, and there is no sense in recording that on this thread any more as it no longer is a special achievement. So I won't: I do not want to dominate and spam the thread. I would rather leave space for people who actually struggle. If I feel depressed as undoubtedly will happen from time to time, I might come back to record the first couple of showers coming out of a depression.

Note that if I do not exercise away from home, taking a shower is just as difficult as it was when I started reading this thread and posting to it. So nothing has changed internally: I have solved the problem not by changing my attitude but by changing my environment. And that is fine: changing the environment as first line of defense is actually sound advice from BJ Fogg, the Stanford behavior design researcher who wrote the book "Tiny Habits" which shows how to build habits without relying on motivation and willpower.

Plus, as you wrote "whatever works". Taking a shower outside the home works for me, so I will do it.

Thank you very much for being a buddy on your thread (I pretty much considered it yours, even though I now see that you did not exactly start it), for commiserating with me and cheering for me, and for being so meticulously transparent and honest about your difficult experiences. I will keep my subscription to this thread and will visit from time to time to see how you have been doing.

I wish you a Happy New Year and hope that the year brings you joy and happiness.

TCJ