There are two areas of personal development where I have found joy within extremely difficult processes. In my personal fitness ritual of daily sauna and my professional culinary career. 

I’m not sure if its because my system generally runs cold, but high temperature intense environments have had dramatic developmental effects. 

Two characteristics are being called out as the strongest characteristics of success. These include joy in the process and grit or willingness to stick it out. When I started hot yoga in 2010, I had no idea how often I would do this again and again. That girl standing there in a hoodie and sweatpants. No mat, no towel, and no idea what she was up to. I made it 54 minutes in before I left the room. I returned to a towel, ice-cold water, and my instructor telling me to lay down. I was hooked on hot yoga and would be for the next 6 years. It was not easy. I went daily. I would talk myself into it outside the studio on the days I felt like shit. Eventually, it became about micromovements. I still had to talk myself into it a lot. But I was never cold on days I went to the studio, and my body wanted that. 

As a pastry chef I can think of days in kitchens drenched in as much sweat as I come out of a sauna with. One of my first days I was making six gallons of boudino over a bain marie. My executive chef came over and put huge red bell peppers on each burner of the the entire stove surrounding me. I recall my northface climbing pants, already cuffed up for heat to escape, drenched, stuck to my body. It had to be at least 110 degrees in there. How ever, like the sauna I told myself it was all in a days work and that this particular batch of butterscotch budino was going to taste extra salty. 

Using these former experiences of difficulty and triumph. I did it with that, how can I relate this to that. Daily sauna habit eventually became something that my body just looks forward to. I start packing up my day subconsciously. Mean while I say out loud “I’m going to the sauna.”