Knowing How to Enjoy a Good Shower Can Change the World

Enjoying a good shower does not seem transcendent, however, it is an event that explains very well some of the most complex realities that humanity lives. This is how things are. It is almost unbelievable. A fact that seems so banal (and which is not at all), can illustrate the understanding.

We must start, first of all, with some eloquent data:

Only slightly more than half of the earth’s population (4.2 billion people) can use safely managed drinking water services.

If you are among them, you can feel genuinely lucky. This benefit, which seems trivial, is not known to a large part of the world’s population. 361,000 children under the age of 5 die each year from diarrhea. Poor sanitation and contaminated water are linked to the transmission of diseases such as cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever.

On the other hand, that half of the world’s population cannot easily afford access to clean water. These services are essentially concentrated in urban centers, and the greater the distance from that “center”, the higher the cost of access.

Now, there is another factor to take into account. The existence of potable water does not mean that it is within easy reach. Having it available in the comfort of a domestic bathroom is a luxury that few know.

Enjoying a good shower involves significant investments, in fact, the possibility of having a well-arranged home. More than 60% of the world’s population lacks a toilet, let alone a shower.

If the statistics are painful regarding access to drinking water, basic services at reasonable costs, and their availability at home, how much more is the fact of having hot water! This should already be considered a true privilege.

Heating water requires energy, and this has a high cost throughout the world. For those millions of beings who barely get by with the favors that nature grants, visualizing a home where the use of hot water can be regulated at will are almost a dream.

Enjoying a good shower with lukewarm water is something completely extraordinary on this planet.

According to hypotheses used by environmental scholars, within 50 years a third of the world’s population could live in areas as hot as the warmest points of the Sahara are now (if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase). But for the moment, most of the population is concentrated in regions whose average annual temperature is between 11 and 15 degrees Celsius.

Enjoying a good warm shower in the midst of those temperatures, or of the winter seasons, is not common.

Since times dating back to ancient Egypt and the mighty Roman Empire, hot baths have been associated with privilege and wealth. And for the most part, this is still the case today!

However, it is not reprehensible that many people are unaware of these facts and therefore devalue the benefits they enjoy. The real drama is that those lucky few feel, in many cases, the most unfortunate beings on earth.

A large part of the people who can take a good shower with lukewarm water, think of anything the moment they are taking it and waste the experience. Moreover, she is almost never alone while bathing, because she is accompanied there by the boss, the clients, the partner, the creditors, the Bank executive, etc.

Those minutes under the shower, which could well activate awareness of the privilege and pleasure of feeling water in the body, are invested in fueling anxiety or unease. Many will even say that the moment helps them to activate ideas and solutions to the problems they face.

Well, therein lies the value of such a precious act.

And it is that something must be admitted: a large part of humanity is simply addicted to the maelstrom in which their life unfolds. Possibly she does not know or deny it, but she finally finds some pleasure in the tribulation that has engulfed her.

It cannot be denied, the addict finds well-being in the fact or act that consumes him. He is tied to him. Dopamine waters your system for the exact time you have the experience and then everything reverses to a point lower than it started. That is why he needs more and more intensity and plunges into the spiral of dependency.

The American neuroscientist Andrew Huberman explains it well: “addiction is the product of the progressive reduction of things that cause pleasure.” And the remedy ?, Well logical: “expand the things that cause pleasure always considering the motivation in the process and hard work.”

People are developing a dangerous addiction to the dysfunctional ways in which they live. They are unable to expand the things that bring them healthy pleasure and well-being.

Getting out of bed after a pleasant night’s sleep (which is also becoming less frequent), walking a few steps to enjoy a good warm shower, is a revolutionary act for life. It’s not little. It is simply a representation of the way existence should be understood.

Now, the challenge is precisely that: enjoy. Find pleasure in those “little acts . ” In many of them. There is the answer to the intimidating mystery of living. It is clear that these “little things” have nothing that can be considered despicable. Having warm water in the shower is not a trifle, nor is being in good health or being the object of someone’s love.

Many will say that these are statements that are close to poetry. And it’s OK. You have to be naive not to understand how the world is working. The “necessity” and the logic of “survival” are powerful arguments. They take root until they become justifications.

But that does not mean that they correspond with the truth.

Life is actually simple, but “knowing how to live” is one of the most complicated jobs out there.

When you learn to take a good shower, the world will change. Sure!