Building a Routine That Survives the Holidays
Most routines don't end with a decision. They end on a Tuesday in late November, when your flight is delayed, the house is full of relatives, and your plunge is 900 miles away. A few missed days turn into a few weeks, and by January getting back to it feels like starting from scratch.
If you've built a cold or heat habit this year, late October is the time to protect it. Project teams sometimes run a "pre-mortem" before a launch: imagine it has already failed, then work out why. Try it on your routine. Picture it falling apart in December, name the likely culprits, and decide now what you'll do about each one.
Why the holidays are so hard on habits
A habit is a behavior tied to a cue: a time, a place, something you already do. Holidays scramble the cues. A review of 88 studies, highlighted in a Psychology Today piece on making habits stick, found that changing the environment boosted physical activity in about 68% of studies. Once the change was removed, only 47% still worked. Your setting does a lot of the heavy lifting, and a week at the in-laws' takes your setting away.
So a slip in December usually means the cues went missing. Cues you can plan for.
Break point one: you're away from home
The plunge stays behind, so pack a travel version. A minute of cold at the end of a hotel shower, or a walk outside before anyone else is up, holds the place of your usual session. It won't match the real thing, and it doesn't need to. What matters is doing something at the time you usually would. If the hotel gym has a sauna, check the hours before you pack.
Break point two: every day looks different
Clock-based habits struggle when your schedule changes daily. Research on habit cues found that tying a behavior to something you already do works about as well as tying it to a time, and holidays wreck times. Your first cup of coffee still happens on Thanksgiving morning. "After coffee, cold" travels better than "7 a.m., cold."
Break point three: the house is full
Disappearing for a plunge while your uncle is mid-story can feel rude. So bring him. Most families have one relative who swears they could handle the cold. Hand them a towel and find out. A sauna round is also one of the better ways to spend time with someone you see once a year, since nobody can check their phone.
Break point four: it's cold and dark out
Winter adds small bits of friction: the cold walk to the tub, the dark morning, the thought of being chilly afterward. Remove what you can the night before. Leave a robe and warm layers by the door, and if you have a Plunge, check the temperature in the app before you leave the warm bed. Our ice bath optimization tips add the rest: a few slow breaths before you get in, enter on an exhale, and warm up with easy movement afterward.
Break point five: you've missed a few days
This is where most routines actually end, usually with the thought that the streak is already broken, so why bother. Harvard Health's advice for the holidays is to swap unrealistic goals for specific, achievable ones. For you, that might be two short plunges a week instead of five, or one sauna session on the weekend. Decide now what counts as "still doing it" in December. Hit that, and the routine is intact.
Your holiday plan
Take five minutes and fill these in:
- When I travel, my routine will be: ________
- My anchor on unpredictable days will be: ________ (for example, after my first coffee)
- My minimum week in December is: ________
- The night before a cold morning, I'll set out: ________
- If I miss three days, my next step is: ________
Our guide on how to create a cold plunge routine suggests 55 to 60°F if you're newer to the cold, and measuring a session in slow breaths, about 10 to 30 of them. Breaths work anywhere, including that hotel shower.
Holiday house rules
No plunge or sauna after the eggnog, or when jet lag and a short night have you feeling off. If you have a heart condition or high blood pressure, or you're pregnant, check with your doctor first. Our list of the top cold plunging mistakes covers the rest.
Tomorrow
Fill in the five lines above and send them to whoever you're spending the holidays with. Now they're in on it, and someone will ask if you've plunged today.
