Life Lessons I Learned while taking a Bucket Shower
You have to be Prepared
If you go down to the shower without your soap,towel,or clothes your shower is not going to be very effective. You also can’t just forget one item, but you also do not need more than the bare necessities. Life is similar. There are things in our life we need to make it have purpose like relationships,core values,and experiences. If you forget one item you make it harder for yourself, but you don’t need more than the bare necessities to make you happy. I am learning that this year with no materialistic items.
You have to try Different Angles
The door to the bucket shower is a thin,flimsy piece of sheet metal that tends to fall on me every time the wind blows.. which is a lot. I spend most of my shower picking the door off me and readjusting it in a different angle so it doesn’t keep falling on me. Every time I readjust the door I think I have finally placed it at the one angle where it won’t fall. Five minutes later… it falls. I have learned there are many different ways to place the piece of metal to keep it stable longer, but it always ends up falling so I am constantly learning to look for new angles. That piece of sheet metal represents a lot in my life that I think I have figured out until they come crashing down on me and I have to look at it from a different angle. There is always a new way of doing something ordinary.
You have to get Naked in Front of Scary Things
There have been multiple times this month where I find myself getting naked with unknown company lurking in the corners of the shower. Wolf spiders. toads, and the occasional lizard are my audience. The first time I came face to face with a Wolf spider when I was bare naked, I froze. I really wanted to get out of there asap, but then I thought I’m seriously going to avoid every long awaited shower because things scare me when I am naked and most vulnerable? After my pep talk I took a shower with the spider crawling all over the walls and prayed… a lot. It doesn’t even phase me anymore when I walk in and see something scary. I have learned to be comfortable when I am vulnerable to something that might hurt me. You can’t just run when things get scary you gotta face your fears and own them.
You have to Get Wet
The whole purpose of a shower is to get wet, but in a bucket shower it is also the hardest part. It’s not like a normal shower where we just turn a knob and the water is always clean and plentiful. I wish it was that simple. You have to take a medium-sized bowl, dip it into a bucket of water then pick out the part of your body you want to get wet first, take a deep breath then pour it over yourself. Then repeat.. a lot. You can’t just get one body part wet you have to submerge yourself to fulfill the full purpose of the shower. Throughout this crazy journey I am on I have learned that I have to fully submerge myself in order to give this trip purpose. Sometimes it does suck when I have to get wet in times where I don’t feel like it, but I never regret coming out of the shower (situations) feeling fully clean.
You Don’t have to pour Dirty Water over You
The shower I use also shares the same area as the family’s pig. Wibur’s pig pen is directly behind my shower and he is a talkative little fellow. Wilbur loves dirty water because it makes sweet mud for him to wallow in. In the big bucket of water where I get my water to pour over me I sometimes scoop dirty water with bugs. I have no problem choosing not to pour that over me and blessing Wilbur by throwing it on him. I have learned that living in a Christian community comes with a lot of opinions of what they think its the “right way” to live their life. I have learned to respect all the different opinions kind of how I respect Wilbur’s love for dirty water. The water that Wilbur loves to bathe in is not necessarily what I want to be washing myself with so I don’t. In the end we are both washing ourselves in the same water just in different ways and we respect each other for it.
Embrace the Freezing Cold Water
The water I shower is freezing. I mean people we are talking stone cold. Even though it feels like I could turn into a popsicle after I dump the first bucket over my head I am still gonna take my shower. I am not going to not take my shower because I am in a freezing cold situation. Over time I like to think the freezing cold water warms up to my body because I have learned to embrace it. In my life I have been placed in cold situations and I have come into contact with cold people. I have known of believers who avoid these situations and people because they are comfortable in their warm showers. I am not saying I purposefully seek out those situations and people, but when we cross paths I am going to embrace the freezing cold water and sometimes overtime they warm up. I also am not saying that if I know those situations/people are going to be somewhere I like to go I am not going to avoid them. I feel like I am grounded in who I am that I can find God in any situation warm or cold.
Embrace the cold and warm it up.
If you would have asked me what I thought about in the shower before this trip it probably would have been what I was going to wear or what I wanted for dinner. It’s nice to have a year to think. I think I might start taking bucket showers when I get back to the states and maybe ill even bring Wilbur.
