When I was an amateur shaver, I remember the trepidation I felt when I first put the electric shaver to my face. The trepidation was much worse than the actual shave. After a while, electric shaving felt too easy, and got dull, like a dull razor blade. I was ready for the next level of shaving.

That level came when I realized how brave I was from learning how to drive a stick shift. I could manage three pedals with only two feet and I could shift a stick while still driving. All I needed was a little NOS and I could drive as well as Vin Diesel. I decided if I could level up my driving, I could level up my shave game. My next great feat would be the stick shift of shaving, manual razors. Now at the age of 16, I was already a man.

With the blade, comes responsibility and nicks and cuts. As the boy that shaved electrically, I had a baby smooth face. As a man, I had nicks and cuts and scars, that only full grown men have. I grew up really fast, and started to look like Bruce Willis after Die Hard was over. For years, I put up with bloody gashes, and razor burn and that came from the kids who have baby face smooth skin. I put up with it, until one day, a Buddhist Monk (or it might have been a friend of mine who really took the art of shaving seriously) told me the secrets of blade.

The first one should have been obvious. Replace your blades every 5 or 6 shaves. For some reason, I thought it was wise to use a blade 40 or 50 times, because we could save money. I might as well have been using the weed whacker at the end of my blades lifecycle, because it would have been as effective.

The next secret was almost as simple, but counterintuitive. It was counterintuitive because when you start a blade shave, you use hot water to warm your face for the shave. Logically, I always used hot water after the shave too. My friend said, “Use cold water to finish your shave. It closes the pores and cools your face down from all the friction of shaving.” I was skeptical at first, but I tried it and wow, did that make all the difference. My face felt so much better after shaving. It makes me so bitter to think about all those years I suffered with a rusty blade and hot water.

Recalling that one little piece of advice from so long ago, I recently started experimenting with cold showers. I’ve heard good things about them, like they are good for your skin (ie closing your pores like on your face), they can keep you from catching a cold and can assist with circulation. The biggest thing that cold showers do for me is send my body into shock and take my breath away. There is always that moment when the temperature changes from hot to cold, where you take a deep breath as you react to the shock. The temperature change sends you into fight or flight mode. You either run away and retreat from the cold, or you stand and fight. If you stand under the water long enough, your body adjusts to the change.

I’ve been thinking about that concept lately, and I think when your breath gets taken away, you start taking an action. It seems like the moments in your life when your breath gets taken that are some of your biggest. I don’t think that is a coincidence.

The reason why your breathtaking moments are so big is that most of your life, you breathe normally without thinking about it, and you take it for granted. When your breath gets taken away, you notice and it makes you react.

For instance, when I used to have to speak in front of a crowd, my heart would start beating so fast, that my breathing would get taken away for a second or two at a time. It was that so nervous, you couldn’t breathe type of moment, but when your breath started regulating and you got used to being in front of those people and completing the speech that you could finally focus your breathing again. It was a shock to the system, but you got used to it, and then you started to speak.

Some people when they first meet the love of their live, stop breathing for a moment because they are stunned by their beauty, or charisma, or their humor.

Some of my favorite moments of all time are when I’m with friends or family and we are laughing so hard that we can’t breathe. Obviously, it is always me making them laugh. Like anyone else I know is funny. I make people lose their breath, their minds and they have an out of body experience. Those are the moments they won’t forget.

Sometimes when you lose your breath, it can be a scary moment. I was an athlete back in the day, and there was moment or two when I got the wind knocked out of me, and I couldn’t breathe. That shocked me into doing whatever I could to remember to breathe. I’ve had moments when I’ve seen my son out on the football field when he got the wind knocked out of him, or laying on the field injured. Those moments have caused me to stop breathing, because I was seeing my chance for retirement fading if he doesn’t make the NFL.

Some of my favorite loss of breath feelings are when I get a great idea. As a blogger, creative writer, and video gamer, I’m always trying to come up with new ideas for blog posts, or new ideas for my book that I’m writing, or new ideas for ways to make money, or what I would do if I won the lottery. As an idea guy, some of the ideas are bad, some are decent and some are life changing, like this idea I have to get rich, retire and sit on the couch for the rest of eternity while zombies attack everyone else.

Some people like breathtaking views of the city, or mountains or forests or seas. When they get to the top of a mountain or are flying over a new country for the first time, they literally stop breathing for a second or two. I remember when I first saw Scotland while getting ready to land there for the first time, I was in awe and stop breathing for a second. This was my homeland, the place where my great-great-great grandfathers lived, and I saw it for the first time. I stopped breathing because I felt a connection with those men that fought for their Scottish independence, and landed in jail for it, but knew that they couldn’t live there any longer, became bitter and moved to the US. If it wasn’t for their bitterness towards Scotland, I wouldn’t be the bitter man I am today.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Taylor Swift is on tour. I might be the first person that is telling you this. She is becoming a billionaire right before our eyes right now, and it is because of her ability to subliminally implant messages in her music to take over women’s minds. It’s quite genius, and I wish I knew how those messages worked. If I did, my blog would be much more popular with women.

How about when you jump off a cliff into some water below? Or when you jump out of a plane with just a parachute? Or leap off a bridge with just a bungy cord attached to your legs? Or to a first interview for a job? Or go to the first day on that job? Or when you are so in the zone when writing that you forget you are still on earth? There is a second right before those big moments when you forget to breath. It is those moments that remind you that you are still alive and you need to focus and breath, because breath is kind of important for life.

It’s like the moment when you turn the shower from hot to cold. You can either run from those moments, or you can stay and fight and endure. And if you do, you will be able to get used to just about anything…like finishing this post and getting to enjoy some Bitter Friday Giftures…

When I didn’t really know what I was doing…

Almost overnight I went from a little peach fuzz…

The secret to smooth shaving…

Sorry…

And splashing cold water…

Speaking of cold water…

But not…

The nice thing about cold water…

Am I right…

Sometimes people…

Other times…

Other times…

And sometimes…

ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH (I’m losing my breath….)

Bitter Take Your Breath Away Ben

*This post contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a commission should you chose to sign up for a program or make a purchase using my link. It’s okay – I love all of these companies anyways, and you will too!