Sauna Share (2023)
Vision
Men encouraging one another, improving their health, and having fun.
Deeper friendships in the neighborhood.
Strategy
- Provide a cool reason to gather (saunas + cold plunges are trendy)
- Keep it fun
- Make it as easy / unambiguous as possible (maybe a sign-up system?)
Progress
2025-02
It's going too well. I now have 4 standing meetings:
- Monday morning, group of 4 dads in the neighborhood
- Monday evening, Bible study with ~4 guys (not every week)
- Tuesday morning, 1-1 with another local co-worker who spends all day on Zoom
- Friday morning, group of 4 other dads in the neighborhood
This is in addition to ad-hoc weekend stuff. Community growth has been great, but it's actually negative for my health at this point because I'm exercising less (because I'm tired & busy from baking myself constantly). Our older kids (5 & 3) really want to be a part of it, and it's been mostly sweet for family stuff.
The general trend around health & wellness has been a huge tailwind here, especially here in Austin. It was harder than I thought to kick these meetings off, but now it's on auto-pilot. This experiment is definitely a success; I'm more deeploy connected to the other families around me.
2023-12
To validate the cold-plunge idea, I bought a cheap cold-plunge container (a stock tank from Tractor Supply Co). I filled it with water & ice (from the gas station), and invited another dad over for a cold plunge.
It was fun! But it took $20 worth of ice... which won't work long-term. Also, it was short & tough to have a real conversation. It would be better with a sauna (or both... "contrast therapy" if you want to sound fancy).
So, I sold some crypto & bought a pump / filter / chiller... and a barrel sauna. This works for the Swedish people, so I'll just copy them, with an American twist. I'm going to think about how to make it as easy / fun / not-weird as possible for friends to sign up. I bought the domain sharemysauna.com, just in case.