Editor’s Note: The Inertia’s Dawn Patrol series presented by MUD\WTR examines the morning rituals and early-hour decisions that set the tone for the day. Add them up, and those decisions set the tone for life.
Kyle Thiermann is a thoughtful fella. He’s not one to let reality slide by at face value. Oh no. A rigorous, cerebral dissection is (typically) essential before moving on to the next. He simply respects time and people too much to waste either. Thiermann’s analytical predisposition has set the table for an envious and unconventional path marked by big wave expeditions, thoughtful podcast conversations with an impressive and diverse list of guests, an explicit, environmentalist awards show, and compelling documentation along the way. Which is why we were excited to put a camera on him for this episode of our Dawn Patrol series.
Rolling out of bed in the morning is easier for some than others. It’s a vulnerable window. And it’s binary. You either seized the day or you didn’t. And that’s all dusted by 6:30 a.m. It’s a decision that makes a disproportionate impact on the day ahead, and, unsurprisingly, Kyle’s given the act some thought.
“Dawn patrol means making a decision that is difficult in service of your future self,” says Thiermann. “The way that you wake up and those first few things that you do in the morning sets the trajectory for your day. And you start to do those things again and again, and it sets the trajectory for your life.”
These days, Thiermann accepted what he calls his first “jobby-job” heading up the copy department at MUD\WTR, and, as it turns out, using a computer with an internet connection consumes large swaths of the day. To slice up the screen time, Kyle tends to kick off the day with a polar plunge. Always a shock, but always worth it.
“I don’t think we were meant to wake up and sit for many, many hours, but for my job, I sit for many, many hours,” says Thiermann. “So I wake up, and I move my body. I like the cold; it’s the best anti-depressant out there, so, it sucks in the moment. Like anything that’s worth doing, it feels a lot better afterward.”
