Posts tagged Quitting coffee

It has been 3 weeks since I decided to give up coffee, and what a trip it has been. 

Week 1 was as to be expected - treacherous. I think I told my coworker “I really want coffee right now” 5 times a day (Sorry Timothy!!). The headache, inability to concentrate - I got it all. Black and green tea helped with that a bit. (Yes, I was still drinking caffeine, just not coffee.) The unexpected part was when I had mood swings. It’s like I was so amped up from coffee for so long that my body forgot how to relax. And then when I did, it all just sort of crumbled. It took a long time for me to wake up in the mornings, and by the afternoon I became a grumpy teenager. This was not fun whatsoever. I found myself working out more and more just to get it out. I even ran twice a day some days!

Week 2 was a little bit better. I stopped missing the taste of coffee (EVERY MORNING), and started looking forward to my black or green tea. My moods started to even out, my head started to get clearer, and things just got a little easier. I still had a hard time focusing, though. This, in turn, made me get really, really present with people. In order to actually understand what someone was talking about I had to listen very closely to what they were saying, with no other distractions. Then I noticed how often I DON’T listen to people on a daily basis. Whoa!

Week 3 was the tipping point. Everything became even and smooth. I found myself relaxing like I did when I was younger. I found myself sleeping deeper, waking up rested, happy. I was calmer when I would deal with problems or conflict. I had more empathy for people dealing with things. All around I was just more peaceful. It was pretty remarkable and surprising to experience this, just from not drinking coffee. 

Yesterday was the end of week 3, and it was the first day that I did no tea either. So completely no caffeine. I have to tell you, as someone who not only was a supporter of coffee drinking, but was a crazy fanatic about it, I am really enjoying my life without it. Of course I miss the smell of it, and the taste of it, but what I love is waking up in the morning and feeling refreshed because I slept amazingly well - not wide awake because I drank my first cup of black coffee on an empty stomach for the day. 

I am not saying that everyone should stop drinking coffee - in fact, after 1 month with out coffee I will probably go back to drinking it occasionally, maybe once on the weekend or something (but not every day!). It will be for the taste, not for the need of energy. I know that my experience has been quite a paradigm shift for me. I was a coffee lover. But when I stopped to look at the impact it was having on my body (stomach, always being amped, being dependent on something, etc. etc.), I knew it had to go. 

So there you go. In a nutshell, I am still a coffee lover at heart, but for my personal health and well being (and sanity!), I quit drinking coffee every day. And I am loving it, basking in my experience of life with others, being more present and relaxed than I have in a long, long time.