The first thing I think about in the morning is coffee, and when I don’t get it I’m not very pleasant to be around. So why did I give up my favorite thing for a week? I don’t really know, to be honest.The best explanation I can come up with is that coffee had become my crutch. It wasn’t just a drink anymore it was an addiction. I had to have my cup of coffee in the morning.
Without my daily cup of joe (or two…) I get groggy, irritable, and all together unengaged. So I decided to give up the very thing that makes me a pleasant person, not because I wanted to be groggy and irritable, but because I wanted to have more control. Control over not just my body but of my mind; I had convinced myself for so long that I needed coffee to function, but now I was challenging that thought.
The following is a daily log of my week without coffee:
Day 1
My instinct when I first woke up was to get up and got to the kitchen to make my regular cup of coffee, but when I got in there I remembered that I was giving up coffee for a week…I almost gave up right then but instead, I put a tea bag in my mug and opted out of my regular cup of Joe.
About half-way through the day, the headaches started to kick in, but I powered through and instead of getting my regular afternoon cup of coffee I took a nap. (I don’t know why I never thought to do that until this week, but it was easily one of my better decisions this week.)
Day 2
I hit snooze four times this morning before finally rolling out of bed, and that’s saying something because I’m usually up and ready after the first alarm. I went to the kitchen and made a cup of tea when all I really wanted was a warm cup of coffee. I drank maybe three sips of tea while I daydreamed about a warm cup of bitter coffee before I dumped out the tea and rushed off to my 8a.m.
The headaches today felt like needles being driven through my head, I popped some Advil and drank plenty of water and their intensity seemed to drop off. By some miracle, I made it through the day, but I couldn’t help but feel like tomorrow was going to be worse.
Day 3
Yup, I was right. The third day was the worst so far. My head was pounding all day and all I could think about was getting a cup of coffee. I almost gave up about ten times throughout the day, but I pushed on.
I had never felt so groggy. My brain felt like it was running on fumes. When one of my professors called on me in class I just stared at her for a moment before my brain kicked in and pumped out an answer.
To reward myself for getting through three days without coffee I got a vanilla chai, and I’m not a huge chai fan, but boy was it good. When you’re used to having two to three cups of coffee a day and then completely cut yourself off, anything that tastes even remotely like coffee is a cup of heaven.
Day 4
The worst is over and now I’m over halfway through my week without coffee. Instead of being hit with piercing headaches now I’m just craving coffee, at this point I would even drink a cup of decaf if it meant that I could have coffee. I guess I’m addicted just as much to the taste as to the caffeine in coffee.
Sitting in my night class I nearly fell asleep more times than I would like to admit. I didn’t realize how much I depended on my caffeine fix to get me through that class until I didn’t have it. After class, I usually try to get some homework done but instead, I just went to sleep.
I don’t think I’ve slept this much in a week since summer, but without my coffee I just didn’t feel awake.
Day 5
Today wasn’t as bad. I got up and didn’t even bother with the tea today. Instead, I just did some homework and headed off to class. It was hard though not to stop in at the café on campus and get my regular vanilla latte. It has become my weekly treat every Friday between by two classes I stop in and get a vanilla latte, well every Friday except for today.
After classes were over I just relaxed, but I still was craving a warm cup of coffee on this brisk fall day. I settled for some hot apple cider, but it didn’t really hit the spot.
Day 6
No classes today, which means I got to sleep in! The extra sleep definitely helped curb my desire for coffee since I usually drink it in the early morning. What made it really hard today was going out to breakfast with my sister and dad. My dad ordered a cup of coffee, but I had to settle for some oj.
This must be what it’s like for a smoker when they cut themselves off but walk by people lighting up outside a store. The scent triggers something in your brain and you feel like you have to have it. Then you rationalize that it’s fine because other people are doing it too. Instead of caving I held myself back, heck I made it this far what’s one more day.
Day 7
It’s the last day! Finally! I just have to make it through one more day and then I can have a cup of coffee. I find myself planning out what kind of coffee I’ll have and even planning to get up early and drive over to the nearby coffee shop to get a cup before classes tomorrow. I don’t think my little experiment was fully effective in curbing my desire for coffee, but I think that it worked in resetting my tolerance for caffeine.
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Going into the week I knew it was going to be challenging, especially with an 8a.m. class every other day, but I had no idea how truly miserable I was going to be just three days in. The coffee withdrawals hit me hard, but I powered through and made it all seven days without a single cup of coffee. And afterward, I was able to look back on the week and realize that I’m stronger than I thought. I know with certainty now that I don’t need coffee to be able to function on a day-to-day basis, but it sure does help.
