Why I Gave up (Caffeinated) Coffee
This post is definitely not about Jessie Spano. Nope. No Jessie Spano.
So, I gave up coffee two months ago.
Well, caffeinated coffee.
I still drink decaf in the mornings, so I haven’t technically given up coffee, as Brad, ever the lawyer, was eager to remind me.
When the pandemic hit, I hated feeling like I got out of bed and had to jump right into work. So I started getting up early to do things for me, and for me only.
I wake up at 5:30am, make a pot of coffee, and journal, write, workout, meditate (OK I only did this for like one week last summer, but still), shower, get dressed, make breakfast.
Also, read.
After all of this, then I open my computer. I feel like I’ve lived a full day before I answer my first email.
I started making two, sometimes three pots of coffee in the morning with this extended amount of time. I would finish the first pot after my routine, make another with breakfast, and sometimes make one more cup for good luck before noon.
Enter, the mid-day rage.
I felt like I was angry all the time around 11am or so. Like, my heart wanted to explode out of my chest. I heard letters clack with a constant slam into the keyboard, and I felt blood rush to the tips of my fingers. My head was just … weak. It was, I’m sure, both hyping myself up on caffeine and completely dehydrating myself.
So, I had already started thinking about making the switch. But I didn’t know how. That was, until a friend of mine said she moved over to decaf last year, but simply replaced the ritual with with decaf to cut the caffeine.
In other words … she just did it.
So, I tried it. Over one week, I moved from blending regular coffee with decaf at 75 percent, to half caf, to 25 percent, to finally only one spoonful of caffeinated out of eight (eight!), and then, finally, none. I didn’t have any headaches or crazy withdrawals, which is remarkable, given I have had coffee every day for 18 years. (Another reason I looked at the number and thought … damn. Maybe it’s about time I try it.)
I never thought I would be able to say that I gave up (caffeinated!) coffee; many nights, I would lie in bed and simply look forward to my cup of coffee. It was something I loved: the taste, the temperature, the ritual of it all.
Now, I can still have the ritual without feeling like I want to punch something before lunchtime.
I’m feeling very lucky that it was easier for me to shift than I thought. And, that helps me stay optimistic about doing the same for, say, booze, or time on the phone, or whatever other vice I want to limit or get rid of this year.
As we start re-entering our lives again, pre-post-Covid (STAND BACK DELTA, GET VACCINATED PEOPLE), I’m worried about having to fight to keep the morning habits and rituals that I’ve found so fulfilling.
But, for the time-being, with these new habits, I have to say: I’m so excited.