A fancy title is all you need !
You don’t know me, but let me still reassure you, I’m not daily drinking alcohol. Instead, I’d like to shed some light on a different addiction in my life: coffee. I recently quit drinking coffee, and the impact on my life has been surprisingly positive.
In the life of an addict
I used to consume one to three cups of coffee per day, always trying not to have any after 2 PM. It was my morning routine: a coffee to wake up, a mid-morning coffee for a break or a chat with friends and colleagues, and one after lunch. Sometimes skipping one or the other.
Coffee as an excuse
I don’t smoke, but I realized that coffee had become my excuse for taking a break, much like how people step out for a smoke. But shouldn’t we be able to take a break without needing an excuse ? We should simply be able to say, “I need a break,” and do whatever helps us to focus / achieve our goals. Whether, it’s drinking water, listening to music, or even going on a walk ! I digress, but breaking free from the coffee cycle significantly improved my daily well-being. It made me question why we need an excuse to take a break. Isn’t saying, “I need a break” a better justification than succumbing to an addiction ?
The impact
Before ~18 years old, I was not drinking coffee and my mornings were always effortless, I’d sometime wake up a few minutes before my alarm, and most of the time I was feeling good man.
Aging from 18 to 25, I started to have trouble waking up, I was always tired when waking up, and a few days a week had headaches. Obviously, I thought it was normal, and it was just me aging. I was as disappointed as the day I woke up with my back stuck, but I had accepted that it was part of the aging process.
What I realize now, is that coffee was the culprit. Since quitting, I feel like an 18 years old again! I need less sleep, I wake up easily, I don’t have headaches as often, I’m more focused in the morning, I’m more relaxed, I’m more everything!
Admittedly, I do experience afternoon fatigue now, but guess what ? Without those three morning coffees, I can take a quick 10-30 minute nap and that keeps me up for the rest of the day !
If you’re reading this and thinking, “Shit, That’s exactly how my mornings feel”, I would advise quitting coffee for a week and see how you feel. I hope you’ll be as pleasantly surprised as I was.