Since my senior year of high school, I have never gone a morning without drinking coffee. My day simply doesn’t feel complete if I don’t have a warm cup of joe when I wake up. Even if I’m late for class, I still have to make sure I have a cup of coffee. My boyfriend always tells me I’m addicted, but I always say I’m not. I just like drinking it. But sometimes I do feel like I need coffee a little too much, so I decided to see if I could actually go a week without it. I wanted to challenge myself. I also decided to give up caffeinated tea and energy drinks, too.
Normally, I would break down my coffee hiatus by days, detailing what I felt on each day. However, if I’m being honest, the days just muddled together. Nothing terribly significant happened on one particular day. I did, however, experience symptoms and realizations over the course of the week.
One of the things I felt most during the week was drowsiness.
I consistently felt a little more tired than usual. With this drowsiness came a sense of calmness. I didn’t feel as high-strung as I normally do. This was both a pro and a con to being coffee-free. I was definitely more tired, but it also felt nice to not be jumping-off-the-walls hyper.
I noticed that my headaches went away.
For a while now I’ve been experiencing mild headaches around 4 p.m. I never knew exactly what caused them. They sometimes make it difficult for me to feel motivated to do little things like working out or driving somewhere. This week, however, I noticed I didn’t really have any headaches. I thought that this was strange, as I know most people get headaches when they give up coffee. I actually felt more clear headed without the caffeine every morning.
I couldn’t focus as well.
Coffee gives me a boost in the morning to kick-start my day. After drinking it, I feel like I can focus on my schoolwork. This week, however, I felt sort of off. I wasn’t as focused. When I would study with friends, I would just talk to them instead of doing work. Although this sometimes happens when I do drink coffee, I noticed it much more this week.
I felt kind of free without coffee.
As I stated earlier, I would structure my mornings around having a nice cup of coffee. Not having to worry about brewing coffee if I was running late was honestly refreshing. Of course I missed that part of my morning routine, but it was freeing to not have to worry about it.
On the other hand, I also felt a little trapped.
If I wanted to go to breakfast with my friends, I couldn’t drink coffee with them. I couldn’t warm up with a nice cup of coffee or black tea. If I had time before class, I couldn’t just take a Starbucks break like I normally would. If I got a bad night’s sleep and needed a pick-me-up, I couldn’t drink it. Honestly, I felt like I was looking at a party from the outside in.
One week later, I can definitely say giving up coffee was challenging. My morning routine felt completely off. I had to fight the urge to walk into a Starbucks. The smell of coffee made me internally sob.
Will I be giving up coffee for good? Definitely not. I enjoy drinking it way too much for that, but I definitely will be cutting back, though. I learned during this week that I do not actually need coffee to get me through every single day. If I’m running late for class or wake up late one day, I don’t need to drink it to pry myself out of bed. The world won’t end if I don’t have my morning cup. This past week was definitely difficult, but I’m glad I did it. I learned how coffee affects me – both negatively and positively. I also learned a lot about myself, especially that if I truly want to stick with something, I can.
Photo Credit: studysexcoffee.tumblr.com