So I didn't drink coffee for a week. Here's how it went.
Mrs. Wright and I love coffee. We order it by the 5 LB bag of beans. It’s part of a tradition for us. Neither of us wanted to go on a date when we first met. So we opted for coffee instead. We have “our” bench in Central Park where we like to go to the Plaza food court, grab a coffee and then go sit and just New Yorker watch.
I have a standing coffee date with Mrs. Wright every Friday morning. Our favorite coffee in Dallas can be found at Honor Bar in Highland Park Village. If you haven’t had it, trust me. It’s stupid good. We even have a favorite coffee spot in my hometown of Sulphur Springs. When we go to Boulder, CO to see Abby we can be found no less than two times per day at Box Car Coffee or The Laughing Goat. When we see Rylan in Tuscaloosa, we’re screwed. It’s Tuscaloosa.
So here’s how my sans coffee week went Monday-Friday
Monday: Why am I so tired this morning? I don’t depend on coffee that much. I drink it because I love the aroma. it’s just a habit. Why am I so tired?
Dang, I forgot to do my morning journal to Jemilynn.
Afternoon: Why do I have a slight headache? This has to be allergies. It can’t be the lack of coffee. I’m not an addict. No way! I’m the improve always in ALL ways guy. I don’t. have addictions especially chemical ones.
de·ni·al
/dəˈnīəl/
noun
the action of declaring something to be untrue.
"she shook her head in denial when Jason said he wasn’t addicted to coffee"
Tuesday: Slept well, but got up to pee much more than usual. There’s that damn mild not so bad but definitely there headache.
I’m moving really slowly. It’s almost like everything is in slow motion. I need to pee again, and when I do it’s aggressive like I can’t hold it. I have to go!
Slept well. Lots of getting up to pee again. Not sure if it’s from no coffee but something has changed. Headache still lurking.
Wednesday: Headache is gone this morning. I’m feeling pretty good. I’m not “Jonesing” at all. There are times when a cup of Jo sounds good, but instead I opt for mushroom tea. It does the trick. It’s hot, helps me focus. I don’t feel as tense.
I’m feeling very calm. I’m not nearly as anxious about getting things done. My focus is sharpening again.
Thursday: Feel completely normal. I slept really well. I took some vitamin D and Niacin before bed to help with hypoxia (potential pee problem). Maybe that’s all it was. I have no idea if it was not drinking coffee or not.
It’s a good day. I’m calm, get work done, no headache at all.
Friday: Up early, get a ton of work done. I’m not anxious. Nothing seems to rattle me. I have a ton of stuff I need to get out the door, but I’m not the least bit anxious about it. I write two articles before 7 a.m. Still no headache.
That’s where we are so far. Could I go without coffee alltogether? Sure. I can. Do I want to? No. I love the stuff. It’s my and Jemilynn’s thing. We don’t drink alcohol. We guzzle coffee.
I’ve cut coffee out at night to help with sleep. Cutting it out altogether is probably not the worst idea. Here’s what I learned. Much more of my energy comes from coffee than I ever imagined. This was a real eye opener for me. I truly thought there was no benefit from an energy standpoint when it came to my coffee consumption. I was dead wrong.
This was a good thing. It put me in touch with my body’s natural energy generation. It forced me to manage it in a way I normally don’t. I did not train as hard on Thursday as I normally do. I wanted to conserve my energy. The caffeine seems to mask what would otherwise be fatigue.
The biggest benefit was not being so rushed and anxious. There was a HUGE difference here. I work with a lot of “white space.” This means I get to map out my day most every day. As such, I tend to keep 100 projects going and get really tense. That was not the case this week. I was much calmer and more deliberate. I didn’t obsess over having so much to get done. I just took it in stride.
Going forward-I think I will do this every couple weeks or so. If I find there is such a marked difference between the non-coffee week and the coffee weeks I may do something like switch to every other day, but to give it up altogether would not please Mrs. Wright, and love to keep Mrs. Wright happy.
What about you? Can you detox from your jitter juice? It’s a worthwhile experiment. If nothing else it gives you and authentic feel for your body and gives your nervous system a rest.
Cheers!