I'm not gonna lie, I'm definitely not excited to write this one. But, in the interest of being open & honest, I feel like I have to. Something I've been thinking about the last few weeks is how dependent on caffeine I am. That probably sounds a little silly to some of you - it's not like I always have a coffee or Coke in my hand no matter where I go. I'm actually really good at drinking water.
BUT I do have to have caffeine every morning. Whenever I try to test myself and not drink it, I end up with a splitting headache that lasts all day. On New Years Day, I had a little bit of tea that didn't have caffeine, and then went straight to the gym. That about killed me. My head already hurt, and jogging on the treadmill didn't help at all. I ended up with a headache all day right behind my eyes, and I couldn't even function normally. By the time I drank some tea later that afternoon, it was too late, and I didn't feel better until I woke up the next morning.
I feel like there's something wrong with that! Not having tea or coffee in the morning pretty much ruined me for the rest of the day. I honestly don't (always) need caffeine to wake up. I try to get a good amount of sleep, and I'm still young so my body bounces back pretty quickly even when I don't get much sleep (like last night! ha). But I LOVE my warm drink in the morning. I look forward to it.
Every morning I wake up, shower, and make myself a good breakfast, if I haven't made it the night before. Then I sit down with a cup of coffee or tea and read my Bible. But whenever I make coffee, since I have a coffee pot, I make more than one cup so it won't hurt the machine. And then I drink it. Not a day goes by that I have something, and I think I need to do something about it.
Back in high school, I worked at a coffee shop, and got really addicted. It got to the point where I was using caffeine to wake me up every day, and I had to have 5 shots of espresso just to feel it. It got ridiculous. I finally quit it cold turkey, and had a horrible headache for about 2 weeks straight. I'm definitely not where I was at that point, but I'm getting there!
So. I'm going to try to quit. Once I finish my current stash (yes, I hate wasting that much) I'm going to buy only decaf coffee and tea for awhile. And headaches...they'll just have to come until I can kick this thing. I'm not going to ban caffeine forever. I'm kind of a tea nerd and there's so many teas that aren't decaf. But I took my first step today, and ordered a decaf latte at Starbucks. It's a small step, but still.
Here I go, on a new and not-so-fun adventure, but one I feel like I need to take! I don't want something to control my day as much as caffeine can, and so I need to get back to basics and just stop drinking it. Wish me luck, and pray for my headaches! I'll update you in a month or two and let you know how I'm doing.
Happy Sunday!
