Thursday, January 17, 2013

Coffee Free for on Week -- Recovering Abuser

I don't use the term "coffee abuser" lightly.  Before, my recent hiatus, I was drinking a significant amount of coffee.  The day before I quit, the best I could remember I had consumed 7 cups of coffee.  But, it wasn't the caffeine I was after -- it was the ritual.

I wasn't drinking drip coffee from filters. I was drinking the good stuff.  French press and AeroPress with Primavera Coffee (http://primaveracoffee.com/).  The Primavera Coffee Columbia blend was/is my favorite.  I ground the beans, boiled the water, prepared the containers.  I would do this multiple times day: before breakfast, breakfast, when I arrived at the office, around 10:30am, after lunch, and at night around 7pm.  Then, there was another random coffee session or two.  I felt like Bilbo Baggins.

I had to quit cold turkey.  I am not of the type who can just stop.

Day 1
Consumed a copious amount of water -- about 1.5 gallons of water to relieve the need to have coffee.  It was the hand to month habit that I had to fill.  Eyes got heavy around 3pm.

Day 2 - 3
Continued to consume an amazing amount of water.  Began to have headaches that felt like someone pressing a 2x4 into the front of my brain.

Day 4 - 5
Clarity to my brain returned.  With the amount of coffee I was consuming, I had lost something, some productivity, some ability to focus and think.  When I sat down at work the Monday after I quit, it was like my brain was fresher than it had been in a while.

Day 6
Brain clarity continued.  Refrained from coffee.  Headaches were gone, and continued to drink water in quantity.

Day 7
Reintroduced a small mid-afternoon coffee.  Didn't finish it.

The week without coffee was a reset on my body, my brain, and my habits.  As a friend put it, "it wasn't that I was drinking coffee, my problem was I was drinking coffee excessively."


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