4 weeks left. 4 weeks left until I can once again enjoy the simple pleasures of life through rose-colored glasses and an elevated energy that even the most spiritual of instructors could not match. 4 weeks left until I can wake up to the aromatic enjoyment in which so many of our world’s inhabitants partake. 4 weeks left… until I can have a damn cup of coffee.
It’s the Lenten season, folks, and I have given up coffee. For those non-Catholics out there, Lent is a time of repentance, cleansing and self-reflection. We are encouraged to, for 40 days, give up something that we enjoy or add to our routine something that will make us better people. Because I add to my life-plate something new each week of which I convince myself I will become an expert at because I’m so dedicated, I decided that taking something away would be easier than adding something else I need to be good at. My current self-reflection, “why the hell did I decide to give up coffee?” Of all things!
I have learned a few things, like how our bodies can become so addicted to this powerful substance called caffeine. It took me 6 days until I no longer had a headache in the morning. And it’s not like I’ve completely given up caffeine – just in the form of coffee. I’ll be honest, it was not easy. I felt like I wanted to crawl out of my skin for the first few days. Sentiments I’m sure are shared by those giving up any hard-core drug addiction. (But because I manage the finances, coffee was a much more affordable addiction.)
Although I’m happy to say that those six days of hell were the worst. I don’t physically crave coffee anymore. But I do mentally crave it. Like when I was on the blue line and the business man with his cup of Dunkin Donuts was standing next to me and it took all my will power not to lean over, put my face directly above his freshly brewed cup and just SNIFF. I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that I restrained myself. Instead, when I walked into my office that day, I ran right over to the pot of coffee, grabbed it off the warmer and just SNIFFED. At that time a director walked by. I struggled to respond to her gaze of judgment, “Oh, I uh, thought I dropped my earring in there. Was just uh, trying to find it. Is that it? Nope, just brown liquid… Ha. (cough, blush, stupidly smile) I look forward to our weekly meeting today. Spreadsheets. They’re my favorite.”
As my journey to no-coffee continues, I’ll keep you posted. I plan on having a mini-celebration the day I have my first cup again. Streamers, cake & coffeemate creamer. 4 more weeks…
