I recently decided to stop drinking coffee.
Quit coffee? Are you crazy?
Well, maybe not completely stop, but significantly reduce the amount of coffee I drink. For a long time, I’ve enjoyed starting my work days (and weekend days) with a couple cups of fresh coffee. I didn’t do it for the caffeine boost; more like a comfort for my morning routine. Due to schedules and activities I occasionally had to skip the coffee and would feel just fine all day long.
I wasn’t able to drink any coffee during a recent illness, and when it was over, I decided to discontinue the coffee habit as an experiment. I mostly wanted to consume less caffeine, but there are other health and financial reasons that I decided to stop. My original plan was to just drink it on the weekends, but due to busy schedules, I haven’t even been able to do that. As it turns out, since the day I decided to change my habit three weeks ago, I drank coffee on just three days. I found that it is not as much of a comfort as it used to be and I feel better overall. I really don’t miss it that much. I do still drink tea (mostly iced tea), but not in the morning and not every day.
I don’t want to quit drinking coffee!
Actually, I’m not telling you this to convince you to quit drinking coffee. During my recent life without coffee, I discovered something. If you told me six months ago that I would try giving up coffee, I wouldn’t have believed it. I loved drinking my morning coffee and it wasn’t something I wanted to give up. I gave up something I enjoyed, or, at least, thought I enjoyed. Turns out, I may not have enjoyed it that much if it was so easy to give up.
Each day I try to take a few steps closer to making my tomorrow (and my family’s tomorrow) better than today. This journey to quit drinking coffee every day taught me something. Are you ready?
Sometimes you have to give up something you THINK you need in order to get something really love.
What I’m really trying to say is that you might not even know how much better your life will be tomorrow after you let go of that thing you THINK you need. As a result of my coffee experiment, I now feel better and am more ready to take the next step to make tomorrow better.
I’m not suggesting that you carelessly give up just anything. My coffee experiment was reasonably safe for me. I could always go back to drinking it if it didn’t improve things. With some careful thought, you could probably find something to give up that has potential to make your future better. That something might be coffee, soda, junk food, or always saying “yes” when someone asks you to do something (even when you don’t want to do it). Whatever you decide to give up will have an impact on you and the other people around you, so make careful choices and be aware of others.