Challenge Yourself (I'm talking to YOU, Starbuck)

I quit drinking coffee 2 weeks ago. My reasons for ditching the old Cuppa Joe were somewhat frivolous, so I won't embarrass myself with them here, but I am still in shock that I am enjoying life so much more without it.

Before I get into that, allow me to tell you how much I love coffee. I loved coffee before it was chic to love coffee. I loved coffee before Starbucks was a chain. I loved coffee even when it was my Dad's old instant Nescafe. I loved coffee so much I saw it as a character defect if someone diluted the exquisite bitterness with cream, or worse, with sugar. I loved coffee so much I would drink the grounds from my Turkish coffee.

There was a period of time in my young life where I drank coffee like a champ, pot after pot. When I got some ugly side effects from this excessive consumption, I curtailed my coffee consumption to a modest 2 cups a day. No, that's not a lot, but I was utterly dependent on those 2 cups to jump start my day and to prevent the dreaded lack-of-caffeine-migraine that would plague me if I skipped my morning ritual.

But I decided to stop drinking it. I was sure I would be bedridden with an awful headache for a few days. I just knew I'd be difficult and edgy for a week. I was certain I'd be an absolute bear in the morning for the rest of my life. I was positive that I WOULD HATE EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

For some reason, the lack-of-caffeine-migraine never showed up this time. I wasn't moody. My mornings were no worse than usual. Additionally, I felt less stressed throughout the day. My voracious evening appetite became more normalized. My insomnia ceased to be. The grocery bill is a little less. And inexplicably, I lost four pounds.

I have become quite skeptical that the benefit I was hoping for by forgoing coffee will never actually materialize, but I still don't think I'll go back. I love the lowered stress level. I love sleeping through the night. And if four more pounds would like to follow the earlier "vanguard four", I will become positively evangelical about it!

You can quit coffee if you want...or not. My point really is that we believe these little fictions we tell ourselves:
-"I have to have coffee."
-"I've been a vegetarian so long that if I were to eat animal-based protein, my body would violently reject it."
-"I gag on broccoli."

I'm not talking about legitimate food allergies, nor am I talking about physiological conditions like celiac disease or diabetes, nor I am I talking about food choices to maintain religious observances, I am talking about self-styled edicts that have their basis in nothing but ego. We are all guilty of them.

But challenge yourself to break one of your own self-styled edicts. See what happens. If you don't like it, you can go back to your old ways. But there is a chance you might glean some health benefit you never counted on...because you had been doing things another way for so long you aren't even sure what benefits there might be.

I've found a sense of calm, a good night's sleep, and a looser waistband.