No coffee for 30 days

I recently quit coffee for 30 days, having kept up a steady habit of 2 cups every (week) day for several years. I’m back drinking it, but I had some thoughts about it.

2 days into the 30, I had serious and nonstop headaches. I woke up with a headache and went to bed with a headache, for about 5 days straight. My bones ached, my bad was sore, I was irritable and my sleep got worse, ironically. It was legitimate withdrawals, in the same way a drug addict would experience. But I didn’t experience withdrawals similar those of an addict, I experienced the exact withdrawals of an addict. Because it is a drug, and I am addicted.

As a culture we are completely addicted to coffee. Everyone drinks it. All day. There’s a Nero/ Costa/ Pret on every corner. Our hustle/ startup/ make money/ build business/ be a success culture expects us to be energised and getting after it. Our society rewards coffee addiction.

As with all things, after a while you develop a tolerance. The thing itself becomes less impactful. The buzz dulls, and you’re left chasing it. Coffee does this. After a while, it doesn’t give the energising clarity it once gave, and I was left using it simply to get to neutral. Without it, I didn’t feel like I could operate.

If I drink too much coffee one day, I get overstimulated and my sleep is shit. I wake up the next morning feeling tired. To perk me up (or just get to baseline) I get a cup of coffee. Then another. And another, just to prop me up for the day. But now I’m back to square 1 - overstimulated and about to have another terrible night sleep. Coffee is a dangerous cycle.

Once the headaches subsided, I found myself able to pull on natural energy. Calm, reliable energy. Not the jittery, clammy type that comes with coffee.