Coffee (Beard Project Day 2)

The Beard

If you’re new to this blog, the concept is simple. We are nothing but the combination of what we do every day, we are the manifestation of our habits. Creating and changing habits however is challenging, so we need an extra bit of help. I am introducing a new change in my habits every 20 days and if on any day i fail, my stubble (which will eventually be a beard) is shaven back revealing the baby face underneath. These habits compound over time so by the time the beard is a few inches long I will have life pretty much nailed. Join me on my Journey.

Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee

The project for the first 20 days is my long-lasting coffee dependency. Like many of us I typically wake up, coffee, eat, brush teeth, coffee, start work, coffee, have lunch, coffee, work some more, slip in a cheeky coffee, eat dinner, have a cup of tea, work a bit then crash to sleep still shaking.

This is the epitome of productivity… right?

In the last year as my degree got stressful coffee starting being a prerequisite for work, socialising and having fun. If i wasn’t stimulated by caffeine, friends would ask me if I was alright and tell me that I seemed low energy. I was dependant on coffee just to be me. However much I love coffee, I don’t want it to rule my life like this. Not to mention the fact that a latte is now £3 and not buying at least one every day would mean I could afford a cheap holiday.

The darkest of coffee days

It has been far worse in the past. One day when I was sixteen doing a particularly boring first aid course, I drank 23 cups in one day. I spent the entire evening locked in a toilet shaking, almost fainting and having all of my inner organs tense up every few minutes. Life highlight right there.

Whilst regularly drinking ten cups of coffee a day, I for some reason had perpetual headaches. Still to this day have absolutely no reason at all why. Oh maybe its to do with the fact i’m living my entire waking life stimulated.

Anyway enough about my past woes, the last year or so I have cut down from 8 cups a day every single day to two or three. My life is however still ruled by caffeine. I have a deeply ingrained habit that I drink coffee before I work. This means I can’t work unless I’ve drank coffee, and I can’t enjoy coffee without getting an urge to hustle. Which it turns out ruins most coffee dates.

The Plan

The plan therefore is to remove this connection. To work without coffee and to coffee without work. Hence no coffee before 12 or after 4. It’s also worth noting to my little coffee addicted monkey in my brain, that the coffee between 12 and 4 is not compulsory but something I could do if i wanted to enjoy the flavour of coffee.

I know for a fact that I would not overcome this heavily ingrained habit without the power of the beard. This is, if you will, its first real test.

Yesterday was a day of overwhelming tiredness, lack of drive and that internal mental cloudiness. I’m assuming this slowly will fade such that I can function as a human without being stimulated. I guess we shall see.