What I Learned After 30 Days of Quitting Coffee
So this evening, I am celebrating my 30-day liberation from coffee. My partner and I will be going to a nearby restaurant for a great meal. For sure, I will enjoy a glass of red wine as well.
While my ultimate goal is to not consume coffee for the rest of my life, I feel that the 30-day celebration is important to honor my small win. I learned this technique from Behavior Scientist BJ Fogg, who says that the better you are at the technique of celebration, the faster you can wire in new habits.
If you are curious as to why I wanted to quit coffee, you can read my article published last month.
So let’s get into it — how has my life changed in the past 30 days?
In summary:
1. Consistent Sleep
2. Clarity in Thoughts
3. Happier Life
4. Meaningful Relationships
Consistent Sleep:
I am in bed by 9 pm (another habit I am developing). Because I don’t have drink coffee anymore, there are seldom any nights where I lay awake with a tired body and a sleepless mind. My thoughts don’t ruminate when I am trying to sleep. I enjoy my sleep much more.
Clarity in Thoughts:
When I drank coffee I used to get that mental high right after taking a few sips, which would make me feel extremely creative, compassionate, courageous on a superficial level (hours later I would feel low). Every time I needed a mental boost, I would use coffee as a prompter.
Now that I am free from coffee, my mind has a stronger foundation. It does not depend on any external neural-stimulants like coffee to keep it functioning. Therefore my thoughts aren’t as fleeting and weak as they used to be.
I feel good about my thoughts, and confident about my decisions.
Happier Life:
Less mood swings. Much less. Coffee consumption boosts your dopamine causing an upswing in your mood, and few hours later, naturally you feel low. None of that anymore. While I do have mood swings, they are not of the same quality and intensity as those caused by caffeine withdrawal.
Yes, I am happier. Perhaps the major reason being that I don’t feel attached to coffee anymore. This gives me so much more freedom with time, money and energy to experience other healthy, conscious things like meditation, and other forms or healthy entertainment.
Meaningful Relationships
One area of my life that suffered the most when I consumed coffee was my close relationships, especially with my partner. I was constantly getting feedback from her that my I was having many mood swings that could easily be associated with coffee.
Likewise, it also affected my relationships with personal friends, business associates and family members. But mostly, with my self.
Now my relationships are much more meaningful. I can relate directly with the person that I am communicating or dealing with. I realized that a lot of times when I express my excitement during meetings (personal or business), it was the caffeine getting the best of me, more that the content of the conversation.
Relationships are much more genuine and meaningful when you don’t have a drug affecting your perceptions!
By the way, my partner enjoys living with me more after I’ve quite coffee.
Challenge
Sure, there are challenges, but I can handle them.
I get the coffee craving when I am stressed out. There is always the desire to make it go away by consuming coffee. It’s almost like the brain blocks out the bad effects of coffee when I am stressed out, and points to it as an easy quick fix solution. But I don’t fall for it anymore.
If something is stressing me out to the extent that I crave coffee then I question what I did in the first place to put myself in that position. That’s where the problem is most likely to have happened. For instance, I should have never sat in front of my computer screen for more than 25 minutes without taking a 5 minute break.
So I use the coffee craving as a symptom of another habit or behavior that needs adjustment.
I Got This!
While I am still on the path to surpassing my coffee addiction, I feel confident more than ever. Why? Because life is so much better, and I have both the push and the pull to make this habit change.
Coffee — thanks for the experience, and now, you are out of my life!
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Upen Singh writes about people and progress. He is interested in making lives better.
Having traveled over 25 countries he is always seeking new adventures to learn from and share. He has an M.A. in Developmental Economics from West Virginia University.
He lives in Thailand, Nepal and the United States, constantly traveling. He is currently involved in a development project in far-west Nepal.
