Life Without Coffee

Breaking News at the Chia Household: Billy and I have stopped drinking coffee.

I know. I never thought this would happen. I love coffee. But ultimately, it was doing me in.

Over the last months my energy level has plummeted from my natural low energy to a minuscule amount that was most often used up by being in a bad mood. How fun is that to live with. And if you're starting to feel sorry for my family, you ought to feel just as sorry for me. I mean, I can't get away from myself! It was getting pretty miserable.

So, aside from that a couple of other factors led me to make the final decision. One was a conversation at small group about our bodies being God's temple. We have been going through Exodus at church, and we learned about the splendor of the tabernacle and how the priest's garments were like a mini-temple, as a symbol pointing to Jesus - that when Jesus came, our bodies would become the temple.

But the final straw was a segment I heard on Sean Hannity's radio show featuring everyone's favorite wrestler-turned-governor Jesse Ventura. He and Hannity were arguing about legalizing hard drugs such as heroine, which is retarded that anyone even thinks that's okay. But still, he made the point that if caffeine were suddenly outlawed, we'd see a lot of violence by people to get it. I'm not sure it's really comparable to heroine, but the point is that caffeine is a drug, and I don't believe in being addicted to anything, except Jesus.

So, anyway, what's life like without coffee?

1. Awake, surprisingly. The first couple of days I slept a LOT. I'm talking 12 hours at night plus a few hour or 2 naps through out the day. Out of 24 hours in a day, I probably slept about 18 of those the first couple of days. But then the third day, something clicked, and I've been doing really well. I definitely wake up more easily in the morning. So, it's nice to not have to wait until after I drink coffee to start that process.

2. Cheaper. We are quasi coffee snobs around here, so there's no Folgers for us. We usually opted for Seattle's Best, which I could get for $6.48/bag. We would go through 2-4 of those a month, depending on if I needed a pick-me-up in the afternoon (which I did a lot!). I also have to have non dairy creamer which is around $3 for the month. So, we're talking $17-29 off our grocery budget. Hello! I have some other things I'd like to buy for $17-29.

3. Holier. Okay... this might seem like a stretch to say I'm "holier," but I just wanted a one word description. Sue me. I will say that I'm more able to control my responses to my kids when I'm annoyed at them. First of all, I've been annoyed less, actually. That's been a good attitude change to have. But even when I am annoyed, I've been able to approach my response with more patience. Instead of snapping at them to go away or be quiet, I've been more able to ask, "What's going on?" or "What do you need?" Not always succeeding, but it's a process, anyway.

I'm still not feeling awesome in the energy department, so my next step is to get some detox kit and clean myself out of toxins. This is still in the R&D phase, but suggestions on ones that work (or other thoughts on coffee dependencies) are welcome in the comments.