My Relationship With Coffee

As you may recall, I have given up coffee a couple of times. It's a bit odd. I really like coffee. I find, though, that I treat it like a drug. Something that I need to have every day in order to feel good. Something that makes me feel like a terrible mess when I don't have it.

So, last spring, I gave up coffee cold turkey. It was tough. I had some killer headaches that encouraged me to supplement my diet with black tea for awhile. Eventually, I was free.

The beauty of not being a coffee drinker is that, when I do drink coffee, it is rather effective as an energy booster. I went back to drinking lots of coffee the week that my summer coursework was due in August, and I like to think that the coffee helped me ace the class. I can have a cup of coffee before youth events for an extra burst of energy (I'm serving as a youth director now). Or, as is the case this week, I can juice up on coffee to do a freakish amount of studying for midterms.

Coffee is also a real treat for me. Because I do like it so much, I will still make an effort to taste new coffees and drink it as a special treat once in awhile.

Sam makes fun of me because I claim to have given up coffee, yet I can still be spotted drinking coffee on occasion. When I stopped eating meat this summer, Sam asked if this was going to be just like when I "stopped drinking coffee." I'll admit, my sporadic antics can be a little strange, but I like to experiment with my diet and figure out what is good for me.

In sum, I guess coffee is still like a drug for me, but now I think of myself as more of a recreational user than an addict. Progress? I think so.