This past week, for the sake of entertaining you guys and in an effort to drop my caffeine tolerance down to ZERO before finals week, I did something severely out of character for me: I kissed my beloved caramel macchiatos goodbye. I can’t say I was particularly excited to carry out this experiment, but I was intrigued. That was my first mistake…Here’s my log for each day I did this experiment.
Day 1: Thursday November 22nd
I woke up this morning warm in my bed at home with nothing on my to-do list, except help my mom in the kitchen and eat a bunch of Thanksgiving food. In my head I thought, I can so do this no coffee thing. Not like I went to bed dreaming of yesterday’s latte or anything. This could be good for me. I rolled out of bed, went on with my morning routine and opted for some decaf tea to hopefully feign the effects of caffeine on my body. And it worked, mostly! I’m sitting here typing this at the end of a long, relaxing Day 1 and I can proudly say I survived my first day for as long as I can remember with no coffee.
Day 2: Friday November 23rd
I slept in again today because I told myself there’s no way I’m suffering through that heinous iPhone alarm without instant access to an entire pot of coffee. Another super lowkey day – I really chose the perfect week to write this article because I’ve actually never been less stressed. I met up with some friends to do some catching up and ~light~ studying at Panera (we changed the original location from a local coffee shop because my friends have souls). It felt really good to be home with old friends so we hardly got any work done, but I would not have had it any other way. The day literally flew by – coffee who??
Day 3: Saturday November 24th
Today has been so packed, I almost forgot to document my coffee-less feelings. I ran around all day running errands with my mom, which was actually so much fun. I ended up doing a last minute night yoga class with my cousin, which I admit I practically slept through. I guess the lack of coffee finally got to me today, like, I’m not even sure I can stay up until 11 pm to finish this Hallmark Christmas movie with my family. Who am I kidding, I’m like 90% sure I napped somewhere in between the nanny getting fired and the older sister finding out that the mailman was Santa Claus.
Day 4: Sunday November 25th
Oh man I can just tell today’s going to be rough. I feel like a freaking zombie. I literally want to do nothing today but I can’t! Not gonna lie, might just cave and make a quick lil cappuccino, don’t tell my editors.
Update: I did not, in fact, cave. I made it through the! Entire! Day! With no coffee, yet again. I’m getting really sick of this already. Trying to cram all my homework the night before I fly back to school is surprisingly unbearable without 6 cups of coffee. Who would’ve thought?
Day 5: Monday November 26th
Let it be known that on this day, November 26th, 2018, I stepped foot in LAX without getting a pre-flight coffee from The Coffee Bean. *Sigh* The things I do for this magazine. I settled back into my room, unpacked and silently began to freak out about getting through classes without coffee.
DAY 6: Tuesday November 27th
Yeah at this point I have nothing but regrets. My history lecture actually felt twice as long today. I swear at one point I checked the time and it was 4:15 pm, then I checked fifteen minutes later and it was 4:16 pm. How do people physically keep their eyes open for evening lectures without caffeine? I wanted to cry.
Day 7: Wednesday November 28th
Okay I cheated, I’m a cheater. I ordered a DECAF latte at Starbucks. I just wanted something that resembled coffee. I honestly expected this to get easier the longer I went without coffee but it was actually impossible this morning. On the bright side, tomorrow I can bathe in coffee if I want to with zero guilt. Can’t wait!
PAYDAY BABY: Thursday November 29th
Today’s the day! I’m currently waiting for my venti hot mocha and I could not be happier. I trudged through SO many puddles to get this cup of coffee and I have no doubt it’s about to be beyond worth it. Will update you guys later.
Update: Okay so it’s now 7 pm and I’m highly caffeinated. I had another cup after my class at 5 oops. No regrets honestly. I could stay up for six days right now.
~Final Thoughts~
So as badly as I wish I could give you guys some sort of life lesson from this experience, the only thing I learned is that I’m never going this long without coffee again. And maybe there’s something to be said about that. There’s no need to quit something cold turkey if you feel like you have a bad habit. Sometimes moderation is the way to go. Now I have no doubt that I will survive if I don’t have my daily cup, which is an oddly enlightening realization.