Everyone who knows me from my friends from high school, to my parents, to my college roommate and friends knows I love coffee. I can’t live without it. During my senior year of highschool the highlight of my morning was traveling to that Dunkin Donuts drive, Starbucks, or Aroma Joes drive through on my way to school and order the most caffeinated thing I can think of. They got pretty creative at times from a peach strawberry rush, to a macchiato with almond milk and an extra espresso shot, or on the simple morning just a large coffee with sugar. But one thing was sure, I always had to have it to start my morning. I simply would not be awake without it.
The same thing was true when I started my freshman year of college at UNH. First semester every morning after my 8am freshman english class, which every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I basically dragged myself to, I would go to Dunkins and order myself a medium iced cold brew coffee with caramel, cream, and sugar. This drink would revive me as I’d go bright eyed and bushy tailed to my next class of the day. Sometimes walking there shaking if I drank it too fast. Tuesday and Thursdays I’d always be a little more awake as I’d hit Dunkins before my 10am class. This was my daily routine until three quarters of the way through the semester I sadly ran out of my UNH dining dollars and my bank account could not support my daily cold brew anymore.
After this I decided to start making coffee in my dorm room in the morning from the keurig before I went to class. It’d been there all along but I have to admit getting that Dunkins was just so much easier, plus coffee always tastes better when someone else makes it for you. As a person who adores coffee and will drink it any time of day I of course had both decaf coffee and regular sitting right next to each other on my desk so I was set even without Dunkins. My new routine continued as I popped a K-Cup in the machine, brewed my coffee, added some cream, and then went wide awake to my classes for the day.
Until one night I went to go make a decaf coffee and realized I was out, and my regular coffee K-Cup package was still completely full. I was shocked. Mortified almost. I even had to sit down. For the past thirty days I’d been drinking decaf coffee in the morning and thinking it was just as caffeinated as regular as I went, what I thought, was wide awake to my classes. I had been placibod by myself.
After realizing this I was kinda annoyed at myself, I felt dumb that I hadn’t noticed for thirty days that I was actually drinking decaf coffee. But after a while I actually began to think about all the good things that had come from cutting my daily coffee run and copious amounts of caffeine out of my system. The first was that I didn’t spend so much money at coffee shops around campus that were for sure draining my bank account. The second was that my heart rate actually seemed more stable. It wouldn’t race as much as it did after I downed a 24oz while walking to class, and I felt better because of it. The third was that cutting all this caffeine out of my system helped my anxiety greatly. I was actually overall feeling better then ever.
I can’t lie, I still love coffee but I definitely don’t drink as much as i did before my self placebo. I’ll have maybe a quarter of a cup or half a cup in the morning and I’m set. I don’t want or crave anymore like I used to. Even though I felt like an idiot for accidentally cutting my caffeine addiction, and my friends and family definitely got a good laugh, it was one of the best things I could have done for not only my health but also my bank account.