I've never been a huge coffee person. Sure, I'd grab Starbucks in high school with my friends every now and then, but my weapon of choice was always a Venti Caramel Crème Frappe with extra caramel (major sweet tooth, oops!). And even then, I rarely drank coffee unless it included a social outing. I never really liked its bitter aftertaste and the uncomfortable, jumpy feeling that it gave me.
College introduced me to a whole new lifestyle - one filled with procrastination, sleep deprivation, and absurdly late nights. To keep up, I began to rely on coffee. One black coffee from the dining hall a month escalated into daily iced caramel lattes... until I realized I could longer rely on my own energy to survive the day.
While coffee can be totally fine as a part of some people's routines, it disrupted my 7-8 hours of sleep per night and my usual cheery demeanor. In fact, coffee made me extremely anxious and cranky. I found myself tapping my foot incessantly and lying in bed at night, unable to fall asleep.
I hated it.
As first semester progressed, I relied on the jittery caffeine rush more and more, and soon enough, I wasn't waking up in the morning ready to take on the morning. Instead, I was exhausted, bitter, and extremely sleep deprived.
Going into 2018, I knew I had to change something about my lifestyle. I told myself that I would drink coffee only as a last resort, only if I absolutely needed it. Because I never enjoyed the taste of the drink itself, the hardest part for me was avoiding sugary temptations like Frappuccino's.
The first week was difficult. Assignments piled up and I started to get back into my familiar routine of staying up well past midnight. I didn't notice the effects of avoiding caffeine until about two weeks into the semester.
At that point, I realized that I couldn't work really late at night anymore. That just wasn’t possible. I was forced to readjust my schedule and become more productive during the day so that at night, I'd be able to do something fun rather than slaving away at an assignment due the next morning.
While some late nights are certainly inevitable, in retrospect, banning coffee from my diet was definitely a decision that was made for the better. I can now wake up in the morning feeling energized and refreshed and ready to tackle whatever the day brings.
