"OMG, coffee is like my life."
I hear some version of this line or conversation at least once a day. Every time it comes up, I feel like I'm in high school all over again and I'm the loner who doesn't do everything everyone else does. Well, it's not that bad, but there is a sense of disconnect when I hear people chatting away about how great and necessary coffee is.
I know there's a few of us out there who don't drink coffee, everyone having their own reasons. I, personally, don't drink coffee because I don't like the taste. I like chocolate, but dark chocolate, not so much. I can drink a caramel iced mocha from McDonald's, but I don't necessarily enjoy it. I just drink it when there's nothing else to quench my thirst after eating 10 salty fries. Every now and then, I will try coffee again, perhaps in hopes that my taste preferences will change and I can finally enjoy this phenomenon that every college student and professor seems to love and spend way too much money on. I might just try it out of curiosity too, wondering what everyone likes so much about this drink that I just scrunch my face at when it hits my tongue. I understand the pleasant bitterness of something warm and comforting, but why bitter if you can get hot chocolate instead?
Alright, I got my own little things I buy too often too, so I completely understand. We all have our own preferences.
There comes a point though when I find myself wanting to want coffee because I'm a college student, and the definition of a college student is equivalent to exhaustion and stress. I'll go weeks where I only sleep a few hours each night and eat only one decent meal a day, desperately trying to keep up with homework. During those times, I struggle to stay up until midnight and then wake up at 3 a.m. to do homework. I wish I had a craving for coffee hence I could have some form of caffeine. I usually settle for energy drinks, but after one of those, I feel sick because, for one, I haven't been eating well. And for two, I don't really like the taste of KickStarts, especially after having it sit out next to me for a few hours because I don't have time to keep putting it in the fridge and I don't want to chug a whole can of Red Bull in a few seconds.
There's the dilemma for the non-coffee college student. No doubt, coffee drinkers have their own dilemmas: those days when they haven't had their coffee so their heads are pounding and they don't want to deal with anything alive or dead on this earth. That being said, I suppose not requiring coffee every day and then not getting any for those tiring days isn't that bad.
Do what works for you: coffee, no coffee, or sometimes coffee. Whether you drink coffee or not, we're in this college struggle together.
