Oh, coffee, coffee, coffee...

I didn't start drinking coffee until my early twenties. My love affair started shortly after beginning massage therapy school. I see the irony, but I was working at a gym opening at 6 a.m. and taking classes at night: I needed something to get me through, and coffee did the job.

Fast forward ten years: Coffee has been my faithful friend, seeing me through school, jobs, and of course babies. My son is five and I swear I've just recently slept through an entire night (OK, maybe that's an exaggeration but even out of the baby phase my kids find a reason or five to wake me up on a nightly basis.)

Through this friendship, I noticed, too that coffee wasn't always looking out for my best interest. Anxiety and nervousness were creeping into my life. Often, if I had an afternoon cup, it was nearly impossible to get my brain to shut down when it was time to sleep. Still, I loved the instant pick me up and found reasons to have "just another half a cup".

There were times that I took a break from coffee (When I was pregnant, I always stopped or just sipped.) There were other times I would cut back, letting myself have it a couple times a week and supplementing with lots of green tea (This would work for a while, but sooner or later I would find a reason to be back on my daily routine.) I also do a cleanse roughly once a year and it is always a great time to cut out this (like it or not) addiction.

I started the Master Cleanse in early June. I've done it a few times and always feel amazing after it's over. It consists of ten days of a lemon juice mixture and some herbal tea--nothing else--especially no coffee. This time I really felt all of the withdrawal symptoms--something new for me. The headaches were probably the worst, but as I correlated each yucky feeling with not having my coffee, I also awakened to the fact that maybe it was time to have a more permanent break from this "frienemy."

That was 74 days ago (But, who's counting?) I didn't really set off to quit coffee, but once I started, it has been almost a challenge to myself that I want to see through for a while. Don't get me wrong: I've had a craving or two, some early mornings that seem a little lonely without my oversized mug, but my anxiety is way down and my energy--although lacking that jolt--seems on a much more even keel.

I'm not saying I'm never gonna drink a cup o' Joe again--I'm sure if I made that statement, I'd be brewing a pot by morning--but I'm going to try and stick it out for as long as I can, or as long as I'm feeling the benefits from doing so.

I usually end my blogs with tips or health reasons for doing things but this blog was just to share a little of my journey on something I thought a few of my favorite PCCHH people could relate to. Thanks for reading