I have had an on again, off again relationship with coffee for most of my life. I do not remember exactly when I started drinking coffee but it was somewhere between junior high and high school. What I remember more clearly are the times I quit.

I’ve given up on coffee exactly three times in my life. The first was my sophomore year in college. Though for the life of me I cannot at this moment recall why. It was just something I did. That was 1994 so it’s likely that my mom or my dad were trying to quit and mine was a show of support. The quitting didn’t come with any painful drawbacks but it also didn’t last but for a few months.

The second was early in 2000. This time the quitting was in fact to rid myself of caffine. Also, this time was painful.  That’s what I get for going cold turkey. I slogged thru four days of headaches, the worst of which was the second day into quitting. I came home, ate a very small dinner because of the massive nausia I felt, and went to bed before the sun went down. Rinse and repeat the next day and the next. By the end of the week I was feeling much better. That coffee fast lasted right about a year.

[photo by DOUG888]

The third was late last decade. I am not sure of the exact month but it’s been about two years at this point. This time it wasn’t for health reasons so much as it just irritated me that I had to have coffee or there was a vicious headache waiting  around the corner. Some mornings I would be busy with work and forget to have my coffee. It became a chore so I decided to end it. This time wasn’t as bad as the last. I drank a few diet cokes (with caffine) the first few days to transition.

In the past two years I can honestly say that I haven’t really missed real coffee. Not that much. When I get a craving I have a cup of decaf but even those are getting farther and farther few between. I do however enjoy waking up, especially when it’s in a hotel and I get to walk down to the lobby, and feel good about the fact that I don’t have to wait in the coffee shop line for a fix. It’s the little things I guess.