What giving up coffee told me about myself.

This past summer I stopped drinking coffee. It was a bit hard at first. I craved the warmth, the smell, the taste. Something about my decaf roobios chai just wasn’t the same. As the days turned into weeks, the head aches eased, and my love for tea grew, I started to notice the shift in my health. I didn’t get shaky in the morning. My appetite wasn’t as ravenous after my half a pot (I often found myself starving when I finished my coffee). My palms stopped sweating, My digestion was just as good without, if not better. My sleep patterns changed, and I just felt better.

Often times we tell ourselves we NEED something. I NEED coffee to wake up. I NEED coffee to poop. I NEED coffee to deal with my day. What if we ate better, slept better, dealt with our stress better, and moved more? Would we still NEED it? Of course we are all individuals, we all have different bodies, lifestyles, and freedom to chose our habits, but are we using our habits to avoid what we really NEED? Do we put aside trying something, cutting something out of our lives in order to avoid a bit of discomfort. If we say we NEED coffee, a cigarette, a bag of cookies, even though deep down know it isn’t good for us, then how is this any different than staying at an awful job, in an abusive relationship, or hating where we are in life? Can you see the similarities? Are our food habits just a representation of our life habits?