Day 0
I have my usual cup of coffee in the morning before leaving for office. In the evening I am attending a play. I forget to drink the second cup.
At 9pm — during the intermission, I am standing outside the theater hall with a heavy head and a foggy mind, wondering what’s wrong with me.
While riding back home in a disoriented state, I realize I haven’t had coffee in the evening.
I have been drinking coffee twice a day for seven years. I clearly have a caffeine-dependency. It’s time to find out how long I can go without it.
Day 1
It’s Wednesday. I rush to the office. I am not drinking any coffee today. I want to see what happens. I am fine for most of the day. In the evening I go to play football.
I end up crashing much earlier than usual due to the exhaustion from the game and lack of caffeine in my body.
Day 2
Thursday is difficult. I have sore muscles and my legs hurt. I can’t use coffee as a pick-me-up. I resort to some green tea with mild amounts of caffeine in it. I am cautious about how much I have. As long as it’s a small cup, I should be fine.
My acidity seems to have reduced. Things are not as bad if I don’t eat something immediately.
I look up coffee withdrawal symptoms. Headaches, nausea, muscle pain, difficulty concentrating, tiredness. I am in for a ride it seems.
Day 3
It’s Friday, so lots of people at the office, and lots of meetings. I am able to pay attention for the most part, but I resort to drinking some tea. It’s my only respite in this coffee-less world.
In the evening I replace coffee with a 15-minute nap. I sleep like a baby. It’s beautiful.
I think to myself, “This ain’t so bad.”
Little do I know.
Day 4
Day 4 is the worst of them all. It’s a weekend, and I am left alone with my coffee-deprived thoughts. My body hurts a lot. I am not sure if it’s a side effect of lack of caffeine or just the football. Why would it hurt so much after two days though?
I spend the entire day drifting in and out of sleep like a sick person, waking up to eat or read a book, or hang out with my flatmate to watch some T.V.
My dreams seem to be more vivid and pronounced. I am also sleeping lightly, waking up every now and then with a dying flicker of a nightmare in my mind.
Day 5
Sunday is weird. The body pain has subsided, but I still want to sleep a lot. I try to keep my mind off coffee, and other things in general.
I spend most of the day battling relatively sad thoughts and getting annoyed at things I probably wouldn’t have been mad at if I had some coffee.
I also take naps. Three good naps of 20 minutes each. I am getting good at this nap thing.
The night ends with me eating an entire bar of dark chocolate (yes, dark chocolate contains some caffeine).
Day 6
Monday.
The first two hours of the morning are horrible. I am barely awake. I try to keep my wits about me. My eyes are heavy and I feel like I am living in a fog. An hour into work, I walk over to the coffee counter in the office and watch a colleague make her coffee.
I am jealous. I want coffee too. It’s not fair.
I resort to half a cup of tea, and then another half cup. Not as much caffeine, I should be fine, I whisper to myself.
As the day progresses, the irritability and annoyance dips a bit. In the evening, I get home and crash for 20 minutes. The sleep works wonders, but the day was horrible.
Day 7
Tuesday again. I made it to 1 week! My flatmate makes a cup of coffee for himself. I don’t feel bad. There is a caffeine-free tea we have. I drink that. It tastes pretty good.
I am able to focus for the most part, and the day is super hectic. I don’t have time to get tired. I also don’t get acidic when I have a late lunch. The coffee was definitely causing a lot of acidity.
In the evening I take a nap again. I am surprised that I can actually wake up in just about 20 minutes on my naps. Usually when I “nap”, I’m out for 2 hours.
Day 8
I don’t feel weird in the morning. It’s a good day overall. I am able to focus properly, I am not annoyed. I tease my brain by sniffing a jar of coffee, but I don’t feel any cravings.
In the evening I exercise for a bit. I don’t feel like napping today. I am doing alright. I am also less anxious and more relaxed. Is it still placebo if I have been feeling like this for the last few days?
I sleep at almost 1am, feeling relatively normal.
Day 9
I wake up fresh. I don’t look at the jar of coffee on the kitchen counter. I make myself an omelette and some toast and spend the morning reading something.
A few hours later, I get up to have the caffeine-free tea as a break.
I feel like I am free to choose when I want to have coffee. Maybe I will just use it as a hack for when I truly need to stay awake rather than as the default for “waking up”.
It feels good to be here. It definitely wasn’t easy and I had many opportunities to mess up. I think I got lucky that I didn’t have splitting headaches. Brain fog, droopy eyes, and muscle pain were the worst part of the entire process.
I also pretty much quit coffee cold turkey. I think that’s the way I like to take up challenges. I don’t know if it will work for everyone, but the process is worth living through. I learned how little in control of my coffee cravings I truly was and how much effort it took to be mindful of it.
Do you have a coffee or tea dependency? Would you be willing to try going 9 days without it?