CAF-FIEND (Caffeine)

Michelle Clower

By Michelle Clower, Co-Owner/Co-Creator of Sassy Shirtz

This is a warning for all of you who get up every morning introducing caffeine into your system, making it the first order of the day.

I am one of those people. After opening my eyes and saying a silent “thank you” for waking up; I proceed from my bed to the bathroom to splash water on my face so I’m awake enough to make it downstairs to the kitchen where my automatically timed coffee machine has produced my personality. Before my first cup of coffee, I’m convinced I don’t have one.

Coffee not only warms my insides, it chants “Go! Go! Go!” to every living cell in my body. I can feel energy surging through my veins as my senses come alive. So with this being my truth, what would possess me to decide to skip coffee for a day? Was it the episode of Dr. Oz I saw the other day that encouraged viewers to revisit their caffeine consumption? Or was I merely testing my level of dependency? I may never fully understand the reason, but I will never forget the outcome!

First let me say, I had no idea how vital coffee had become to my life. I didn’t realize how it starts my engine and gets me going. Yesterday, I decided not to have any coffee. I made the conscience decision to just “chill” and “check out” for a day. After getting out of bed, I went downstairs and purposely went past the kitchen without looking at the coffee machine. Instead, I decided to start the morning with exercise so I popped in a workout DVD and started moving. Well…..sort of. After about 15 minutes my body was giving out. At first, I couldn’t figure out how I expected to perform in that state. The only chants I heard were “Are you serious? You’ve got to be kidding me, Get real! I was able to push through the shock to my body for another 5 minutes, but that was it. I was 25 minutes short of what I usually expect from myself, but working out for 45 minutes felt like an impossibility.

I sat down on the floor to cool down, ended up lying down, and one hour later realized I had fallen back to sleep. I woke up so dazed and confused; I was unable to remember how I ended up on the floor in the first place!

After regaining consciousness, I made a light breakfast, made a blog entry, sent a tweet, and completed the outline for my next blog radio show. Satisfied with my productiveness, I treated myself to a “time-out” by lounging on the couch to watch a little television. Can you guess what happened next? Come on, I dare you…Yes, I fell asleep once again!!!

This time I woke up about an hour and a half later, pissed! When did I become a chronic napper? What was wrong with me? Was it a sign of aging? Then, I reminded myself that I decided to forgo coffee for the day. That had to be it! I was relieved and scared at the same time. Relieved that I wasn’t suddenly aging at an accelerated rate, and scared of the realization that I was a complete mess without coffee in my system. Thankfully, I didn’t take this trial run with someone else around. My thirteen year old son would have assumed I was ill or something.

I now have a new found respect for the place of importance coffee holds in my life (and system).The next time, I will think twice about going “cold turkey”. I’ll also have to make sure I have no major deadlines since I’m likely to sleep right through them!