I Quit Coffee by Accident and Felt Two Positive Life Changes

On a Friday in the spring of 2019, I was a few days away from my next paycheck, and bills had used up all my cash. I didn't have money to go to the grocery store. I was out of coffee, but I really didn't think it was a big deal. Even though I drank coffee every day, I thought: A few days without coffee will be fine, I'd be a little tired, but I'll live.

Saturday was my first day without coffee. As expected, I was a little tired. But on Sunday, the headaches started. I was completely exhausted. It felt like I'd been hit by a bus. At that point, I realized that I had a caffeine addiction.

I didn't really understand how this was possible because at the time I was only drinking one cup of coffee a day. When I first started drinking coffee, I would just have a cup a few times a week. But as I started working from home and had more time in the morning, I would make myself a cup of coffee every day, and I really loved this morning routine.

Waking up in the morning

Because I value my freedom over almost anything else, when I realized that I was addicted, I decided to stop drinking coffee entirely. I didn't want anything controlling me. I was already going through the worst of the withdrawal symptoms, so I figured I might as well just keep going and see what happens.

The first three days were the worst. I felt like I hadn't slept in a month. But after those first three days, I started noticing that it was easier to wake up in the morning. I've never in my life been a morning person and I'm still not. But when I was drinking coffee, waking up was a different kind of struggle.

Getting up in the morning felt like a barrier I had to overcome, like a weight that I had to lift. But when I stopped drinking coffee, getting up in the morning was easier.

The whole time I had been drinking coffee, I thought that it was making me less tired. But actually, it was giving me a little boost for 3 hours or so—a weird, jittery feeling that didn't feel natural, followed by an energy crash.

Fueling my anxiety

A few days after quitting coffee, I noticed something else that was a little strange—I didn't feel on edge. I had anxiety for a long time and it was mostly related to financial stress, but on the third day of quitting coffee, I noticed that the anxiety was a lot less.

Before that, my anxiety made it hard for me to think clearly. I constantly thought of things that could go wrong, and the thoughts were overwhelming.

But after quitting coffee, I felt more present. I became more aware of the beauty around me and was more optimistic about my life. Rather than just thinking of worst-case scenarios, my mind would also think of solutions.

I started wondering whether it was just me, or did other people experience the same thing? After some digging online, I found out that what I went through wasn't unique.

I read that caffeine triggers your body to produce cortisol, which is a stress hormone. Cortisol lets your body know there's danger and you should be on alert. But when there's no danger and your body is producing cortisol anyway, it just feels like anxiety.

To be clear, quitting coffee didn't cure my anxiety, I still have anxiety when I am in stressful situations, and I still have those thoughts in my head that tell me: "This is going to end in disaster."

The difference now is just the volume is turned down a little bit. And with the reduced volume, I can now hear the other more rational thoughts, which are a little bit quieter, that come in and say: "It doesn't have to end in disaster."

Of course, quitting coffee was not all easy. One of the hardest things for me to give up was the comfort of a warm, delicious drink in the morning. So, I started drinking hot cacao with maca root powder. Over time, the hot cacao went from a daily routine to an occasional treat as I worked on building better habits.

What I thought was going to be the hardest thing was passing by the fresh ground coffee beans in the grocery store and smelling them without buying a bag. But honestly, when I go in the grocery store and I smell the coffee beans, I really enjoy the smell and it's delicious to me, but that's all.

It has now been over four years since I quit coffee. I have had decaf a few times when I was out with friends, but other than that, I'm really not interested in drinking coffee.

When I was drinking coffee, I felt like it was the only thing I had to look forward to in my day. Today, the idea that I ever had those kinds of thoughts is shocking, because every day I have so much to look forward to.

Stephanie Kondrchek is a writer, photographer, and vegan recipe developer. You can find her articles and recipes at StephSunshine.com.

All views expressed in this article are the author's own.

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