“Give it Up!” Daily Journal
11/11
Today I began my short journey of giving up caffeine. I don’t ingest caffeine daily, but I
do actively seek it sometimes during the day because I have a lot of early classes and I’m always
worn out by the end of them. Today wasn’t that bad since I was able to sleep in for a bit longer,
therefore I wasn’t as tired. Although, I did get up around 10 am and began to catch up on notes
up until 4:20 pm, only really taking breaks to have snacks. During that six hour period, there
were times where I did want an energy drink or soda because I was getting tired already. Though,
I am not craving that quick. During dinner, I was able to enjoy a glass of Starry soda with my
food since it was caffeine free, which was nice to end my night. I hope that my days get easier
and don’t tempt me with caffeine.
11/12
Today wasn’t that bad. I stayed out until around 3:30 - 4 am at my roommate’s friend’s
dorm last night watching The Rookie and listening to their funny ramblings and didn’t go to bed
until around 4:30ish. I was worried that I might cave because of how long I was out, but I
managed to get six hours of sleep nevertheless and didn’t feel the need for an energy drink or
anything. Throughout the day, I kept myself busy by catching up the long slide deck of notes for
one of my classes. By dinner, even though there was a wide variety of sodas that I could choose,
I chose lemonade. I did look it up just to make sure that the specific brand didn’t have any
caffeine in it, though it probably should’ve known that there wasn’t caffeine in it anyway. Better
be safe than sorry, though. I am a little worried about tomorrow though. I have a three hour lab
and I usually get a starbucks refresher or coffee whenever we take a break. I hope that I won’t
cave, but I do look forward to these couple days being over.
11/13
Today was a lot harder than I thought. Today I had an 8 am lab that went until ~12pm, so
it was hard not caving in and getting a delightful, caffeinated drink during the break. I persevered
though! I brought a water bottle with sugar and caffeine free flavoring to class so I could try and
keep myself awake, which worked well along with the constant moving around we did in the lab
today. Once I got back to my dorm, I took a nap. And I never take naps. So, that's an inkling of
how tired I was today. After that the rest of my day has been fine. Tomorrow is my last day
without caffeine and I cannot wait to have it back, though I can’t imagine going through this sort
of thing with a drug with worse withdrawals, like opioids. My heart goes out to those who get
through that withdrawal period and remain sober.
11/14
Today was much better than yesterday. I didn’t have an early class today, so I was able to
sleep in more and have a bit more energy for class at 11 am. I did get a bit tired afterwards since
I got right to writing the notes from that class, which took a while. Nevertheless, I didn’t cave
and I managed to get myself up and to my 5pm class. After that class, I went to COF Choir with
my friends and I was able to distract myself from the need for caffeine by picking up on the
excitement of others and putting all my effort in strengthening my confidence in the songs. After
that, the rest of my night was calm and I went to bed pretty much immediately after. I am so
happy that this was my final day and I look forward to having caffeine in my life again.
Give it Up Reflection
Going into this assignment, I was a little nervous regarding giving up caffeine especially
since I started this experiment when I was struggling a bit with a lot of assignments that I needed
to get done within a short amount of time. In addition, I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to
share a lot about my experience since I don’t really ingest caffeine daily, though this assignment
had me surprised.
When I first started out, I thought I would be fine and it wouldn’t be that big of a deal
going without caffeine, especially since I don’t drink coffee or any other caffeinated beverages
that often. I did at the beginning of the semester, but as I’ve run out of points and I try to be
frugal with my money spending, I don’t drink as much as I used to. As the days progressed
though, I found myself much more tired, my eyes hurting, and having to find other things to
supplement my intake of soda or energy drinks to try and wake me up a bit. One good thing that
came from this was that I drank a bit more water than I usually do! Sure, it was with flavoring
but it was water nevertheless!
This assignment gave me a new point of view on just what caffeine does to my body. I
never thought that just going without it for a few days would cause the fatigue and discomfort
that I felt. I was a bit naive in my thinking that not drinking caffeine that often would yield little
to no withdrawals. I think that is what individuals trying to go sober from their drug of choice
might initially think as well. They may believe that since they don’t think they do it as often,
then the withdrawals won’t be as harsh. I think it is when they realize how harsh their
withdrawals are is when they get scared and end up relapsing. I couldn’t imagine myself going
through something like that and my heart goes out to those who are actively trying to sober up
and facing those withdrawals head on.