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As always, I came to an epiphany about my life whilst procrastinating; it was 3PM, and I didn’t have a headache.

Now, I bet you’re wondering, “Why would you expect to have a headache?” It’s a little strange, but I’ve been having these headaches every afternoon for the past week. I had no idea, but I was accidentally breaking an addiction. Now, I wouldn’t be totally honest to you, my readers (hi Mom), if I told you I didn’t have an addiction. Caffeine addiction is (was!) one of my vices.

So I like to have a cup of coffee with my breakfast, sue me! In fact, one of my most relaxing times of the day is breakfast. I can get up, hopefully not too early, have my first meal of the day, read some news, and nurse a cup ‘o joe. Once the caffeine hit my bloodstream I was able to function as a normal person in society. This relaxed pace is something that I left behind when I came to college. Gone are the days where I have enough time in the morning. “Breakfast time” is now around ten minutes.

With this routine, it’s really hard to sit and enjoy a nice cup of coffee. It’s hard to suck down the boiling crap that the dining hall passes of as coffee in ten minutes. After many failed attempts, and many a half cup later, I decided to switch to Mountain Dew for my daily dose of heart-pumping caffeine.

This didn’t last long. Shortly after realizing how many calories an extra soda a day was, I ditched that plan. I then moved to the “Coffee After Class” plan which consisted of getting a cup after my afternoon classes. I had a headache in the morning for the first few days, but my body eventually adjusted to the delayed energy boost.

One day I had a slight change of schedule and was forced to skip my afternoon coffee run. This was unknowingly the beginning of the end…

I’m one of those people where something out of sight is out of mind. I’m also a creature of habit. If something in my daily routine is shifted then I just think that it’s going to be shifted forever. Missing this afternoon cup ‘o joe just made me never think about going to the coffee shop again.

As of right now, I haven’t had any coffee for about a week. I’ve noticed that my overall energy level has increased, and that I’m waking up earlier. Also, the headaches are almost completely gone. On the long term, this is probably better for my health as well. Also, when I actually need caffeine to work, like studying or writing a paper, it will be more effective.

This isn’t to say that I’m never going to have another cup of coffee again. It’s just that it has been excluded from my daily routine. I am working on not being addicted to caffeine.

My addiction will most likely return this summer when I’ll have more time in the morning, but for now, it’s gone…