I recently (in the name of research) completed a three-day juice-only cleanse, and while having come out the other side alive (and with super-glowy skin!), I also realized I don’t want to live in a world where I can’t have coffee.
When I, last Thursday, stood at the brink of my three-day, no food, no coffee, no nothing, juice cleanse, I found myself far less worried about surviving without food than I did the concept of making it through the days with no caffeine in my system. And, as it turns out, my fears were completely justified.
Not eating was actually a breeze (albeit a little boring) compared to handling two days in the office and one Saturday at home with the family sans java.
Being a busy, working mama-of-two is tough going at the best of times, juggling deadlines and lunch boxes and play dates and press launches and oh – did I mention that I am also, on top of all the work and all the mothering, planning a wedding?!
Which is why I NEED coffee. Rely on it deeply, and was just really not me without it. (And by ‘not me’ I mean I was really, really mean. And boring. And unproductive.)
As far as experiments go, it was a good one. I gained some interesting insights along the way, such as:
1. I am a better mum and wife-to-be after coffee
This one wasn’t all that surprising, in fairness, as I long since suspected that my sunny get-up-and-go attitude is inextricably linked to caffeine. Saturday morning, having been woken at 7.04am by toddler who ran his Lightning MsQueen across my forehead to rise me, I really, really had to dig deep to be the sweet, happy mama I aim to be. Coffee would have made it all so much funner.
2. Tea is not coffee
I am not a tea drinker in the traditional sense. As in, I drink green tea and peppermint tea and detox tea and other teas in that category, but I don’t drink tea the way Irish people drink tea. Norwegian is a nation of coffee drinkers, and I fully retain my birth-nationality in this area. Tea with milk is just all sorts of revolting, and, let’s face it, will never give you the same buzz that coffee does.
3. Coffee is good for you.
Too much of anything will kill you, but in moderation, coffee is actually proven to have health benefits left, right and center.
4. Coffee just tastes so flipping good
Can I just point out that coffee actually tastes (and smells and feels) really, really good.
5. Mornings without coffee are just really, really sad
I get up at 05.55am every morning during the week, which allows me time enough to shower, make myself look presentable for the office, pack lunchboxes, make a smoothie and catch the luas into work so that I am at my desk at 7.45am. Apart from hugging my warm and pajama clad kids, the highlight of my morning is dipping into one of the eleven(!) coffee shops I pass on my journey from Dundrum to my Dublin 8 based office every day for my morning latte.
I like to mix up where I get my daily survival juice from on a day to day basis to keep life interesting. Some days I go venti in Starbucks, other days I like the strong taste of the coffee they serve in the Green Bench Café or Peacock and Green. Having so many options is pure joy, and having to walk past them and head into the office empty handed the last couple of days was hard. Coffee gets my motivation levels geared up, and starting my work-day without it just made me feel like I was missing half my brain.
6. Coffee shops are little slices of heaven
I take great pleasure in visiting coffee shops and espresso bars not only because I know I am about to get my fix, but also I love the atmosphere in there, the ritual, the smell, the people-watching, the sounds, the fellow-minded java addicts.
Three whole days without going into one? Just dullsville.
7. I get nothing done without coffee
Not to brag or anything, but I am normally productivity personified. Like; I have my first cup of coffee in the morning, and boom; I am a ball of energy. I write stories, make phone calls, plan some more wedding stuff, mentally type up to-do lists, you name, it can handle it – when I have had coffee. Without it, I just fell into an abyss of ‘I’ll do it laaaaater’. Not good.
8. My gym-routine fell by the wayside without coffee too
Managing to haul my ass to the gym post work and the kids’ bedtime turned out to be completely impossible after a day with no coffee…
9. I may have saved some money, but…
… then I remembered that surely the bloody point of making money in the first place is so that you can spend them on enjoyable things?! Like coffee.
10. And my skin my have looked a tad glowier, but…
…life without coffee was just so freakin’ miserable. And wasn’t it Audrey Hepburn who (famously) uttered that happy girls are prettier? And if there is one thing I believe in (other than coffee), it is that you should never argue with Audrey Hepburn.
Case closed. Now; where’s my coffee?!
