Jeffredo

An entertaining video, reviewing the psychological stages of accepting new technology.

Day one: I feel the desire for a cup of coffee, either that or a nap.  Since I won’t be drinking coffee, a nap sounds really nice.  No doubt I feel calm and relaxed.  When I drink coffee, I notice that my water intake suffers.  So I’ve decided to have something hot to drink.  Initially I thought of having tea, but that would defeat the point of not drinking coffee, somewhat.  Wow, more options are needed here.  I’ve heated some water and squeezed some concentrated lemon juice in it.  I’ve had two large cups so far.  Periodically my mind flashes back to having coffee.  I may be going to bed on time, if not earlier.

Day two: A headache has set in, which I’ve remedied with some pain killer.  It shall pass, I hope.  Today, I’m very relaxed… almost too relaxed.  Is napping at work okay?  Probably not…  No naps for me.  What ever happened to my kindergarten roll-out napping rug?  Can you believe it was actually pink?  Man, what was mom thinking, sending me to school with a fuzzy pink napping rug?!  Without a doubt, it was soft.  Boy, those were the days.  Oh well.  I’ve been drinking plenty of water; still working my options.  Tonight looks like an early bedtime.

Day Three: No more headaches.  Still feeling like a mellow fellow here.  Although I’m doing fine without coffee, I sure wouldn’t mind sipping on some tasty java about now; just because.  Sleep and water intake are improved.

Days Four to Seven: More of the same.  All is well, surprisingly so.  I expected lingering headaches, but I’ve recovered quite well from earlier this week.  Life without coffee is boring.  I won’t be giving up my coffee, once finished with this challenge.  I am very well hydrated and rested.

Post 7 Day Challenge Conclusion: Coffee is delicious!  As a result of my abstinence, I have naturally curbed the number of cups I’ve had.  That can’t be a bad thing.  Admittedly, this challenge was not difficult; more annoying that I wasn’t slurping my liquid love.  But I am pleased with my simple accomplishment: Mind-Over-Java.  Thanks!

Hey folks.  You’ve heard of various challenges made, in order to promote or discourage certain behaviors, for a set amount of time.  Some suggest 10 days, and others for 30 days.  If you ask me that seems like an awfully long time to do or not do any given habit.  I only wanted to see, if I could muster enough discipline to follow through with a self-imposed 7 day challenge.  In the infamous words of my dear friend Michael Scott, “How hard could it be?”

It was late 2006, when I decided to not add any sweeteners to my coffee for a period of 7 days.  I am a habitual coffee drinker, 3 to 5 extra large cups a day was my daily norm, easily.  Long before this decision, sugar was my vice of coffee add-ins, but then I thought I’d better try an artificial sweetener, due to caloric intake and for obvious health reasons.  So I switched to Splenda, which by this time, I had been taking for 2 or 3 years.  That is, up until late 2006, when I challenged myself.  By this time, I was hearing news that even artificial sweetener were not healthy to have either.  Some simple calculations concerned me, when I figured out how many single packets of Splenda I was consuming daily, weekly, monthly and annually.  If I used one pre-measured packet per cup x 5 cups daily = 5 packets daily x 7 days = 35 packets weekly x 30 days = 1,050 packets monthly x 12 months = 12,600 packets annually!  Yikes!  That sounded frightening to me.  I thought for sure, if there was any truth to the potential dangers of consuming sweeteners, real or artificial, then I would be in trouble one way or another.

At the time, I wanted to be cognizant of my thoughts and feelings as I journeyed through the challenge.  The first day, I found myself almost mindlessly reaching for the Splenda and had to jolt myself into awareness.  This surprised me.  The second and third days were very similar, but by this time, I was more easily aware of my actions.  What concerned me was that I was willing to entertain the rationalization that this 7 day challenge was silly and that I should not bother and just continue on with using Splenda in my coffee.  I was actually trying to talk myself out of completing the challenge, in order to feed my habit.  Damn. This was a wake up call for me, realizing the difficulty of breaking this small but significant habit.  It was kind of scary to think this wasn’t an easy task, because if you had asked me before starting the challenge, I would have asked, “How hard could it be?”  I would have said, “Ah, I can do this… stop Splenda anytime, without issue.”  Initially, I told myself that it was for only 7 days and that I could always return to sweetened coffee afterward.  In part I told myself this so that I would feel like it was a permanent change.

After days four and five, I found that I stopped having to actively think about making myself stop reaching for the Splenda.  I was actually beginning to accept my new found habit, having a sweet-free coffee.  By the 7th day, I felt a sense of release from my habit, a freedom and confidence that I wouldn’t continue taking sweet coffee.  Ever since then, I have only added milk in my coffee.  Every blue moon, I might add a small packet of sugar, but very seldom.  Overall I am proud to say that I kicked the habit and feel I am that much healthier as a result.

It goes to show you that even seemingly small habits can be a monster to change.  Worse yet, this isn’t even like trying to quit smoking or any other addictive substance!  Like I told my friend Michael, I’d like to exercise similar challenges each week on other habits I wish to change.  This would build confidence that I am able to make change successfully and improve my life 7 days at a time.

Stay tuned!  Next I plan to forgo coffee for 7 days.  Lord help me.  I figure I’ll increase my water intake, as I should anyway.  The amount of coffee I consume daily has reached new heights, about 10 to 12 cups all on my own.  Not good.  Until next time folks!  I’d be interested in having any readers, who take this challenge, to feel free and share their journey in the comments.

Thanks,

Jeffredo