I went on a coffee cleanse with some friends about three years ago. We had this club we created and I don’t remember anymore what the stipulations were or what the punishment was if we cheated. But we meant business and I was committed to drinking no coffee and also no juices for an entire three months, if I still have the details straight (which I possibly don’t).
I still can’t believe I did it because my attachment to coffee is very strong but it turned out to be the best thing I’ve ever done, although I’m not planning to ever do it again. A couple of my very observant friends insisted I was much more energetic over that time. I have no idea if it was true but I hoped it wasn’t.
Last week, I decided to go on a caffeine cleanse. There is a significant difference between a coffee cleanse and a caffeine cleanse because my caffeine cleanse consists of drinking decaf coffee instead of regular coffee but it doesn’t cut coffee out completely. Don’t get that confused.
In case you were wondering how the caffeine cleanse went for me, I had a headache three days straight. On the first day, I forgot I was doing the cleanse and couldn’t figure out why my eyes were going a little wonky on me. The next day, I remembered and I was relieved to know that no psychological issues were cropping up in my brain but that my body simply was struggling to function without the caffeine. It was not comforting, however, to realize I had become that dependent on caffeine. What a sad source of energy to be living my life out of.
You might also be wondering if I’m going to drink caffeine again someday and the answer to that is yes, and I already have. My goal is to make decaf the regular part of my coffee diet and save caffeine for socializing or times when I’m extra tired and need a kick. Ask me again in two months, the story will be different.
You may also be wondering what the point is of this post and all I’m going to say about that is that I set a goal yesterday to write four hours per week for the next month. I’m not in a deep thinking mood tonight and so all I could think to really write about was my caffeine depravation in case it might entertain you or inspire you to cleanse your own body of the caffeine stimulant.
I’ll be the first to tell you it’s not a big deal to me whether you do or don’t and I would pity you more if you did go on a cleanse. But I would be proud of you too. I’m not a diet type of person at all. As a matter of fact, I’m more of a believer in not sweating the small stuff and leaning into a healthy balance in everything but mostly choosing to enjoy life as you go because what’s the point of not enjoying life?
Read Ecclesiastes. I rarely read it but currently am and it’s so helpful in setting me back on the common sense track again. The common sense track always seems to be the happiest way to live but it’s easy to get distracted on all the complicated tracks that are running our world today.
One thing Ecclesiastes advises is to wear white at all times, if I may paraphrase it just a bit, and I have no idea why he advises that but the advice has certainly changed my life and everyone seems drawn to the idea so it must be Solomon was actually as wise as he said he was.
I don’t know if Solomon said he was wise or if God said that or who actually decided Solomon was wise but his advice seems to be working for me so far. He did have advice on some things that go against my Mennonite grain and I’m not sure I could feel comfortable following through with because it would feel like living out of the advice of only one verse in the entire Bible.
But wearing white seemed very doable to me and I’m not kidding when I say that keeping stains out of my white dresses has not been an issue. Oxi-clean does the trick and I’m not one bit in the mood to hear anyone say that it’s full of cancer-causing chemicals because I already know that and I have chosen not to live in fear of that and to do what simply works for me and my white clothing. I do use natural laundry soap though so now you can feel better for me and my physical body, if it was bothering you.
colliding with destiny 