My Quarantine Detox

Not going to try and big league everyone here and say I have been the epitome of productivity and picking up new skills throughout quarantine. That is probably the farthest thing from the truth, however I have managed to avoid alcohol caffeine for the past three weeks now. I had been an avid coffee drinker since starting the first year of university. I was one of those need to have a cup just to feel “normal” kind of people in the morning. Hell, I even dabbled into caffeine pills for a little. Whether I was going out to the gym or going out to bar, there was no reason I could find not to have more caffeine.

Until I recently found that every morning felt like a struggle. My energy levels were at an all-time low and I knew something was wrong. After a quick google search of trying to determine how long it would take to reset my brain’s caffeine tolerance. I decided to embark on a 6-week journey with no caffeine. Prior to this, the longest I had gone since University without having caffeine was unintendedly a couple days post surgery. The Percocet had worn off and the excruciating headache that filed in right after was debilitating. I remember attempting to scarf down that cup of coffee like my life depended on it. This decision to try and quit was not exactly exciting, however I figured, I was just laid off, no school, nowhere to be. If not now, when would be the time?

The first morning where I was unable to robotically go over to the coffee maker hit start and smell that sweet aroma of discount great Canadian coffee grinds was dreadful. Thinking to myself, I am just going to have to try and get through this full day feeling lethargic and in a fog… I took a nap by 1PM that day. The headaches began to set in the 2nd morning without caffeine and I was fearing for the worst, however it was not nearly as bad as I remembered them. Saying that, being able to nap whenever they started to come on strong is definitely a quarantine advantage. This consistent headache remained for the next two and a half weeks though. These weeks were mired by consistent napping and being irrationally irritable at things. Pretty sure I almost broke my hand on the table because my computer decided to slow down for a couple minutes. Like fuck man, you have already downed 6 episodes of Arrow today, relax you spaz. It was reflecting on this moment an hour later where I realized the brain chemistry was definitely goin through some shit.

We are now officially half-way through the journey, and I can say the last couple days have been the most rewarding yet. I have not felt the need to nap and no more headaches. Haven’t really decided how much coffee I will consume per day or week when I do start drinking it again or if this experiment will create a new me and I will only drink it on special occasion (doubtful). Don’t get me wrong I can’t wait for the day where I can have my first sip of coffee again, but I am genuinely excited to see if there is any difference from the point I am at now and three weeks from now. I remember the days where I would be “genuinely excited” to go to the bar and watch sports. How things have changed after 8 weeks of quarantine.