Thursday, October 19, 2006

Vacation over, back to the real world -- with caffeine.

This morning, in the foggy time between asleep and fully awake, I had thought of the perfect thing to write about today. A little over six hours later, and I can't remember a damned thing. But trust me, it would have been witty.

Clearly, coming back from a week-long vacation -- even if it was only to my parents' house -- is way too harsh on my system. I think I need to wean myself back on to it.

On a somewhat related note, I thought it important to note that, with the exception of one gulp of my sister's soda, I did not have ANY caffeine for the entire time I was in Florida. And I lived! No Diet Coke, no coffee, not even any green tea. And you know what? I didn't yell at anyone, I wasn't grumpy in the mornings,* and I didn't even have any headaches.

My mom agreed that if I could give it up for that long, I could probably quit altogether. But it was in that "Yes, sweetie, you can do anything" tone of voice, so I'm not sure if she was just placating me.

Of course, I proceeded to drink an entire can of Diet Coke on the plane** around 6:30, which is probably why I had such a hard time falling asleep last night.

So, as of today, I have a new rule: No caffeine after 2 pm. And I mean it, really.



*This might actually be a side effect of sleeping in. But still. I'm always grumpy in the mornings, even when well-rested. It's one of my loveliest and most charming peccadilloes.

**They give you full cans of soda in First Class! And free booze! But for some reason, I never take them up on that.

Inexplicably, they don't have anything more than cookies and nuts for food. And on a flight from 5:45-8:15, dinner wouldn't be such a bad thing.


4 comments:

Miss Scarlet said...

Caffeine always affects me at the WRONG times.

dara said...

Scarlet, I hear ya.

When I was younger, caffeine never used to affect me at all. Now a can of Diet Coke can keep me up for hours. And forget about coffee. Just smelling it gives me the jitters lately.

I did manage to quit cold turkey once, for about six weeks, in 2002. I was very miserable and had bad headaches the entire time. This time was better, but it probably had something to do with being on vacation.

Ryane said...

I have tried to give up caffeine.

It was not a good situation. People were frightened, arguments were started...candy was eaten in copious quantities.

So, I nixayed that idea and now just enjoy my two cups in the morning and close. But it is a good idea to avoid caffeine after 2pm. Do you like decaf? Some decafs varietys aren't too bad..

dara said...

Ryane: The last time I weaned myself off caffeine, I pretty much gave up coffee. Now, I only drink it on very rare occasions. But no decaf. It tastes funny.

My addictions are tea and Diet Coke. In the morning (and occasionally mid-afternoon), I usually drink a cup of tea, and then at lunch and dinner, Diet Coke. So, after 2pm, instead of Diet Coke, I'm trying to drink non-Caffeinated sodas, like Sprite or Root Beer, or even the occasional Dr. Brown's Diet Black Cherry. In restaurants, I'm mostly ordering club soda with lime (with or without vodka). Alas, I haven't found a good replacement for a mid-afternoon tea.