#WeekendCoffeeShare. In Careful Measures

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at eclecticali.wordpress.com!  You may have whatever you like, me, I’ll only have half a cup.  I’m trying to be healthy by cutting my coffee intake, you know, to help myself fall asleep at night and keep calm during the day and to relax when I want to.  Last week I had a screenplay deadline just because I wanted to do something new.  The end of last week involved catching up on editing that I’d missed and trying to de-stress.  No matter what, I could not turn my brain off.  This week, I tried some adjustments.  In true Bridget Jones fashion, (Minus the musings over men and the quirky, partying friends) I’ve recorded my self-analysis daily.  Here’s how it went:

Day 1, Sunday:  Drank- 1/2 cup.  Felt: Normal, but I went to church and had forgotten my offering on my dresser.  😦  Still, I felt quite normal once I got there.  At lunch, I felt fine.  Thoughts were a little calmer.  However, this was not a workday.  Let’s see how tomorrow goes.  By the way, I went grocery shopping that evening, and they didn’t have my flavor of the V8 energy juice 😦 (Fueled by green tea).  I was beside myself.  Still, we’ll see how it goes…

Day 2 Monday: Drank- my last V8 green tea energy juice with a little cranberry and half a cup of coffee.  All I could see was a half-empty cup.  Still, I felt fine during the day, but I sure felt tired at 8 p.m.  However, I got at least 30 minutes of editing in before that!

Day 3 Tuesday: Drank- Less than half a cup of coffee.  However, I had bought a Starbucks refresher drink made with green coffee.  So in the morning, I felt good. I’m a person of set routines, but I did plan ahead for this one.  Unlike finding out my favorite yoga class was moved forward an hour, so I can’t eat dinner until 8 p.m. on yoga night.  Must adjust…

Day 4 Weds.: Drank- 1 whole cup of coffee, my gift to myself. Or, maybe a crutch.  I was up late the night before, since my son, who rarely has conversations with me, wanted to talk.   Then, he put on a movie, Point Break.  I said it was okay, but I’d likely fall asleep.  I did, but later than usual.  My bedroom is the closest to the living room, so t.v. and movies can be heard from there and we normally have all of that off at 10 p.m.  This was an exception; I plan to be back to the 1/2 cup goal tomorrow.  Being there for our kids is what mothers do.

Day 5- Thurs.: Drank: 1/2 cup of coffee, and a little bit of Energy V8 with orange juice.  This was a rather carbonated V8.  I do not prefer that; still, it is certainly better than drinking too much coffee.  My energy level was fine all day, though I did feel tired when I got home.  I felt like it was 90 degrees today.  One thing I am noticing with the decrease in coffee is that I seem less tense in my body.  That could be a motivation to stick to the decrease.

Day 6- I subsisted on just half a cup of coffee and some V8.  I figured by Friday I would be pooped and need more.  I felt tired in the afternoon, but it could be due to the very light lunch and lack of time to finish off that apple.  😦 Don’t worry, I made up for it by having beef with my Thai Ginger Stir fry.  Yum!  I stayed up at least until midnight because my boyfriend and I were watching Hostiles.  Man, that movie was great!  Conflict main character, morally slippery supporting characters, trying to love your enemy.  It really reached me.  That, and I love Christian Bale.  I also think Rosamund Pike plays shock and grief oh, so well.  That just may be her niche.  Do you see how I snuck in a movie review?  If you can handle blood and violence in gritty Western style, you should check Hostiles out!

Day 7- Sat.:  I had most of a Starbucks bottled frappucino, because, well, it was free.  My boyfriend had it left behind by his visiting cousin and gave it to me.  Oh, they are tasty.  Caffeine-wise, I am probably off of the wagon for the day.  Perhaps I’ll get more editing done for my sequel, Undercurrents in Time.  I have forty-five pages left to do, so maybe I’ll channel the extra caffeine energy.  It’s all good!  Going forward, I am not going to measure my intake.  Still, I plan to have more half-a-cup days and will let myself drink the whole cup when I feel I need it.  Perhaps this will calm my 20-open-computer-tabs tendencies.  Maybe? 🙂

How did your week go?  Am I nuts to try to decrease caffeine intake?  My mind is still pretty active.  Caffeine is a friend to me that I sometimes need to distance myself from.  Where do you stand with caffeine?

Visit other coffee shares and share yours at Eclectic Ali May 5th

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