Caffeine reduction: Initial progress
Recap: I had three cups of coffee on Tuesday afternoon and regretted it the next day. On Wednesday I began to reduce my caffeine intake, and both yesterday and today involved no more than half a teaspoon of instant coffee in a mid-sized tumbler, consumed in the morning.
So far, I've avoided common withdrawal symptoms like headaches. I've felt agitation during Zoom meetings, but that might not be any different from my baseline impatience with people. I get tired around the evenings, and am in bed before midnight. My dreams have been vivid the last two nights.
The most crucial difference is I don't feel as anxious! I feel like I'm slowing down to living at a more natural pace. It's probably too early to say, as it's only been a few days since limiting my caffeine intake, but if this is the direction my recovery is going in, I'm looking forward to my true baseline.
I went into this year with the intention of simplifying my life. I didn't anticipate coffee being on the list of things to address, but it makes sense in hindsight: as with tech and books, my attachment to coffee created suffering. Less screen time, less ego-based identification with books, less caffeine-induced anxiety: I'm making these subtractive choices one day at a time, and I continue to write about my journey because I want to keep reminding myself of my commitments and to record my progress.
My intuition tells me that soon, all this subtraction will reveal what really matters in my life.