Me neither. It’s not, nor has ever been problematic for me. If alcohol hadn’t been problematic, I wouldn’t have quit, and I wouldn’t be here.
I am a binary thinker as well, which certainly helps with decisiveness. Using Socration method of analysis, I can to large degree distill a question of personal decision down to a yes or no answer.
Coffee has multiple benefits for me, when consumed as intended, but it’s not a “must have”. Caffeine doesn’t affect me very much. I can drink a cup or two of coffee in the evening, and go to sleep without any issue. I can skip it in the morning and be just as alert with a glass of room temp water. I just enjoy a good cup of coffee, so much so that if my choices are bad coffee, or no coffee, I’ll choose no coffee.
But, if I ever think coffee is approaching addiction, I will quit it without regret.
So I had alcoholic drinking explained like this.
It doesn’t matter how much or how often… it matters what happens when you drink. For me everytime I picked up was detrimental… really bad things happend. So, as far as coffee goes… it doest have that negative effect on me. I actually started getting into different blends and flavors just to have something comforting and non alcoholic that I could enjoy. My friends loved 2 come over and have me make them an original of there choice. A regular Starbucks, lol. I love the smell of it too. If it was causing me ANY distress I would not find it as alluring. Its never made me shaky or nervous, I wouldn’t put up with that. @Gonefishin I switch it up with herbal teas too. About 6 different blends in the cupboard now, lol.
I personally don’t consider coffee so dangerous, I don’t even like it very much…maybe the first one after waking up. Another reason is that when meeting with friends, I see drinking a coffee better than just water, simpler to explain why not drinking beers with them… and for the lovely weekend mornings spent with my spouse!
I just thought of something else about coffee… whenever I’d wake up with a hangover the thought of drinking coffee made me want to vomit. Most people I know go straight to it the morning after. Anyways, my morning coffee has become so much more. It’s like a reward for each morning I can wake up hangover free and I LOVE it.
To me, that’s definitely worth whatever negative things coffee could possibly bring.
Thank you for these excellent websites. I am totally convinced that sugar is an addictive substance because, for me, it became a daily need that would not listen to my resisting it, just like alcohol and cigarettes once upon a time did to me. All four substances — alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and sugar — were difficult to quit, although caffeine/coffee was the only one that was physically painful. Sugar is my current quit and it is finally losing it’s siren call after a month of abstinence and I’ve lost eight pounds (I’m 140 now). Losing that much weight in a month shows how much sugar I was consuming. I had been cutting way back since Christmas and totally quit in mid-January. “Put the ice cream AWAY!” I’d say to myself and then another spoonful and another one. There is no ice cream in my home now.
So many great comments! Thank you all! Lots of different perspectives. I think what it comes down to for me is that if I quit a substance and it punishes me with a three day headache, I don’t like that substance, no matter how delicious it is. I won’t let things punish me. After reading the great comments I have a new perspective about alcohol, too, with respect to “punishment.” Now I’m thinking that an intense craving is another type of punishment, therefore I do not like that substance. I understand that long-distance bikers and runners have cravings but I’m focused on substances that we put into our bodies. Also, I think the comment about loving having a cup of coffee in the morning instead of alcohol is wonderful. And that quote from Aunt Lydia is now on my favorite quotes list because it says so much! “Two kinds of freedom ~ freedom from and freedom to.” Beautiful.
