Motivation

My best friend sent me this today...I haven't figured out if she's mocking me or supporting my endeavors. It's probably somewhere in the middle. (love you aisha v!)

Weeks 1 & 2: Failure to comply

It isn't working. I had jamba juice one day, and then I smelled starbucks on the way to class the next day. That enticing smell of freshly ground pike place roast, brewed to perfection, with the perfect amount of steamed milk and two packets of organic sugar. I mean, really? Can you blame me?

The weekend was more and less succcessful, depending on who's story you listen to. I will tell you that I didn't drink any coffee over the weekend. My cousin, who has been monitoring my coffee consumption at home, will tell you that substituting 4 tea bags of strong-ass indian black tea (yes, I mean darjeeling) doesn't count as caffeine abstinence. But what does she know anyways?

The fact that we have an absolutely gorgeous and user friendly tassimo coffee machine at home does not make my life any easier. It calls my name. We have recently acquired an equally impressive juice maker machine thingy. But I haven't figured out how to use it yet. That is my next task. I'm going to try and replace the behavior of making coffee into making juice instead. That way I can limit my coffee at home, and if I need a kick start in the morning I won't feel too bad. At least not while the addiction monkey is firmly attached to my back.

b) My Motivation for Change

I feel like today is perhaps the most appropriate day to talk about change. Watching the inauguration earlier today, I felt an overpowering sense of hope like so many Americans. In a country where more people tune into watch "CSI" or "American Idol" than vote in Presidential elections, it was truly amazing to see our nation's capital turn into a city with 'standing room only.' As students of public health, and as citizens who want to dedicate our lives to becoming advocates of change, be it environmental, behavioral, or political, it was overwhelming in more ways than one to see our fellow Americans gather in millions and pledge to be a part of the change we so desperately need in the coming years. It gives me hope that as we move from our theoretical realm of books and classrooms into the real world, we CAN create positive health outcomes. The new face of our country is a living testament to changing social norms and the audacity of hope. Pun completely intended.*

On to coffee!
Why do I want to kick the habit? I find it's taken over my life over the years. I used to drink coffee once a week for taste. Most of the time as a treat for myself the days I had 8am class. Then I switched from studying at the library to studying at cafes. It kinf of went down the tubes at that point. Coffee became a study tool. Now I'm conditioned to a point that I can't sit down to study without a cup of coffee, even if I'm at home. More than a psychological addiction, it's a physiological one. More than 36 hours without caffeine and I develop the headache from hell. So, my motivation for change is to regain control over my life. I don't want coffee to control my mornings or whether or not I can read a book for more than 35 seconds. And for the sake of narcissism, I don't want wrinkles for my 25th birthday.

*I apologize for needing to throw all that into this post, but I really feel like the knowledge we gain as students of public health gives us this entirely new perspective on how we view the world. This is the first election in my lifetime where I have been completely involved and invested every step of the way, and I think it's because of my studies that it felt so personal. We talk about how difficult change is in general, today gave me hope that we are fighting the good fight in public health and we can make a difference.

a) Goal/Plan of Action

So I've been trying to kick the coffee habit pretty much since I was an undergraduate--that was 3 years ago. Clearly, I haven't been so successful. I can't do cold turkey since I get wicked headaches if I don't drink coffee. So my plan is to switch from coffee to tea (black tea) 3 days a week to start, and eventually get to tea everyday and no coffee at all by the end of the semester. After 8 weeks or so I want to switch from black tea to something less intense--maybe one of those crazy jasmine-white-green-decaf-magical blend thingys.

"Behind every successful woman is a substantial amount of coffee." ~Stephanie Piro

-garima