I’m sure you would love to continue drinking your morning coffee and afternoon latte with a somewhat clear conscience. So I have an idea. Let’s focus instead on all the reasons why you would need an external stimulant to live your day to day life. My theory is that the regular consumption of toxic foods or beverages is primarily fueled by toxic thoughts, emotions, belief systems, and/or habits. And those are the things that are worth paying attention to, instead of engaging in an endless debate about whether caffeine is good for you or bad for you. Nothing is inherently good or bad, it’s all about how you use it your life and for what reasons, that makes all the difference.
Your Work / Life Balance is Non-Existent
I used to be a CPA at a public accounting firm named Deloitte & Touche. It’s well known that in this industry, there’s a “busy season” where you’re expected to work 60-70 hours per week. This work standard was often made possible with the help of a little drug…I mean substance…called caffeine. I managed to make it through busy season without caffeine each year, but there came a time when due to certain filing deadlines, my audit team was asked to work about 30 hours in a row, without going home. Being the young and naïve peon on the team blindly following orders, I agreed to this “request” and around 4am, I proceeded to morph into a zombie where all sense of productivity came to a screeching halt, but I continued to blankly stare at my screen, while toggling between tabs on my Excel spreadsheet. I was the only one visibly suffering, as all my teammates were wired on caffeine and powering through the night.
While that may be an extreme example, most people are completely out of balance when it comes to the time they devote to their job and the types of unhealthy requests that employers often make of their employees. If you are subconsciously relying on caffeine to do your job, or for that matter keep your job, then I would seriously considering changing occupations. You’re trading short-term remuneration for long term health challenges due to chronic imbalances you are creating within your body. I’m here to let you know, that you can unplug, you can push back, you can ask for what you want, and you can find a job that supports a healthy work ethic. In order to do this, I encourage you to let go of the ambition to be what society considers to be “successful” and to let go of the fear of not being able to provide for yourself or for your family.
Consider asking a friend that you consider to be objective and outside your current field or industry, whether your work routine or environment seems to be out of balance, and if so, ask them to help you brainstorm some creative solutions to get you back on track and create more balance in your life.
Your To-Do List Is Out of Control
I recently talked to a friend who admits that before she started eating better and meditating, she was on a roller coaster that involved waking up in the wee hours of the morning to exercise so she could be fit and take care of body, followed by a long workday at a job that she found uninspiring which was fueled by several cups of coffee during the day to stay awake, and then at night because she was so ramped up on caffeine, she would take Benadryl so she could fall asleep to wake up early in the morning to work out and start the same routine over again. It’s sounds insane to her now, but felt completely normal to her back then. I have another friend who doesn’t really like the idea of drinking caffeine on a daily basis but she does it because she needs it in order to survive. Her job, workout schedule, and housekeeping duties, combined with her children’s early wake up and after school/weekend activities is just too much for her to handle, as she ends up extremely tired a lot of the times.
Both of my friends had different reasons for being overwhelmed, but they both had a tendency to put way too much on their plates, and consistently operate beyond their capacity. In addition, both of them didn’t feel like there was anything they could do to unplug from their self-created runaway train. Is your to-do list out of control? Leaving you with little energy and surviving on artificial stimulation?
Spend at least 15 minutes this week asking yourself if the number of activities on your plate are worth sacrificing your long term health? And if the answer is no, then I would recommend identifying ways to simplify your day and your routine to where you prioritize and make time for the things that are important to you, and that nurture your spirit and build you up instead of depleting your mojo.
You Don’t Like Your Life
One of the first things I noticed when I quit my accounting job, was that several things quickly became obsolete. That whole “I’m not a morning person” didn’t really hold as much weight as it did before, and I started to enjoy different parts of the morning when I had space to experience quiet time before the day starts…to watch the sunrise as it came up…and to make my breakfast without rushing out the door. The concept of “hating Mondays” also went out the window. When I was surrounded by tasks that I loved doing on a regular basis and had the freedom to set my own schedule by working for myself, suddenly I began to love all the days in the week again and stopped hating on poor Monday. It was just another day in this beautiful life of mine. And the last thing that dropped away was the idea of “living for the weekend” which is the name of a popular song and speaks to the concept of suffering through a miserable week at a job that one dislikes or simply tolerates, in order to squeeze all the things one loves to do into 2 days, before waking up on Monday to repeat the same pattern.
When you like your life and the people and events in it, you’ll be dying to greet each day anew and for that matter, you might have trouble falling asleep at night because you can’t wait to see what the day brings. You will not need caffeine to get you through your day or your life because you will be coasting off the natural energy that inspiration and joy brings.
If this applies to you, take 15 minutes to do a self-assessment about how you really feel about your life and whether your daily routine really reflects your inner desires, hopes, and aspirations.
If not, ask yourself what types of things you could be doing to bring more excitement, passion, and joy into your daily experience.
I hope that you found this article helpful and learned some information about the effects of caffeine on the body, but most importantly started to dig a little deeper as to why you crave artificial stimulation in your life and what changes you might need to make to address that situation. Blessings of love, light, and wellness to each of you on your road to healing your body and discovering who you truly are.