Mea Culpa of Joe

I gave up caffeine almost 14 years ago. But in the rush of the holiday season, I ended up buying two pounds of regular coffee because it was such a good sale and we were out of coffee. Over the holidays I completely forgot that it was caffeinated. Until I tried to figure out why my sleep pattern is so out of whack.

I thought it might still be from the family emergency back in November. But that doesn’t make sense since other things are moving back to some semblance of normalcy.

After much thought and discussion, I reasoned it had to be the coffee which I began drinking at some point over the holidays, not remembering that it wasn’t my preferred decaf.

Now I’m suffering withdrawal. The last time I quit caffeine cold-turkey, I gained all kinds of weight from water retention. Caffeine is a diuretic, after all.

This time, I wake up with headaches and get all antsy by mid-morning. I’m still wide-awake at 11:00 p.m. instead of dozing off like I used to. I’m not quite sure if the siesta that I want to take in the early afternoon is due to my food-induced coma or to my caffeine withdrawal.

Either way, I should step away from the computer after lunch. Or else, make a habit of checking the deleted file for anything that inadvertently ends up in there thanks to my water-plumped, dead-weight fingers resting on the keyboard while I rest my eyes.