The BAUM

Lauren Berenbaum
Editor-in-Chief

I love coffee. I think by now most of my friends (and even some of my teachers) know this about me. This desire for caffeine truly blew up last year. I was tired and I loved the taste (I still do of course). One of my friends once said that I “was a tank”—pretty profound words for someone drinking at least three cups a day. This is the friend who also painted a portrait of me as a girl wearing a red hat (my favorite color) with brown hair, drinking a cup of coffee. That girl is unmistakably me. Realizing I had an issue, I decided to make a change. I told myself that I had to cut back because not only did I need coffee to get through the day, I was also spending way too much money. My little sister once said that I “would end up living in a hut if I didn’t stop buying coffee.” I had officially hit rock bottom.
I promised myself that I would cut down on my coffee intake. I spent the first week and a half with killer headaches and pretty insane mood swings. In the end, I failed, but I was able to cut back about 75% over the course of the whole summer. So, I guess it wasn’t for nothing.
But this experiment was a little puzzling to me. I was (and still am) addicted and in love with coffee. I can honestly say that I will drink my regular, hot coffee for the rest of my life and I am content with this. Looking at this objectively, caffeine is considered a drug, a central nervous system stimulant. A drug is defined as “a substance that has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body, in particular.” In moderation, caffeine has no real negative side effects. Other drugs that are not used for medicinal purposes or are not in coffee are used for recreational purposes. Yet, these drugs are horrible and have terrible and occasionally life-threatening side effects. There is a big difference between my addiction to caffeine and others’ addictions to smoking or to these other recreational drugs.
If it was this hard for me to reduce my coffee intake, and I’m almost back where I started, then it must be even harder for others to quit these recreational drugs. I’m a strong believer that my addiction to coffee is probably more psychologically driven than physical (even if I did receive headaches). But, I don’t think this is the case for recreational drugs. For example, cocaine involves a dominant physiological and a hugely dominant physical dependence. Look at nicotine—the only effective way to quit smoking is with moderate doses of nicotine, whether it is through a patch or gum. I am in no way condoning this behavior of smoking or taking recreational drugs, but the saying “it’s easier said than done” truly applies. It’s a lot harder than you think to quit an addiction, even if it’s just coffee.
We all have our likes and dislikes and to have to change your desires because it’s bad (or unhealthy) is difficult. What if you weren’t allowed to hang out with a friend because your parents thought they were a bad influence? Or what if ice cream was banned from your life? It’s the same thing, maybe not as extreme, but the metaphor works.
After trying to quit my coffee addiction, I have a greater appreciation for the difficulties people have with their drug addictions, smoking addictions, and even shopping addictions. Once you get into a cycle, it’s hard to break yourself free, examine, and fix the issue accordingly. So next time we judge others on their behavior, imagine the difficulties they must be going through.