Are We Ready To Talk about Coffee?
Your morning brew could just be a coping mechanism for a life you hate
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It’s Monday morning as I write this. So naturally, I must assume people everywhere are rising out of their beds and getting ready to go to work. In droves, we pilgrimage to Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, and McDonald's (depending on their tax bracket) for a morning pick-me-up.
There you are with your coffee in hand. You can smell the bitter beans before you take a sip. You smile knowing what it will do for you. You take a sip and *zing* there it is. There is that momentary feeling that everything will be just fine. You can do this, you’re not that tired, coffee will take care of you. You find hope.
My Coffee Journey
I have the odd privilege of being unemployed right now. And one of the things I’ve done while I’ve been applying for jobs and freelancing is I gave up coffee. I heard over and over again that it caused inflammation and anxiety and wanting to be rid of both of those, I thought putting down my latte in the morning would be the right move for my body.
The first day was awful of course. My headache started around 10 am. If you’ve tried giving up your morning brew before, you know these are not normal headaches either. The piercing between my eyes couldn’t be squelched with ibuprofen. But now, here I am, a few months later, and with this perspective, I can confidently tell you that you’re being brainwashed into thinking you need 6 cups a day to survive.
The Impact of Coffee
We spend a lot of money on drug prevention. We tell kids that cocaine is bad for them. We dehumanize people who use methamphetamine. But coffee, as a society we give it a pass. But if you need coffee every day, that’s no different than any other dependency. Sure a cup every once in awhile isn’t going to kill you, but if you need it to make it through the day, that is an addiction, there’s no way around that. It’s just an addiction that we’ve all decided is “OK”.
Why would we normalize coffee addiction? Easy. Capitalism. This world needs you to feel those moments of peace and hope so that you can continue to work.
