Sober October progress

by Jon Sullivan - 2019-10-16 - Jonism

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What a stupid idea? What a good idea? How does one even know?

So in a previous post I proclaimed this month "Sober October". What a stupid idea. Errr.... I mean....... Gee Jon, how is that going so far? It's good and bad I suppose. Let's break that down.

The first week was very unpleasant. I'd weaned myself off coffee slowly, so I avoided an agonizing withdrawal from that. But everything together still had me suffering some weird symptoms. Mild headaches, a sense of great boredom, and worst of all the sensation that I had bugs crawling all over me. Yes, really. Like tiny ants crawling on my hands and arms. Very weird. No idea what caused that but it's gone now.

Other than just the annoyance of simply remembering not to do some of the mostly automatic things I used to do every day it hasn't been hard so far. The sense of total boredom has passed, as I certainly have plenty to do. The sleepiness from lack of coffee has mostly gone away.

I'm actually a bit surprised how alert I am now that the coffee addiction has 100% left the building. I've quit coffee before but it's always odd to find you're perhaps more alert without it. I'll likely keep avoiding coffee after the month is over. But as we all know the coffee ritual is a hard temptation to give up. And once you give in it's got you. And I do miss my vacuum coffee maker.

For those who didn't know about it, I highly recommend making coffee in one of these weird vacuum coffee makers. It tastes way better than filter or press coffee in my opinion. I think it extracts more of the oils, but somehow less (just the right amount) of the bitter edge.

Have I cheated? Sort of, but no. I got food delivered once, but only because that was a dumb rule. If I go to a restaurant and pickup a to-go Greek salad and falafel it's fine, but if the same food is delivered it's junk food? Obviously not. Still, a rule is a rule, so I'll donate to charity for it. And just shoosh about me getting a salad and fried dough delivered.

So has it been worth it? Has cutting out all booze, coffee, drugs, junk food, etc made me healthier or happier? Not that I can tell. I'm sure on some level avoiding eating crap completely has to be more healthy. But on the other hand I was cooking most of my meals from scratch anyway. And a drink a day is supposed to be good for you. Same for coffee. Will I stick with it past this month? Hell no.

I think the real benefit is just knowing you can enjoy living a clean life if you needed to. Good thing I don't need to. And can't wait for this annoying month to be over.

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