I sure am glad we spent the long, holiday weekend at the beach. The weather was warm, dry and beautiful. We drove back to cool temperatures and lots of rain. According to Ray, parts of Watauga county have gotten more than 5 inches of rain in the past two days. So today I am wearing my rain jacket and boots, remembering the sunny and warm weekend, and embracing the change in seasons.

Now, onto the real post for today.

Did I mention that I switched to decaf coffee earlier this summer? Let me just put it out there and tell you that I’m not pregnant. I think that’s what everyone assumes when young women make the switch to decaf, but let me assure you that I am not.

I have been a coffee drinker since my high school days when Starbucks lured me in with it’s cool atmosphere and expensive vanilla lattes. Once in college, where I regularly stayed up past 4 am and still attempted to go to my 8 am classes, I became a “several cups a day, I can’t function without my coffee” drinker. I do remember trying to give up coffee for Lent one year, but I only made it 5 days. Other than the failed Lent attempt, for about 7 years, I never went more than one day without coffee. Clearly, I was addicted.

The problem however, was that I still felt tired – all the time! I never felt fully present mentally, and I had a hard time getting up most mornings. About a year ago, my friend Mary switched to decaf, and I thought she was nuts. I mean, who voluntarily switches to unleaded coffee? As the days went by, she remarked about her increased energy levels, and I thought that maybe I would give it a try sometime.

My family went camping over Memorial Day weekend, and I had some coffee, but not as much as I would normally have drunk. As we were pulling back into town, I remarked to Matt that I thought we should switch to decaf. And I did.

It wasn’t painful like I thought it would be. I didn’t have disastrous headaches. I honestly didn’t notice a difference between the decaf and the regular. Immediately I started having more energy. I quit having the horrible afternoon slump, and instead I had a more steady energy level throughout the day. I got tired earlier at night {I am a night owl and would stay up until 2 every night if I didn’t make a conscious effort to go to sleep}. I’m still not getting up much better, but I am hopeful that will soon change!