Month: December 2017

The past few weeks have forced me to do a lot of thinking about what this trial was really about. At first, I thought that I should take a break from a few habits that I thought were either bad or just getting a bit out of hand. Here at the end of it all, I realize that it hasn’t been simply about giving things up, but an exploration of what trying too much at once can do.

As I’ve done in the past, I began the trial by determining different objective measures to weigh the trial against. In the first few days of giving up alcohol, I figured my weight and bar budget would be reasonable measures, being nice numeric and simple to compare relatively before and after. The plan was set, but little did I know it was destined to fail from the very start.

The first week I set myself up for my biggest trial yet, I thought. I would add a new level to the challenge each week. A new sacrifice added to each post written. I liked the idea as soon as I had it, so I rolled forward and let the plan unfold.

Last week, I talked quite a bit about willpower and how I see it as a resource each of us has. Biking to work every day, even beyond the trial that christened this blog, just became a simple habit that I preferred over the alternative of driving. While this has been the only trial that I’ve fully continued, there I still elements of others that persist. I would guess most of my meals are vegetarian, mostly due to my grocery shopping habits of staying out of the more expensive meat section, but from time to time I’ll eat meat without guilt. The thing that makes these tasks so easy to do and, more importantly, cost little willpower, is that I spent four weeks forming a habit around that specific task.

That is what I think was the core issue with this trial. I never really focused on a single element to build up a habit around. I am hopefully mistaken, but the coming weeks will tell what habits I’ve formed, perhaps I’ll write a retrospective on this sometime in the future.

Over the weekend, my plan was that this post was going to consist mostly of the number of influences I had to seek to play video games. GTA Online just released a new heist, a friend of mine just got a Minecraft server up and running, and even a mention of Leroy Jenkins at a social gathering led me to crave playing World of Warcraft so bad that I binge watched lore videos for a couple hours. Luckily, I’ve been busy enough to keep my mind occupied for the most part. As the weekend came to a close, I did a lot more reflecting on the past four weeks as a whole. That led to a bigger reflection, which led to the post above.

This trial may not have been perfect, but in testing out different approaches to the process I think I can make a better experience for both you to read and me to try out. Last week, I shed some light on a project I was working on, which I, unfortunately, did not complete or come close to completing. For this, I will share some more details with you. I am looking to write a short “ebook” which would really be more like a glorified post on a topic that I found both interesting to write and offer readers useful knowledge to use in their lives. The problem I ran into was picking a subject. I have a few started drafts, but nothing even close to publishable.

With that, I will close out the year for this blog. I am going to take some time off of writing each week, but do not weep those tears of sorrow. If you still want to hear from me every week, I’ll be sending out my weekly newsletter every Tuesday. I hope you all have happy holidays to come!

No accidental consumption or weird topics this time. Coffee. That’s what I’ve had to dodge this week. Well, in addition to the previous challenges of course. No caffeine, that was the extra goal this week, and so far, that was a success. It’s been the challenge I expected. Rough until about noon, then I don’t really even think about it.

For a couple days last week, I had to sit in a room at work with a fresh pot every day. My work-roommate, is that a thing? So my work-roommate is a pot of coffee by day type of guy. He’s been out of the office traveling for work, so I haven’t had to torture my tired morning self with the smell of fresh coffee throughout this week. That has definitely made the past few days a lot easier, though I still get the occasional craving.

The biggest question and comment I think I’ve gotten about not drinking coffee anymore concerns headaches from withdrawal. I, fortunately, have not suffered this side effect. For a while, I only really drank tea, which has a fraction of the caffeine in coffee. When my aforementioned work-roommate moved in, I switched from a cup of tea in the morning to drinking three to four cups of coffee. Fortunately, when I stopped, no headaches.

A side effect that I think has crept up on me has been a weakness in other areas of self-control. Today alone, I’ve drunk probably about a pint of eggnog, and I doubt I’m calling it quits there. I do believe that willpower is an expendable resource we have. We can build up what we have, and we can train ourselves to decrease the willpower certain tasks take, but we do have a limited amount. Piling on limitations over the past few weeks has required tons of willpower, especially in the first few days of each. Resulting in letting things slide elsewhere.

One thing that has helped this past week and I feel is totally underrated is decaf coffee. I basically grew up on decaf, not by any intention really. It’s just what my grandpa had back in those days, and I enjoyed sharing a cup or two with him, still do. I was spending some time with a few friends this weekend, and (shoutout) my friend Ashley made a pot of decaf. It was absolutely fantastic.

It’s been a pretty tough few weeks, some parts tougher than others. I’ve been able to commit pretty well so far, save accidental cup drinking on Thanksgiving. After week one, I decided I would keep adding a new piece to this trial every post. This final week I’ll be forgoing video games, a frequent pastime. I hope this will open up some free time towards focusing on some bigger projects, including one I hope to release next week. Stay tuned for the stunning conclusion next week!