My Totally Serene Life Without Caffeine

Getting by without a stimulant for the first time in twenty years.

I cannot stop reading the r/decaf Subreddit.

Posts on the site veer wildly from the calmly helpful, to the philosophical and rebellious, to the despondent. One moment a contributor will be helpfully explaining the difference between the Swiss Water decaffeination process and the conventional, solvent-based method of stripping caffeine from beans. The next, somebody will be spiraling in despair at their plummeting work performance and newfound sluggishness, begging to know when withdrawal symptoms will end.

Some users on r/decaf treat quitting caffeine as one simple step on a broader life improvement journey, one marked by reductions in smoking and a new meditation habit. Others discuss quitting caffeine as a white-knuckled last-ditch effort for psychological survival. R/decaf posters share that quitting caffeine has improved everything from social anxiety, to Bipolar disorder, to GERD, to PMS symptoms. Still others say that stopping the substance has completely ravaged their career prospects and left them with sciatica, or a months-long flu.