This has got to be one of the most widely accepted and minimised addictions ... caffeine addiction. 

Here’s a bit about my journey...

So I only started to become a daily coffee drinker at around 26 years old. Coincidentally I had just started a very stressful sales job.

It was really a social ritual that I had partaken in with my work colleagues. Like any drug, at first you enjoy it, then you slowly need to increase the amount to get the same buzz... then it becomes a habit and ritual. 

Then maybe one day, you decide you don’t need it, forget to have it or skip it and boom withdrawal symptoms!

Caffeine withdrawals include;

Headaches 

Lethargy 

Brain fog

Just like any drug withdrawal, you basically get the opposite of what the drug gives you ... until you have detoxed and your biochemistry comes back into equilibrium.

Here is what I thought caffeine was giving me;
Some me time
An excuse to go out
Energy
Motivation
Tasty treat
Social interaction

What it was actually doing;
Making me intense
Making me age faster
Ruthless at times
Thinking I am achieving a lot, even when I wasn’t  (just like any stimulant drug)
Increasing my stress hormones (which is what people mistake for energy and alertness)
Increased unnecessary mental chatter
Unconscious teeth grinding and jaw clenching
Disallowing me from being present and patient with loved ones

Just like anyone with addiction I had many excuses, but in reality I had a real reliance and deep down fear that I wouldn’t be able to function as well if I stopped.

Over the years, I admit, I have overcome many addictions. The more I do deep inner healing work, the more sensitive I become to things that are false, like false highs, false lows, toxic chemicals etc. 

I admit, I went from 5 coffees a day… down to 1 by the time I was pregnant. Then ended up switching to Matcha Green tea, due to the effects being less intense… but I was still relying on 1-2 each day.

My ego would tell me I needed it because I was waking up several times a night for my son (which I still am… no caffeine and have heaps of chilled energy) and the above mentioned list.

Noticing that the same amount of matcha was causing me to be hyper focused, clench my jaw and have moments of anxiety, as well as finding that I spend some of my day worried about when or if I would get my next one so I could avoid the ‘come down’. 

So to stop, these are the steps that I took;

1. Became conscious about how it was negatively affecting me and those around me.
2. Researched the negative effects and how people have felt energy wise once they stopped (lots of Youtube on experiences).
3. Spoke to my partner about wanting to stop and made sure he was supportive and aware so to not enable me.
4. Decided when I could have a few days off for down time (I was expecting a week of headaches, turns out only one bad afternoon and that was it, will speak about how shortly).
5. Had a ‘replacement’, so in my case, chocolate almond milk.
6. Thanked the caffeine for what it had done for me and our business and allowed myself to be open and trusting to how I will be going forward after a 7 year addiction.
7. Went cold turkey.

Here is my experience of giving up and the withdrawals;
Day 1 - Strong headache behind eyes
Day 2 - Felt fine, just a bit tired and dizzy
Day 3 to 7 - Daily headaches and lethargy, difficult to focus
Day 9 to 11 - Energy came back
Day 12 and beyond - Motivation is back in full swing!
Feeling much more peaceful. 

Since then I have been so surprised to find that I have had a great amount of energy and can still focus and work (even on the days I haven’t slept much the night before because of my son waking!) and seem to be perfectly fine after breakfast. I guess I didn’t need it after all!

So you're probably wondering how I only did it in one day? How did I get over withdrawals so quickly?

Well being a healer and owning a rehab centre certainly gave me an advantage.

Here is the video I used and followed along with whilst I was having the withdrawal headache and apathy;

If you have never done EFT or Tapping as its called before, you can learn a bit more about it here;

There you go! That’s how I did it.

Some people can have many addictions; I myself have had a shopping addiction, alcohol addiction, smoking addiction, caffeine addiction and more but like I said, the more that I heal, the easier it becomes to let go of each one and become more peaceful and present.

Written by Melissa Hiemann

Co-Founder of The Centre for Healing
Creator and Registered Trainer of Root-Cause Therapy
Author of the book The Natural High: Secrets to Overcome Instant Gratification and Find Inner Peace
Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia. Currently ‘stuck’ on a tropical island in Thailand with my partner Ryan and our son Tommy🏝️
Follow me on Instagram _theonlinetherapist