Posts Tagged ‘identity’

I don’t drink coffee, but I’m thinking about starting.  I notice that my friends who drink coffee, in general, don’t really have a problem with over eating.  I might be making this up, but I am exploring the idea anyway.  One of my friends said, “Coffee is a cruel mistress.”  And, this makes me want it more.  What I love about coffee is really the culture and the experience.  It smells good, it feels good, there are special stores devoted to it, there are lots of different varieties, and there is special equipment and cool accessories for the preparation and consumption of coffee.  There is even a language that goes a long with it.  And people like to meet for it.  I think it would be better for my weight loss goals to meet people for coffee rather than for lunch.

Here’s the deal, though.  I don’t really like coffee and I don’t really need another vice to add to my already impressive list of vices.  And, I have to ask:  does coffee make me feel or contribute to me becoming sexy, healthy and happy?  Well, coffee is “sexy” and I know people who would definitely attach “happy” to their coffee, but nobody is even attempting to sell coffee as “healthy”.  In fact, most of my coffee loving friends are either trying to cut back on their coffee or they are throwing caution to the wind and drinking as much as they want before they have to cut back.  Ha ha, sort of like me and food.  It’s part of what I like about the “coffee conversation”.  I like to imagine that I could give up my struggle with food in exchange for this dance with coffee.

I just can’t bring myself to do it, though.  I’ve been flirting with the idea for a couple of months and I just can’t bring myself to drink a cup of coffee.  Essentially, it just doesn’t fit into my identity - it is incongruent with who I believe I am and what I believe I’m about.  One of my girlfriends would say, “It’s against my religion.”  Not literally, though.  I’m Catholic and coffee is an acceptable vice.  You need something to balance the whisky and wine ;).  And, since we’re on the subject now, I also notice that my coffee drinking friends are also the ones who enjoy wine on a more regular basis.  It is pretty basic physiology that if you take stimulants all morning, you might want/need/crave some depressants in the evening.  It’s an interesting connection that I’m not sure people are making.  I can and will make a lot of other connections between some of my current habits and overeating, too.  Just not today.

For today, I’ve decided that I’m not going to take up coffee.  I might change my mind tomorrow and I’m open to your opinion about it.  For today, I am drinking tea.  I’m loving Chai tea.  Yum!  It totally works and may be my newest guilty pleasure.