My Caffeine Addiction.

My boyfriend and I are spending Christmas with my Mum this holiday; my first Christmas with him and my first Christmas taking him home with me. I’m looking forward to it more than you could possibly imagine. However there is one thought at the back of mind that pipes up occasionally.
“Will Mum mind I’m drinking Monster all day?”

Monster being a 500ml can of energy drink with about 250 calories per can. It’s probably where I get most of my calorie intake from. And I admit, I have a slight addiction to it and the addiction to Monster has developed into an addiction to Caffeine. I definitely drink less of it than I used to, but I still drink over the recommended daily allowance I’m sure of it.

Caffeine is messing with my, already messed up, sleeping schedule. For example, on Saturday night I slept from 8pm till midnight, then I was awake for an hour but asleep again by 1am to sleep through till 730am when my alarm went off on Sunday morning. In contrast, last week I fell asleep at 8pm, woke up again at 10pm then cleaned the bathroom with bleach from top to bottom, followed by our bedroom and was still awake at 1am when my boyfriend got home from work.  

This morning I woke up at 1030am, was out of the house by 1 and now at 230pm I’m yawning at my screen. No rhyme or reason to anything anymore.
The withdrawal headaches and the sleeping stresses are enough to make me suggest something I never said I could do; I’m going to give up Monster for 2014. I’ll still have a caffeine intake, because I don’t think it would be safe to take such a staple part of my diet away so quickly, but it will only be from coffee and any painkillers cut with caffeine. I will drink more water, because I will never want to be dehydrated again. I will not buy four-packs of Monster from the shop on the corner.

Adding it up in my head, if I give up Monster I’ll actually save a substantial amount of money. Here’s a week of my life, and the Monster’s I consume.

Monday – One on the way to first class, before second class, one at home.

Tuesday  - One in the morning, two at night.

Wednesday – One on the way to work, one when I come home.

Thursday – One on the way to work, one when I come home.

Friday  - One on the way to class, one after.

Saturday – One on the way to work, one after.

Sunday – One on the way to work, one after.

So… at an average of £1.19 a can, I spend £17.85 on Monster a week. I could quite happily have an extra £20 to spend on something else; the winter boots I really need, next semester’s books, birthday presents…

Therefore I, Lex, proclaim that from January 1^st 2014 I will give up Monster. Unless shit really goes down, because in that case I’m a weakling little bitch and need to fall back on my crutches. Sorry.