10 Reasons Why

10 Reasons Why Coffee Can Transform Your Life

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1. You now have a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

Yes, I’m sure there are a number of mighty fine reasons to actually pull back the covers and face the day (the chance to see a loved-one’s face, the opportunity to make more money to buy things you don’t really need, maybe even happy-ass birds chirping outside the window.) Maybe you are one of those slightly-twisted people who can leap from dead slumber to full activity using nothing but natural energy. Perhaps you are able to release all your worries and anxieties in a nocturnal manner and the chance at a new day has you humming a tune from a Julie Andrews movie during her perky phase. (“The hills are alive with the sound of heart palpitations!”) And it could be that you are simply a masochist, relishing the pain of being a productive member of society before noon.

I am not any of those people.

When dawn breaks, I lay there in devastated horror, repeatedly slamming my fist on the snooze button until it finally snaps off or the house catches on fire. I don’t want to move, ever. The only thing that gets even a minimal amount of enthusiasm out of me is the promise of heated caffeine. Once my addled brain is able to focus on this brewed bait, I can be dressed and racing down the hall in seven seconds. (Woeful be the relative who gets in my way. I will take you down and not think twice about it.)

2. You learn to be consistent with routines.

If you are a serious coffee drinker, you understand what I mean when I say that there is only way one to properly prepare your particular cup of heaven. Things must be done in a certain order. (My requirements: sugar first, only one packet, at the bottom of the cup, followed by the actual coffee, and then the creamer. The liquid, must-be-refrigerated kind of creamer. Don’t even speak to me of that evil, powdered variety.)

And I highly suggest that, if you happen to be in the same vicinity as me in the morning despite having heard the horror stories about my pre-java behavior (“Girl, I know there are bodies buried somewhere. Swear!”), you shouldn’t try to make a cup of coffee for me if you can’t follow my blueprint. One sip and I will know instantly if you have deviated in any way. I don’t care how much you stir. And if you screw it up, I probably will not be speaking to you the rest of the morning or maybe forever. Don’t take it personally, as it’s just part of the circle of life, and you should adjust your day accordingly.

3. You are better equipped to handle rush hour traffic.

Caffeine and sugar can get you through a lot of things, but those two delightful ingredients are especially effective on the nation’s roadways. They give you the energy to cut off other cars with minimal concern, race around corners on two wheels, and fly through intersections even though the light has been red for two minutes. Go, speed racer, go.

4. Your work performance will improve dramatically.

It is truly remarkable what you can accomplish when your body is vibrating. Since you can’t sit still, you will have no choice but to finalize spreadsheets and produce stunning presentations full of colorful graphs and enthusiastic words. Be careful, however, that you don’t become too invested in your email and lose track of time. You don’t want to miss that first coffee break with that all-important booster shot, or your life could change for the worse in the blink of a quivering eyelid. (Not that you can actually blink right now, sitting there all bug-eyed and hyper, but let’s not digress.)

5. You can amaze others with your ability to speak rapidly.

This is really fun. Now that your capacity for speech delivery is three times faster than the national human average, you can terrorize your co-workers with the inane gush of verbiage you can spew. For extra laughs, be sure to corner a workmate who doesn’t drink coffee and therefore doesn’t understand why you are talking like that. Watch their eyes widen in fear as you reach maximum speed, sounding like a Mynah bird on crack. I guarantee you at least one of them will drop to their knees in fervent prayer. (They also might try to stab you with a pencil, so never turn your back on them.)

6. You can lose weight.

When consumed continuously, you can survive for weeks on nothing but coffee and air. Hurray! Of course, there’s the pesky side effect of grinding your teeth so loudly that the Seismological Institute will issue an earthquake warning, but at least you can finally wear those jeans that you haven’t touched since college. (“Nothing comes between me and my Calvins. Love, Brooke.” Two points if you get the reference. Three points if you don’t care.)

7. You can impress people by purchasing expensive beverages.

Nothing says “I have arrived” like walking through the door holding a concoction from Starbucks that costs more than a year’s tuition at the state university. Be sure you hold the cup in a way so that everyone can see all the special instructions scribbled on the side, confirming you are indeed one of “those people” who take twenty minutes to order while the rest of the line is in tears. (“Why is he allowed to live? WHY!”)

8. You can make excellent, life-long friends.

Coffee drinkers stick together. They will have your back for eternity. This level of support will prove critical during times of caffeine emergency. Sitting on your kitchen floor in sheer traumatized panic after discovering that you did NOT have a backup bag of coffee beans stashed behind the toaster? No worries. Just hit “2” on your cell phone and Velma Lou will have two tons of freshly-roasted jewels air-lifted to your house within ten minutes. (“Honey, I could sense an imbalance in the world as soon as I woke up, so I hoped in my pickup truck and checked the police scanner. Sure enough, I got an alert that you were bean-less, and that just won’t do.”)

9. You get to go on a lot of exciting bathroom tours.

Lots of coffee equals lots of peeing. It’s just a fact of nature. If you are truly dedicated to your consumption craft, you learn to instinctively determine where all comfort facilities are located in any given environment. And during these sudden relief runs, you will get to experience the entire spectrum of recycling stations, from the high-end (the exquisite lavatory at the posh sushi restaurant where the toilet actually does a biometric body scan and pings when your bladder is empty) to the very low-end (squatting over a bucket behind Grannie Mae’s Bait Shack because you made a wrong turn and there’s not enough time to get back to civilization).

10. You can now get an amazing number of things done around the house.

As evening approaches, you will be too wired to actually sit down and watch TV or calmly talk to your children. It’s just not possible. So put that energy to use. Tackle the projects that tired people would avoid because they don’t appreciate chemical dependency. Re-tile the bathroom. Clean out the gutters. Build that second story you’ve always talked about. And don’t worry if your frenzied activities take you deep into the night and you realize that you may not get any sleep. It’s all good.

Because in just a few more hours, you can put on another pot of coffee, and the world will once again be your stimulant-enhanced oyster…

 

Originally published in “The Sound and the Fury” on 04/05/10 and “Bonnywood Manor” on 12/14/15. Some changes made. Note #1: I no longer do the sugar thing with my coffee, which somewhat negates the proper preparation of my brew. Now it’s just nectar with creamer, and it’s fairly safe to make me a mug, should you be contemplating the risk. Note #2: Previously, I got a bit of flack over the photo for this piece, with some folks not pleased that I would be spotlighting those landfill-destined K-cups. I now use the “Fulton St.” brand, an environmentally-friendly line that features clever cups where, post-use, you simply break a little tab and the little bag o’ coffee pops out so you can throw it in the trash and then recycle the plastic cup. If only we could get rid of Trump that way…

 

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53 replies »

  4. I don’t drink coffee (Don’t tell Peggy.), so I can point and laugh….and carefully stay out of your way. 😳
    And I’ll take 5 points, thank you very much, 2 for getting the reference, and 3 for never caring anything about Babbling Brooke, except how little clothing she had on. My Blue Lagoon DVD got worn out.

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  5. I get 5 points too. Coffee – I am a philistine and only have 1 cup of instant in the morning. Real coffee is just too strong for me. Chai Latte is my thing, but I need to cut back on all the milk really …. ho hum, maybe in another decade or so.

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  6. Just had my first slug of java, which blooms reminders of when it used to be the first drag. Blessedly, coffee, unlike smoking, continues to taste fantastic to the end. I get two points.

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  9. I only drink one cup of coffee a day, but like any true dedicated coffee drinker, it is a sacred ritual. I want to enjoy it in blissful calm while I come to terms with the new day – none of this harried grab-and-gulp for me.

    There is always at least one line in your writing that leaps off the screen and makes me laugh out loud. This time it was ““Nothing comes between me and my Calvins. Love, Brooke.” Two points if you get the reference. Three points if you don’t care”. It just appealed to my sense of humour early on a Monday morning, and now I’ve started off the new week on a great note … also, I’ve now just finished my coffee 🙂

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    • Despite my rhapsodic comments about caffeine-swilling, I usually only have one cup a day as well. And I actually stretch the process out, taking regulated sips for quite some time and making things last. It is, indeed, a ritual. And I’m glad you liked the Brooke bit, as the “three points” afterthought was actually one of my favorite lines…

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  11. I used to be a cofeeholic. Then I gave it up and became a milkaholic. Then I gave that up and became a Boostaholic.
    My daddy was a coffee connoisseur, only drinking 8 O’Clock and requiring 3 drops of milk in it. If you put two or four, he was like a God who had been denied his sacrificial virgin.
    I’ve often thought of reviving my consumption but just the other night I heard about all the cockroaches that live amongst the coffee beans and rather than trying to remove them, they just grind up their little bodies, legs and antennae right along with them.
    Yucky, yucky poo-poo.
    I’ll stick to my Boost (which probably consists of the usual…chicken beaks, toenail clippings and penis foreskin.) LOLOL

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  12. I’ve never been a coffee ‘person’. I flirted with coffee, briefly, when hubby was alive and introduced me to Gevalia (sp??) mocha…HE took his coffee seriously (hence the Gevalia..he sampled their various blends and roasts and took one to heart …something to due with Sumatra (unless that’s the whole cat excrement one..and hubby had more taste than to drink cat shit) or Egypt or maybe it was Venezuela? I stuck to the chocolate. After he died there was a small bidding war amongst those who came to dig me out of our pit, because I offered to give that stuff AWAY…no $$ required. A rather more materialistic friend convinced me that offering it at $20 a bag was a bargain and a bidding war was born. I think I made $100 out of the coffee, not a bad thing since all it would do if left to me is what Laurel describes…perhaps beget a fresh generation of roaches (EWWWW!). Now I stick to cold caffeine in the form of coca-cola. Don’t foist that Pepsi crap on me either, I can TELL.

    And speaking of withdrawals (although we weren’t … it seems implied though)…where you been? I hope all is well with you and the literary muses have been keeping you tied up in a corner until you do their bidding OR that you’ve at least got some rest. Warn us man. Your followers go through Brian withdrawals, the likes of which make caffeine withdrawal look like a sneeze…..Glad to see you back!! ❤

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    • Actually, it warms my heart that you noticed I went AWOL for a bit. It was nothing extraordinary, really. Terry and I went down to Houston for a belated Christmas gathering, and with all the catching-up that happens with family reunions I just didn’t have the time to get out my daily post. (To be fair, there were plenty of moments when I wanted to get away from all that madness, as you know full well how such reunions can be, but the logistics simply weren’t in my favor.) And we still have to do Christmas with the Tulsa contingent, so there will be some additional AWOL days in the next few weeks. Brace yourself!

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    • Yes, coffee does make me feel cleverly productive and I’m able to whip out two or three writing bits. But then the high fades and I become convinced that I am a wretched failure who will never be creative again… 😉

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  20. Bahaha! Entering an office with an expensive cup of take-away coffee with a zillion instructions on the side is THE way to make an office entrance, in my opinion. I’m going to do that the next time I’m in a dreadful meeting. I’ll report back with results.

    As for coffee itself, alas, I cannot handle the caffeine. I must have the decaf variety because caffeine makes me waaay too jittery. One time I mistakenly had a non-decaf latte (could tell 2 sips into it, but thought, What the heck – you only live once) and NOBODY in the office could understand what I was saying, even after they asked me to slow down. However, as you pointed out, a person hopped up on caffeine is staggeringly productive.

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    • I also have to be very careful with my caffeine, as it can affect my anxiety. I usually limit myself to just one cup, and I make that thing last for an hour, taking sips here and there. My partner (not a coffee drinker) is appalled by this process. How can I drink it once it gets cold? Um, because cold coffee becomes, essentially, an iced coffee, which I also love. So I’m basically getting two different drinks out of one, which I find rather resourceful, so back off, you non-believer. 😉

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