3 Ways To Distract Yourself From Morning Coffee

I take my coffee with 2% or nonfat milk, no sugar. How do you take yours?

Coffee is starting to run my life.

I've been through this cycle before, and it goes something like this: at first, coffee is a nice pick-me-up. One cup a day to start the day is a nice treat.

Then it starts to become a habit that I get crabby without. Then I start to have multiple cups, maybe even a cup in the afternoon. My cup goes cold at my desk and I drink part of it anyway. (Ew.) My sleep becomes affected, and I start to drink a beer or a glass of wine most nights just to help myself wind down.

Don't get me wrong. I love a drink here or there, of the alcoholic or caffeinated varieties. But I don't want to be controlled by them. So, here are 3 things I'm doing to slow my caffeine intake.

1. Get in some exercise first thing in the morning.

I've been using this tool called Daily Workout Apps. It's available for iPhone or Android, and you can choose from a 10, 20 or 30 minute workout. 

All the exercises are meant for a tiny space (like your apartment), and each exercise is demonstrated via video. Before my coffee, sometimes 10 minutes is all I can trick myself into doing, but it's enough to get my blood flowing and wake me up.

While writing this, I just noticed they also have a Yoga app, which I'll definitely try out as well.

2. Take a shower soon after waking.

Please note: I always take a shower after working out. But even on those days I bail on working out (and there will always be those days), I push myself to take a hot, steamy shower when really I would rather sit around and veg. (I really can't overstate how lazy I am in the morning when left to my own devices!) A nice shower invigorates me and gets the morning going, even if I haven't had any caffeine.

3. Complete a chore.

However small it is, completing a chore makes me feel accomplished first thing in the day, which in turn makes me more awake, alert, and ready to conquer everything else. Sometimes it's simple, like making the bed (we're talking re-setting the sheets, people, not tucking everything in). One time I unloaded the dishwasher in the morning. For a morning slacker like me, that was a BFD.

I can't believe that, less than 8 months ago, I was getting up at 3:45am every morning to be onsite and alert for my opening shift at Starbuck's (duty started at 4:15am; store opened at 4:45am). Now it's like pulling teeth to get out of bed by 7am! Ah, how quickly we adapt...