Decaf

I ran out of Nespresso pods the other day and was forced to use the two decaf pods left in my container. "Why does this even come with the variety pack?" I thought to myself as I groggily put the pod in the machine.

My mornings are usually the calmest part of my day, and previous to the Nespresso, I would make an old school espresso on the machine, with the puck, and with the ole grinder to pull. I typically have at least two of these every morning before biking or walking to the gym or taking my dog for a 2 mile walk.

This decaf day was a 2 mile walk day, and I noticed something different happened. It did take a little time for the sleep to fully leave my body, but I found a little more pep in my step my the end. And even more, by the end of the day I found myself more energetic, missing my normal urge to scroll TikTok to unwind, and missing my usual feeling in my chest like someone's sitting on me.

My anxious nighttime I didn't do everything I wanted to get done today feeling was missing.

Yet I'd still had a very productive day.

This got me thinking and feeling more philosophical than I probably should have, but the question I ended my day with was - is it possible to maintain my edge, on decaf?

By the next morning I'd replenished my normal stash and was fully double-espresso'ed before work, but the thought remained. Are my 30s the decade to try to live in decaf mode? Is slower and calmer pursuit the way to win in this new defining decade?