Some of you have been asking for reports on the coffee front. It has been ten full days now in the new regime. The first six days were fairly awful, and the sixth day the worst. I had headaches, fatigue, and a craven desire to set things straight with a trip to Doug the Baker’s espresso bar.

But when I woke up on the seventh morning, something was different. I was still tired, but I did not feel defeated. Every morning before that (for as long as I can remember, at least), I had awakened feeling miserable and broken, like I needed to be fixed. My morning coffee was a part of the daily resurrection, as was my morning oatmeal and the first few hours of each day as I slowly fought through the fog. But I always moved from the feeling of morning stupor into coffee-induced mania without stopping at a place that felt good in between. On the seventh morning of this coffee plan, this past Sunday morning, I actually woke up feeling good. I didn’t feel great by any means, but my head was above water, I didn’t have a headache, and I had some energy. I’ve felt that way on three of the four mornings since.

Everything I heard from Erica (the friend whose story inspired me to try this in the first place) has been true so far: first week awful, second week better. She says the improvements really start kicking in around the one-month mark. I’m a third of the way there. And I’m going to keep going.