Have you ever made a resolution – new year’s or otherwise – that you kept for a long period of time? Even better, one that you thought could be a permanent change?
For me, there has been one this year and it’s been health related: giving up caffeine.
I set out at the beginning of the year to give up caffeine, and eliminate any caffeinated drinks from my diet. These drinks were primarily diet sodas, but sometimes coffee or tea. I just didn’t feel right, and thought that cutting out caffeine could help out.
What happened? Well, I stopped drinking caffeine entirely this year. Stopped cold turkey, in fact. No sodas, and only decaf coffee on occasion (with tiny amounts of caffeine technically, but essentially caffeine free).
The health benefits were noticeable. I just felt better overall, as there were less ups and downs in energy levels throughout the day. Given my caffeine consumption before, this change was noticeable. Plus, I slept better through the night without any caffeine in my bloodstream. In short, my giving up caffeine had been a real success.
Just today, I broke the streak. After just over 5 months without any caffeine, I broke down and had a large, 32oz diet soda today.
Here’s my rationalization of the breaking point: I have had a couple of nights of poor sleep due to allergies/sinus issues that flared up, and I am exhausted. Plus, I was solo taking care of one of my kiddos earlier. I needed to be alert and plus I was in the car really thirsty on a hot day. Being tired, I just didn’t have the willpower – so I caved and decided to swing by a drive-thru and pick up a Diet Coke.
Certainly, this is no big deal in the big picutre. I mean, plenty of poeple guzzle tons of coffee or sodas daily as a part of their normal lives….I was one of those people, and it’s unfortunately quite not uncommon I think! However, I did set a goal for myself and after 100% success for this year I just now caved. This streak is over, and that’s what’s on my mind here….as I’m now a bit wired and feeling much more alert than earlier 
Anyway, it got me thinking that sometimes we make missteps in our lives, whether small health/diet ones like this, or bigger ones. This can include the realm of personal finance, where people may blow their budget for a month, splurge on something, or carry a credit card balance after committing to not do so. Whatever the case, we’re human and don’t always follow our plans exactly to the letter.
However, many such mistakes are correctable. We can work to recongnize the mistake, diagnose what caused the slip up, and determine what we can do to move past it. And then, just move forward and learn from the experience. Whether it’s a small thing like this or a bigger issue, sometimes you just learn from a slip up and move ahead.
My Question for You:
When have you ever “fallen off the wagon”, so to speak, only to get back on track with a goal or behavior you’ve set out to make habit? Any example can be shared.
Squirrelers in Blog Carnivals
Car Longevity: How Far Will You Go to Save Money was included in the Totally Money Blog Carnival at The Family CEO
Cheapskates Visit Vegas was included in the Festival of Frugality at My Personal Finance Journey
Are Stocks Ready to Take a Summer Vacation was included as an Editor’s Pick in the Carnival of Personal Finance at My Personal Finance Journey
Myths About Retirement was included in the Yakezie Carnival at Bucksome Boomer
The Recency Bias and Investing was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance at Miss Thrifty
Personal Finance Geekdom: The Economics of Picking Up Pennies was included in the Festival of Frugality at Bible Money Matters
Favorite Posts from the Personal Finance Blogosphere
101 Centavos shared Long Supply Chains and Business Ideas
Barbara Friedberg shared 3 Tips to Get Richer and Thinner
Budgeting In The Fun Stuff shared Freecycle – My Personal Experiences
Everyday Tips and Thoughts shared Why I Hate Clothes Shopping
Financial Samurai shared The Average 401k Balance and Why It’s Too Low
Money Cone shared 10 Questions to Ask Your Bank Before Opening an Account
Money Talks Coaching shared I Quit Caffeine
Minting Nickels shared A New Tune For June
No Debt MBA shared The Graduate Student Lifestyle
PFFirewall shared How to Have a Perfect Vacation
Wealth Informatics shared Make your home safer with these cheap/free tips
I wouldn’t call that a misstep Squirreler. If you continue having coffee then that would be bad – you can’t then really say you quit.
But occasional breaks in my opinion are fine and might actually help keep up with your resolve.
A tree that sways with the wind has a better chance of surviving a storm than one that remains stiff! (Ok, dumb example I know!!).
Thanks for the mention, much appreciated!
I don’t know that I have stayed on a wagon long enough to qualify as having fallen off. Five months is incredible. I usually last about 36 hours when giving up caffeine. I do exercise regularly so that makes me feel at least halfway decent about myself. Thank goodness I don’t have that much trouble sleeping despite drinking 4 sodas a day. It is just past 9:30 here and I have had a Mountain Dew and cup of coffee already.
I think you have done a great job with your quest to eliminate caffeine. The whole guilt thing I put on myself for ‘missteps’ is why my goal was to cut my pop consumption down by 80 percent. That allowed for some ‘bad days’ like the one you mentioned. Some days I am just beat. Or, maybe I want to have a Coke with pizza. I have allowed myself to have those little splurges.
Thanks for the link Squirrel!
Everyday Tips – that’s a good, balanced approach you have.
Don’t be too hard on yourself buddy. You did great and one soda isn’t going to change that.
My workout completely fell by the way side while I’m taking time off to take care of baby. I’ll get back on it once I go back to work full time…