Giving Up Soda

I don't observe Lent...all though one year I did go to a Lent Service on campus... I don't really remember much of it.

--Beginning of rabbit trail--

This year my "sick number" was called. The Evil Sickness Society called my number and I then (unwillingly) accepted my fate that consisted of a really bad sore throat (and when I say "really bad...I mean like...hurt = so painful it felt like my throat was burning.), stuffy nose and cough. Even though my lungs are bad and my getting the tiniest cough results in weeks & weeks of coughing (last year I cracked a rib thanks to me coughing like a crazy person for two months) I'd take all of that rather than a burning throat. I literally went four days without talking. Um. Yeah. That totally sucked.

So of course with the inability to drink anything without tears pouring down my face I was completely soda-less for a week. "So what?" you might ask. Well, it's kind of a big deal to me. You see I'm a...sigh...a soda addict. I used to be a caffeine addict for years. I would drink Dr. Pepper for breakfast. Well...Dr. Pepper and a honey bun. I would do that every day (sometimes just skipping the honey bun) and then I would have at least two more Dr. Peppers in the afternoon and then at least one for dinner and then maybe one more while studying. I didn't even think anything of it. I was thirsty...and it tasted good.

After I got married my Dr. P count went down and up depending on what was going on. If I went even a day without it I was punished with a horrible migraine from hell. Then I realized I was drinking too much of it. So I committed to drinking only 1 a day. I never wavered from that until one day I got food poisoning. I was sick and feeling a migraine coming on since I hadn't had my fix for the day. So I wibble-wobbled over to the fridge, grabbed a can, and took a couple sips. I then ran to the bathroom and hurled that up. Just so you know, throwing up Dr. Pepper is nasty. So nasty that I went cold turkey. It took me months and months to just try it again without remembering that taste & feeling. From then on I decided I'd drink non-caffeinated soda. So everyday I'd drink either a Root Beer or Twist. Everyday. Every week. Every month. Until my "sick number" was called up this month.

I couldn't believe that I went a whole week without any soda. Not of my choice, but still!!

--End of rabbit trail--

Like I said, I've never observed Lent, but after that week I decided I was going to give up drinking soda "for Lent". I even thought it was going to be easy. I mean hey! I went a whole week without it...how hard could it be right?!

It's been hard. Very. Hard.

I figure that I made the right choice.

I'll even be honest and admit that I screwed up one day. I went with a friend to Chick-fil-a and got a Sprite (and water) with the order. I kept thinking "It doesn't count if I'm like eating out...you know." But I knew it did. I only had three sips of my soda before I stopped and went with my water. I haven't touched any since.

I guess you can say I'm not even doing it for Lent...I'm just doing it until it's over. I'm doing this because I know it's important to me. It's important for me to see myself be strong in the place of an addiction I've had for years. I'm sure some would scoff..."It's just soda?! How lame!". But then that's why you aren't doing it...it's not important to you... but it is to me...that's why I am doing it. I have believed that I "need" soda. I "need" to have it every day. I'm slowly realizing that I don't "need" it. I can drink water or juice instead. I've gone 19 days without soda. I can keep on no matter how much I'd rather have one. I even feel better without it. My body feels better without it.

That's cool to me.

There isn't anything exceptional about this post. No amazing revelations. But I'm kinda proud about how strong my strength can be...even if it is just about soda. And yeah, like I said, that's cool to me.