It might be easy
Sometimes changing a habit isn't as hard as you think it will be
A few years ago, I learned that the chronic sore throats and congestion I’d been experiencing might be a combination of reflux and a reaction to dairy products. I was really tired of being in pain. I started taking medication — and also decided to try cutting dairy products out of my life.
I was nervous about how this would work in general. Have you noticed how much cheese is on everything? But in particular, I was nervous about changing my morning coffee ritual.
I had been putting milk in my coffee since I began drinking coffee daily at age 15. At some point in adulthood I upgraded to real cream. That thick rich cream in my coffee was what got me up in the morning through some hard early years with babies who wouldn’t sleep.
So I was wondering how on earth I was going to change that ingrained habit.
Then I tried drinking my coffee black one morning. And guess what? It was fine.
I did it the next morning. Also fine.
Just like that I realized that changing this habit was going to be way, way easier than I thought.
It helped that I actually did start to feel better. Pain turns out to be a powerful motivator! But in any case, I haven’t been tempted to explore the various non-dairy creamer alternatives out there. Black coffee is great. What I thought was a deeply ingrained habit was just something I chose at age 15 and then never questioned.
Maybe you, too, are thinking of making a big change. Maybe it’s dietary. Maybe it’s shifting your sleeping schedule to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier. Maybe it’s giving up the snooze button. Maybe it’s starting a new calendar process or work flow.
All these things could be difficult. But they might also be…not that hard. The truth is you just don’t know until you try. If you don’t try because you think it will be hard you’ll never know how easy a change might have been.
I am not saying it will be easy. But if I was able to stop drinking cream in my coffee overnight after 27 years, then there might be hope.
(Now don’t get me started on ice cream…)
Ah, so true...we don't know until we try! Thanks for this simple encouragement!
What an encouragement and blessing to be greeted with this today. Thank you Laura. And yes I echo the empathy, one for the pain you’ve been dealing with and two the loss of something you have loved. Sometimes I think we can see little things like giving up dairy as just that-little. And in the grand scheme of things they often are. However food is such a part of our culture, connection, and memories so it often feels like a bigger thing. Also did you know that dairy can actually function as an additive property in our brains? This actually brought me a lot of understanding because I had a really hard time saying goodbye for good 12 years ago to keep autoimmune disease away. In some people the casein is not broken down or digested properly and a byproduct of this is something called casomorphin. This amino acid affects the body like an opioid. In fact it’s called an opioid peptide. Not all dairy of course has the same amount of casein. Cream not so much. Milk, cheese, and ice cream do, which can make them more “addictive”. Some might see this as discouraging but I think the knowledge is empowering. Knowing what’s going on behind the scenes so to speak can help make our “why am I doing this again” stronger. Now for the dairy free recommendations! I too was a big cream in my coffee drinker. Nutpods are my favorite! Especially “marshmallow “. I don’t like any non-dairy creamer I've tried (without sugar). For ice cream the Ben and Jerry’s is a good brand. We have 6 children so this summer we have been making it ourselves and I love Danielle Walkers’ chocolate mint ice cream recipe (she uses coconut milk and almond milk). The other day we had a tiny bit leftover that wouldn’t fit in the ice cream maker that I poured into a to-go coffee cup to stick in the fridge and guess what? It was really really good in my coffee when I ran out of Nutpods! Good job caring for you’re body and giving it what it needs and doesn't!