Category: Personal stories

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Planning is great, but…

Devon Landscape with River

Let me tell you a story. It was years ago in a small town in Wiltshire, when I had one Friday evening without any plans at all. And was just walking with my friend around the town. Without any special purpose. Suddenly appeared option to come for weekend to friends in Bristol. So I was asked if I wanted to go and informed that if I did, then train to Bristol was expected in 5 minutes, so I had to decide quick.

It was nice weekend. Other surprise was that after night in Bristol we went to Devon for 2 days.

Waterfall somewhere in Devon

We went completely unprepared and it ended up to be quite nice time. I even tried surfing for the first time in my life.

In business, every professional book says that everything should be planned. Business plan comes first, followed by plenty of detailed plans, strategies and all sorts of formalised TO DO lists. The same applies to professional blogging – scheduled posts and tweets and lists of topics to cover for next half year are common.

It is all good.

But… When unexpected opportunity appears, f**k schedules and go ahead! There’s no such thing like coincidence – if something appears in our life, there must be reason for that. Don’t overthink such chances, just trust your feelings and make use of them. All in all, deep inside we always know what’s right.

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10 days without coffee

Addictions are good. They give sense of live, help to cope with everyday problems and can be powerful motor for all our actions. Being addicted to anything for years, it is difficult to imagine life without our favourite magic. It becomes lifestyle, part of our daily routine, something we cannot live without.

Or can we?

I decided to undertake a challenge to give up my last, the longest and strongest addiction – caffeine. 10 days trial.

First day – terrible headache was killing me. Ordinary painkillers didn’t work. It was Thursday and I was at work – multiple complex problems to sort out with headache and without help of coffee, just perfect day. But I survived.

Second day – half conscious, but no headache. It came back little bit on Sunday and much worse on Monday. Kept me entire day. I thought about helping myself with little bit of tea – there is caffeine in it as well. But I finally decided – no cheating. When I drank tea, it was strawberry one or something similar. I Survived.

Through the next few days it was getting better, although I didn’t realise that initially. I realised however that it was giving up this habit was really hard, especially going through withdrawal symptoms and low mood – that was really discouraging. Believe me, for me it was much harder then giving up smoking years ago. Additionally, I lost this wonderful feeling of being fully awake in the morning after first cup.

So why bother?

After ten days I realised I don’t really need caffeine. It takes me longer to be fully awake but also takes me longer to get tired (so no need for extra shot of coffee every few hours). I was also told by someone close to me, that I became less nervous and shouted at people less often 🙂 Indeed, I think I started to better cope with stress. Actually, it’s  something more – many situation somehow became less stressful.

Addictions are good. They make us strong and powerful when we give them up. That’s the only real benefit they come with. At the time of writing this I must say, those initial 10 days planned extended to 3 weeks and will extend even more. I just feel better 🙂