RESTORE +RENEW
DETOX MISSION
CAFFEINE-FREE FOR 5 DAYS BY YOUMNA CHAGOURY
SHE TRICKED ME INTO IT, ASKING ME BY EMAIL WHAT I COULDN’T LIVE WITHOUT FOR A FEW DAYS, BEFORE I KNEW WHAT IT WAS ALL ABOUT I ALMOST FELL ASLEEP WHILE DRIVING AND NOW THAT I’M WRITING THIS, I’M SEEING THE WORDS “MISSION” AND “ABORT” DANCING ON THE SCREEN
I
love coffee. The thing is, I’m not a heavy coffee drinker, but my whole day revolves around my 2 daily cups of coffee and milk. They regulate my routine: 1 cup in the morning, 1 in the afternoon. If I don’t have the morning one, I can’t focus on my work. If I don’t have the afternoon one, I end up falling asleep at 7pm. So with all the magnanimity Fida is capable of, once she knew how much I enjoyed it, she decided to have me detox my body: 5 caffeine-FREE days. Readers you should know that she tricked me into it, asking me by email what I couldn’t live without for a few days, BEFORE I knew what it was all about.
I SIMPLY COULDN’T WAKE UP. NOT JUST IN THE MORNING; I COULDN’T WAKE UP ALL DAY.
50 RAGMAG | JANUARY 2012
Day 1 Today was the worst day of my life. I simply couldn’t wake up. Not just in the morning; I couldn’t wake up ALL DAY. I didn’t tweet, I barely wrote- I was “metfiyyeh” all day. I can’t even describe the headaches. I almost fell asleep while driving and now that I’m writing this, I’m seeing the words “mission” and “abort” dancing on the screen. Day 2 I cheated today. No one but my cousin Rouba knew. For my morning coffee, hidden in the RAGMAG office kitchen, I added ¼ spoon of real coffee to my decaf. Look where the detox got me: Lying and cheating! I don’t think that small amount of coffee did anything to revive my body though. I just wanted to go back to bed, all day. This is the first time I have a headache for two successive days.