Caffeine and...love?

I am swearing off caffeine. I had a glass of sweet iced tea with dinner and the caffeine floored me like a freight train. I almost fell asleep during my workshop and I struggled to stay awake while practicing piano.

Caffeine has a strange effect on me. My palms sweat and my heart races and my temperature fluctuates like a malfunctioning thermometer. Now that I think about it, the feeling is similar to how I feel when I'm in love. My palms sweat and my heart races and there's this sudden feeling of exhilaration and terror coming from out of nowhere. Of course, love is more intense than that, but the symptoms are similar.

They say that chocolate releases endorphins in your brain which mimic the same chemicals that are released when you're in love. I guess caffeine is my chocolate? All the same, the side effects are killing me. The ironic thing about my reaction to the substance is that it is usually the opposite of how most people would react to caffeine in their system. It depresses my nervous system, making it slow and lethargic. I feel drowsy and jittery for a while, from thirty minutes upwards to five hours. I become sleepy but not "natural" sleepy (and trust me, I know plenty of the "natural" kind of sleepy). It's more like drugged sleepy. Like when you are in the hospital immobilized with agonizing pain and the doctors give you pills that make you sleepy just so the pain is dulled and you won't complain.

Oh, well. I had to swear off coffee a year ago. Forgoing caffeine altogether won't be so bad, especially considering that it doesn't stimulate my system in a productive way at all.

P.S. I have decided to start leaving a quote of the day or word of the day on my blog. Bit of an educational/humorous side to my daily rants. Today is a quote.

Quote of the day: "Questions or comments? I don't take complaints." ~Dr. Linda Dzuris, my favorite college teacher