Below is the transcript of the video.
Abby Tang: This week was horrible. It was horrible. I will never do it again.
Abby. I love coffee and am quitting for Business Insider. Every day I have coffee, several times per day, and many types of it: hot, cold, or both. It's a habit I won't ever stop. I don't know how many cups I have drank of coffee. It's almost like I am always refilling my mug. It's more difficult at home because I must make it myself. I also don't have the time and energy to do it. I usually only have one French press, as that's all I can handle. The maximum I can drink is a few cold brews. It's much easier to drink cold coffee faster than I can, which is dangerous because I talk twice as fast as normal and twice as often, so I think that I reduce the productivity of my entire team. The biggest challenge for me is not to drink coffee. It's going to be difficult, I believe, to get into the groove of things in the morning. Tomorrow will be my first day of not drinking coffee. It's not something I'm looking forward to, which is a shame, but it will be too exhausting to complain about.
Today was my first day of not drinking coffee. In truth, I forgot. Because I'm very sick, I decided to not drink coffee. It was 3:00 p.m. that I realized that I had to continue working, which was the hardest part of not having coffee today. As the week progresses, I feel better about my illness and get more angry about not having coffee.
It's day three. No coffee. I am not feeling sick and the caffeine loss isn't bothering me. I usually get my second or third cup of coffee right after lunch. Today, I was unable to do that and almost fell asleep at the desk. It's all I want back. Around 2 or 3 p.m., I lose my focus. Today I feel much more tired in the afternoon. This is when I crave coffee throughout the day. It's the first thing I need when I get up at work. It's part my daily routine: desk-kitchen/desk. Then I crave it right after lunch, because I eat too many and make myself tired. So I have to get another cup of coffee. Because there is more work at the beginning of each day, the first one is easiest to skip. The post-lunch cups, however, are essential. Everyone around me drinks coffee. My right-hand desk has a cup of coffee. The coffee is at eye level for me because she has a standing desk. It smells good. It's there. People are getting monster-sized coffees for whatever reason. It feels like torture to me. I don't look forward to the next few mornings without coffee. I look forward to getting done.
My plan was to get up at 9 AM and pack my apartment. It is now 11:15. Without a cup of coffee, I'm unable to get rid of this tired feeling.
Okay, this week was not what I expected. It was not like it got really difficult. Then again, it was okay. Some days were more difficult than others. Because I had nothing to focus on except coffee and occasional interruptions at work, the days I was home were most difficult. Although I was tired sometimes, the hardest thing for me to overcome was not having coffee as part of my daily routine. It was so that I would wake up at 5am, go to work, then not have my coffee and then be miserable. Then, it was difficult to finish the day because I am used to getting that second boost. I thought, "I don’t want to do this, but it’s necessary." And then, usually with a cup of coffee, I'm like "All right, it is time to get to work."
It was more of an attitude shift than a productivity improvement. This week I had almost no headaches, and I think it was because I was drinking less caffeine and more water. Despite this, I still crave coffee. People kept their coffee secret from me so that I would know that they were not as uncomfortable as I was. I refuse to cut out coffee. Coffee and me, we are like this. I don't want to lose that relationship yet.
We are grateful. It is perfect. This is also the best type of ice.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: This video was first published in April 2019.
