Damian, my roommate and colleague back in the university was a heavy coffee drinker. Whenever he resumed for school, he brought packs upon packs of Nescafe coffee drink with him.
It was he who influenced a number of the guys around to begin taking the drink. He was a smart dude and coffee, he said, helped him stay awake to study. He said it made him alert and filled him with excessive energy.
Before myself and him clicked, I had the drink only occasionally. To study, all I needed was to have slept a little prior to that time. Another common habit was to get a bucket of water and dip my legs in it. I don't know where I learned that, but it worked. Well, only for a while before my body system adjusted to it.
No day went by without Damian taking coffee, whether or not he needed to study. He took nothing less than four cups a day. He stands as the heaviest coffee drinker thar I know. He said he started to take coffee when he was in junior high. His mum took the drink often to help her stay awake some hours at night so she could take her online classes. She always let him have a sip and the taste fascinated him. So, everyday, he'd make himself a glass or two and enjoy.
Ever since, he had always had it.
I knew it was a habit when, if we had to go play football, he made himself a glass. Talk about being addicted to it. Coffee was more or less water for him. Whenever he thirsts, coffee fwas what he reacged for first. No doubts the drink did for him just what he wanted, but there was a problem.
He struggled to sleep. We all went to bed long befire he did but he still beat us to getting up. His was a severe case of Insomnia. His eyes had bags underneath, he barely managed two hours of sleep daily and the littlest sound startled him. It was worrisome.
He complained that the coffee drinks had taken their strong effect on him but it didn't make him trim down on his intake. Soon after, I realized that he was also taking a substance alongside his drink.
And so I confronted him
"Bro, what's that thing you're taking. Don't tell me you do drugs," I asked.
He gave a laugh and responded, "chill man, I don't. It's just sleeping pills."
"Sleeping pills! What exactly do you need that for?"
"Don't be ridiculous. I need it to help me sleep, of course." he stated.
"Are you not the same person that drank cups of coffee less than two hours ago which you said would help you stay awake?" I asked, utterly confused.
"Yes. That was then. I'm done staying awake. I needed to finish writing my project and now that that's done, I need to sleep," he looked on at me with a grin.
"And you don't think it's abuse? You don't think you're hurting yourself?" I asked.
"No, it's nothing. I've been taking it that way for the longest time. It always works. My system has adjusted to it."
I held my mouth open in amazement and then managed to say, "I don't know what to say to you. I don't. "
He let out a loud laughter.
The pills, he said, were responsible for the few hours of sleep he managed to get. It was perplexing to me, that one minute he was taking coffee to stay awake, the next, it was pills to override the effect of the coffee and make him drowsy. As much as I envied his energy, I pitied him. The one time, I recall, when I took excess coffee than my dystem could manage, i know how dry my mouth felt, how irritable i was and how easily it was for my breathing rate to double.
He never saw the habit of his as anything to be bothered about even when he's visibly struggling between the line of sleep and awake. He thinks it's all under his influence and as a result of his routine. I don't know if I was only overthinking but I did not agree with him. It just wasn't adding up but what can I do!?
This is my entry to the #spillthebeans contest.
Images are mine unless stated otherwise
Thanks for stopping by.
SOKA🖤
The photo belongs to millycf1976 and was edited using Canva.
Hi!
There was little you could do. Talk about it, and you did. The rest requires a complex context of help and the inner conviction of the affected person. Sometimes people convince themselves that unhealthy behaviors are good for them and use the argument of self-control when in fact they cannot control an addiction.
Sad.
A hug