Thank God, someone else actually did it. It’s here and its tagline is "We Believe You. You are not Alone", which is great for any caffeine addict to hear.  We feel like total idiots living in a world where everyone and their kids drink the stuff .  It’s not easy admitting powerlessness over a the world’s favorite, legal, and no-big-deal drug.

The site has great video clips of experts explaining the problems caffeine produces; adrenal exhaustion  is a big one .  It also has testimonials from recovering caffeine junkies, along with message boards and discussions.  Most of all, I like the site because it busts my denial about ol’ Joe.  With every corner owned by Starbucks, it’s hard to really grok that we’re dealing out a highly addictive, harmful drug to one another.  Its benign reputation is deceptive.

Did you know that caffeine is a naturally-occurring pesticide?   That’s right.  It’s Mother Nature’s way of killing bugs.  Any bug that munches on a plant that contains caffeine will become, oh, paralyzed and eventually die .  Call me crazy, but I have a policy about trying not to put anything in my body that ends in ‘cide’, which means murder.  It just seems to me, that if it kills a little bug, it can’t be too great for me–a much bigger bug.   And we wonder why it makes us edgy and irritable. Think about it:  Caffeine increases your heart rate  and taxes your immune system because it’s trying to kill you!

But CA is not the only thing I’ve used to get off the java.  In a flash of total obviousness, I remembered that I am a hypnotherapist!   I used to make CDs  for myself all the time which would take me into profound relaxation and tell me "you’re beautiful, you love your life, you’re happy" etc.  By bypassing a certain part of the conscious mind, these messages–whether I believed them or not–got into my subconscious mind and began to transform my life.  I would go on and off my hypnosis jags, depending on what I needed at the time, but it always worked.

I had considered making an "no coffee" one for myself a couple of years ago but, truth be told, I wasn’t ready.  I didn’t want to be done.  I guess I hadn’t really struggled enough .  But now I’m ready and my new CD tells me all sorts of good things like "I enjoy a peaceful, serene life.  My struggles with caffeine are OVER"  Stuff like that.  Oh and "I look like Gisele Bundchen". 

It’s been four weeks now  and I feel really good.  I honestly feel like I’m done.  It’s quite unlike the times I quit cold turkey, when I would eventually end up having a "should I or shouldn’t I" tennis game in my head.  With the exception of a couple of dodgy moments, I haven’t really thought about it at all.  I love listening to my CD and just sinking into all the positive messages… and my husband Tom?  He loves it too!

If you need help, reach out.

If you need hypnosis, contact me.

Jessica

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Little did I know that I was dealing with a powerhouse.  Janice needed absolutely no advice on promotion because she has a PR gene; her website (at the time) had 6,000 regular visitors (surely more now), her book was absolutely beautiful, funny and inspiring.  Janice, my friends, is a very hip chick.

We finally met a couple of months ago in New York City.  After sitting and chatting with her and her lovely husband in their Manhattan apartment for about an hour, I declared “I don’t care what you think, we’re going to be friends for life!”.  And we will be.  Sometimes you just know.

Janice has a blog on beliefnet and she’s quoted me this week’s entry.  Please check it, and her, out.