Randomness

I Quit Soda: I Don't Miss It

This book has officially reached one hundred parts. It's taken four years to get there, but it's still pretty cool.

Written August 14, 2021.

So, when I was younger, I didn't see myself ever quitting soda. Everyone else in my family drank it, so I grew up drinking it basically from toddlerhood.

When you get used to something like that, why would you want to quit? It tastes good, and if you're a generally healthy person, what's the point of stopping?

Well, it turns out that I have a lot of soda-related issues.

I used to love Mountain Dew which, if you know anything about soda, you might know that it's one of the worst ones for you. My family buys bottled soft drinks, and I could drink three or four of the twenty-something-ounce bottles per day. My sleep schedule was something else.

If I drank one of those after seven or eight o'clock in the evening, it would take hours to go to bed.

I also had a sudden onset issue with tooth cavities a couple years back, and I started wondering what would happen if I didn't drink so much soda.

I had never really thought about the anxiety-related side of drinking soda, but I did focus on that at the beginning of this year.

I actually made a pretty sudden commitment to quit. For me, any other time I had started to think about it, I would go grab another soda. It was like my mind was telling me that soft drinks tasted so good, so why should I quit? I tried to picture myself without soda, and my mental image was always some version of me being more anxious and unhappy.

This March, my mom and I went to a somewhat fancy restaurant for lunch. I'm not sure if it's a chain or if it's local, but we always seem to go to Malone's to celebrate things that are important.

I don't think we were celebrating anything that day, but it was a stressful time and I think we went there for a pick-me-up or something like that.

So, I ordered a glass of Mountain Dew. That was March fourteenth, and I haven't had a soda since.

I just quit. That sounds oversimplified, and in a way I suppose that's true.

In my household, everyone else still drinks soda. I live with my parents, and they still keep soft drinks in their fridge when we buy them. Mom still gets them if we're eating out, or going through a drive through.

Now, not a problem.

In March and April, this was a huge issue for me.

The first six months or so of this year were extremely stressful. Dad was in-and-out of the hospital and for a while he spent more time there than he did here. Other things were going on with our family as a whole, and COVID cases were all over the place in my state.

I had also learned about a new medical issue, and was going through a bunch of tests and appointments. Having taken the semester off from college, I spent all my free time at home.

Since my parents still had soft drinks in the house, this was really rough right after I quit. I was super anxious, so I would start wondering if having a soda could change that.

At first, whenever this would happen, I'd have coffee instead. I still drink tea and coffee, but when I was drinking them constantly and exclusively, it didn't help my anxiety.

Since then, I've switched to LaCroix sparkling water. Apparently it's an acquired taste, because neither of my parents like it. Different flavors were almost overpowering when I started drinking it, now I find them super enjoyable.

There are a lot of flavors, and I haven't gotten close to trying them all.

Since I've found LaCroix drinks, I don't miss soda at all. Now, I don't want it when I'm anxious. I don't sit around thinking about it at all, really.

I know that some people who stop drinking soft drinks for a long time don't like them if they have them in the future. I'm curious if it would be like this for me, but I'm not interested in them enough to even try one.

My sleep has still been an issue because of other stress, but it's on a normal level now. I'm also noticing somewhat of a difference with anxiety levels.

I do tend to still get anxious, and I fixate on the things that make me anxious. So, I'll get stuck on an upcoming medical appointment and worry it to death.

But, I'm noticing that I don't get anxious for no reason.

I was having this issue when I was consuming soda. I would start feeling anxious, like I couldn't focus at a hundred percent, and my heart rate would pick up. I had no idea what I was stressed over, but I was still experiencing anxiety.

I love that this is no longer an issue.

I'm definitely wishing that I had tried to do this sort of thing sooner, but I'm happy that I finally did. Especially with not knowing everything that's going on with me on the medical side, I'm hoping that this at least does something to keep any crazy issues from popping up.