It might be easy

A few years ago, I learned that the chronic sore throats and congestion I’d been experiencing might be a combination of reflux and a reaction to dairy products. I was really tired of being in pain. I started taking medication — and also decided to try cutting dairy products out of my life.

I was nervous about how this would work in general. Have you noticed how much cheese is on everything? But in particular, I was nervous about changing my morning coffee ritual.

I had been putting milk in my coffee since I began drinking coffee daily at age 15. At some point in adulthood, I upgraded to real cream. That thick rich cream in my coffee was what got me up in the morning through some hard early years with babies who wouldn’t sleep.

So I was wondering how on earth I was going to change that ingrained habit.

Then I tried drinking my coffee black one morning. And guess what? It was fine.

I did it the next morning. Also fine.

Just like that I realized that changing this habit was going to be way, way easier than I thought.

It helped that I actually did start to feel better. Pain turns out to be a powerful motivator! But in any case, I haven’t been tempted to explore the various non-dairy creamer alternatives out there. Black coffee is great. What I thought was a deeply ingrained habit was just something I chose at age 15 and then never questioned.

Maybe you, too, are thinking of making a big change. Maybe it’s dietary. Maybe it’s shifting your sleeping schedule to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier. Maybe it’s giving up the snooze button. Maybe it’s starting a new calendar process or work flow.

All these things could be difficult. But they might also be…not that hard. The truth is you just don’t know until you try. If you don’t try because you think it will be hard, you’ll never know how easy a change might have been.

I am not saying it will be easy. But if I was able to stop drinking cream in my coffee overnight after 27 years, then there might be hope.

(Now, don’t get me started on ice cream…)

*******

Vanderhacks is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.