Lifestyle Medicine is Real Medicine

by: Andrea Beaubrun

Life is a balance of inhales and exhales, but I was stuck exhaling for years without pausing to move enough oxygen inwards. Three kids, three businesses and a great loss (my Mom) spiraled me into a total caffeine addiction. I mean I knew what to "do" to combat stress - what supplements to take - what food to eat. I was managing  - so I thought, at a nonstop pace. That was my problem. 

My fatigue eventually could no longer be fueled by coffee and I know I has heading for burn out. I was gaining weight despite eating a nourishing diet. Lab results confirmed it.

My healing was found only when my focus shifted from "do-ing" to "undoing." Coffee merely kept me going - but this was my problem. In July of 2017 I said goodbye to my energy source to live totally unsedated from my reality - if I couldn't keep up with life without coffee, then I needed to change life. Some people say - it's just coffee, what's the big deal? Anything that keeps you from living your life free of dependence is holding you back.

I started saying no. I started sleeping earlier. I starting "undoing" patterns of exhausting habits. My love affair with medicinal elixirs began. My ritual with a warm cuppa'yum now nourishes my adrenals versus stress them. I'm not saying I'll never have a cup of coffee again but I am saying I'll never live the life that requires me to depend on it. I'm free!