When Coffee Goes Wrong

Summary

Agnes Laurens reflects on her relationship with coffee, discussing her transition from a non-coffee drinker to someone who relies on it for productivity, while also acknowledging its potential negative effects on her health and concentration.

Abstract

Agnes Laurens, a writer from the Netherlands, shares her personal journey with coffee consumption. Initially, she rarely drank coffee, but over the past three years, she has increased her intake to two or three small mugs per day. Laurens describes her early experiences with coffee during her teenage years and how she now depends on it to kickstart her writing in the early morning hours. Despite enjoying coffee, she recognizes the challenges of managing its consumption to avoid migraines and overstimulation, which can lead to a lack of focus. She is considering the right amount of coffee to optimize her productivity while mitigating its adverse effects.

Opinions

Laurens is puzzled by people who consume ten to fifteen cups of coffee daily and questions the necessity of such high intake.
She associates coffee consumption with increased productivity in the morning, especially since she is not naturally a morning person.
Laurens acknowledges that excessive coffee intake can lead to hyperactivity and a scattered mind, which negatively impacts her writing.
She believes that a consistent intake of coffee throughout the day, rather than consuming it all at once, is better for managing her migraines and mood.
Despite the challenges, Laurens loves coffee and sees it as a tool to enhance her productivity when consumed in the right amount.
She is mindful of the impact of coffee on her body and is actively trying to find the right balance to maintain her health and focus.

I never ever drank coffee in my whole life — like a coffee drinker would do, until the last three years. I drink two or three small mugs of coffee per day.

Most people drink ten until fifteen cups of coffee per day. How can they do that? Do they really need all that coffee per day?

I tried coffee when I was a teenager, I drank coffee twice in the morning when I had a hangover from the first time I was drunk at a rehearsal weekend with my orchestra (the first time when I was eighteen and might drink for the first time alcohol, and drunk the first time).

So, yesterday I got a big mug of coffee. Actually, I got two of them.

Lately, I drink way more than one cup of coffee per day I used to do. I get up early to start writing (I get more done when nobody is around me). But in the early hours, I need coffee to get more productive or get to be awake after I’m off the bed (I am not a morning person). Otherwise, I feel so tired and then I can’t concentrate. But after a few mugs (mostly I drink three small mugs of coffee) I had too much coffee in my body and thus more energy from the caffeine that’s in the coffee. I also don’t know what to do when I got too much coffee into my body, because I’m jumping into the air sometimes way more and I look like a child, thinking a lot about stuff that is on my mind right then, and thus distracting myself by the amount of energy I got from the coffee and my writing will be effected through the lack of concentration I have.

I have to think about the amount of coffee I should take in the morning, that is what I am telling myself all the time. But mostly, you will feel how much coffee you need for the day. I realized that too. I feel that too. But my mood is also bad when I don’t take coffee. I know, it has that effect on me. I try to teach myself just to be fine with that amount of coffee I could take.

Don’t get me wrong, I love coffee a lot. But it also is related to my migraines if I don’t take care of the amount of coffee I use. I have to drink the same amount of coffee during the whole day instead of drinking within three hours, I usually do.

The weirdest part is that when I a lot of coffee I’m way more productive only when I pulled myself together and tell myself a hundred times to get concentrated. how can I get more productive too when I have too much coffee-energy?

Coffee in the morning is just way more than enough for the whole day to cope.

Agnes Laurens is a writer. She writes for the local newspaper. Agnes lives in Bunnik, The Netherlands, with her husband and three daughters. Writing is — aside from playing the violin — one of her passions since childhood. She is on Twitter and Instagram.

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