These are the hardest days, apparently.  That’s what the book says, and it’s also what a good friend of mine says as well.  She said she was super down on Day 11.  Well, here we are at Day 11, and I’m ready to fight through!

This post is a little longer than normal.  I might need to use you all as my therapist throughout these rough days.  Sorry and thank you!  Check’s in the mail…

Day 10:  Yesterday.

Not my finest day.  The snow came early and I felt like I needed to cancel the concert we were going to have at our house.  So I had all these appetizers sitting around ~ all Whole 30 compliant, but still appetizers ~ and I just ate them and lay on the couch, not knowing what to do with my life.

MORAL:  I think being busy and having a purpose during this reset is the ANSWER for me.

The first week was so successful because I was SO busy blogging and cooking and shopping and organizing.  Now that I’m getting the hang of it all, I’m still super busy, but my head doesn’t have to be totally submerged in the game to get it all done.  So I probably need to throw myself into another project.  (Marie Kondo, anyone?)

While I was on the treadmill yesterday, I read a part of the Whole 30 book that really ticked me off, to be honest.  It stated that if you are doing the Whole 30 and you have IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), it’s probably time to cut out coffee for a while.

UMMM, WHAT?

I feel like it’s really the last pleasure in life that I have left.  That’s not true, of course!  But why don’t you just kick me while I’m down?

Coffee is one of my absolute favorite things.  Cafes are my sanctuary.  I get more done in a cafe than I ever could at home.  I love the people, the atmosphere, the smell of coffee brewing.  I have sat and journaled in cafes all over the world.  Literally.  And I remember every one of them.  Madrid, Sydney, Billings, Montana ~ they’re all so meaningful to me.

(I’m drinking one right now, at my current favorite cafe)

In fact, after reading that stupid blurb in the book, I spent most of the day thinking about coffee, and wishing I was drinking it.

Maybe it was my last rebellion before giving it up for a while?

I even had a snack last night at 8PM, with the Almond Joy Truffles and a cup of decaf…

Which had just enough caffeine in it to make me stay up half the night…

So I think I know what I need to do.  I’m going to say farewell to coffee for the rest of the reset.  And then I’ll pick it back up after, and just designate one special morning at a cafe, and treat myself to better digestion!

This is right on so many levels.  This whole last week, my energy levels have been so high that the caffeine has disrupted my sleep a bit.  I only drink one cup of coffee a day, so I can replace it with green tea and see what happens for the rest of the Whole 30.

Can you tell I’m trying to convince myself that I can do it?  UGH.

And by the way, I made this a 21-day reset, but I secretly would like to do the entire 30 days.  We’ll see.  I’m not going to even think about that right now, though.  I’m just going to try to get through this weekend, which is difficult because it’s snowing outside, and the Hub is definitely becoming more and more impatient with this way of living.  I can tell he’s annoyed and ready to do things more moderately.  And add a little more fun back in.  I agree.

But what is that?  Is that a cheat day once a week?  Which day of the week would that be?   We have such a weird life.  We have wine breaks at church on Wednesday nights, and dinners out with friends any given night of the week.  We don’t have weekends off typically, so the obvious choice of having a glass of wine with friends only on the weekends doesn’t really work as well for us.

I don’t have the answers for that yet, but I hopefully will by the end of this!

I’ll leave you alone, with a beautiful picture of the snow…