Me And My (non) Friend, Diet Coke

When most kids go off to college, they start drinking alcohol.  Or if they already drank, they start binge drinking alcohol.  But I've never done alcohol and never will.  So when I went off to college, I started drinking Diet Coke.  

This was quite possibly just as big of a mistake.

What ensued over the next 17 years (yes, it's been THAT long since I've been a freshman in college), was a full scale, all out, no holds barred addiction.  And I mean addiction in the strongest sense of the word.

I could tell you how much Diet Coke I would drink on a regular day, but I don't want to scare you.  Nor do I want you to think I'm some kind of freak.  So I'll just tell you it was a lot.  Like A LOT.  Like think of a really large number in your head and then add a few extra cans.

This was my motto (yes, I drank it for breakfast):

And when life got rough, this was my motto (yes, I medicated myself with Diet Coke):

I'm kind of surprised I still have teeth, to tell you the truth.  Have you ever seen this?  I love being compared to meth users!

So anyway, I decided I was going to quit drinking it.  Because whether you believe Diet Coke is okay to drink or not, I think we'd ALL agree that drinking it as much as I did was NOT okay.

Now, this isn't the first time I have tried to give up Diet Coke.  I've definitely made some (weak) attempts in the past.  Like the one time I decided I was going to give it up for Lent.  That lasted not even one day (I kid you not - by that evening I was cracking open a can).  Or the time this past July when I decided I was going to "cut back" and by the third day of cutting back, I was already back up to 95% of my previous usage.

This is not a picture of me, but it should be.

So what was different this time?  Not really sure.  Other than I started associated it a bit more with performance (ie: stop drinking Diet Coke and you will be faster) and I will do ANYTHING (legal, of course) to improve performance.  And the other thing is, I finally acknowledged the fact that I don't know how to do anything in moderation so it was either I drink it (like 5 liters of it) or I did NOT drink (like none at all, no "cutting back", no "weaning down", just full out cold turkey STOP).

54 days.  That's how long it's been.  I wouldn't say I'm out of the woods yet.  Not by any stretch of the imagination.  It was easy at first because I was at training camp and my roomies Steph and Kim didn't drink it so we didn't have it in our house.  Plus I was training all day so there wasn't really time.  Kim can tell you how I almost cried on the drive home because I wanted it so bad (when I'm traveling I LOVE it even more).  And once I got home and back in the routine of life, I definitely have had some real longings for it.  Oscar (bless his heart) agreed to my request to not have it in our house.  But when we go out to eat, I WANT IT SO BAD I would give up an arm.  Or a leg.  Or a lung.  Anything for a Diet Coke.  I thought of Diet Coke the ENTIRE flight from Phoenix to Pittsburgh on my trip home from Cabo (darn flight attendants kept flashing it around) and when I'm at work (where I can get free fountain Diet Coke - THE best), I have to just avoid the cafeteria altogether (which is hard because my office is right next to it).

So yeah, it's hard.  And not getting much easier.  But I know it will.  54 days.  Just focusing on day #55 right now.  Diet Coke, you will not win.