Sometimes, the key to spicing up your life can take a very simple and mundane form. Or in the case of a challenge I embarked on in early-July, a bland and literally tasteless one.

Feeling sometime in mid-June that I had been swept up too mindlessly by the push-and-pull of the everyday, and seeing that I *had* to reclaim some sense of agency with the way I lived, I eventually decided: I would allow myself only water as a drink.

I'm pretty sure Yakun and Toast Box lost a fair bit of business during the week of my challenge...

No coffee. No tea. No fruit juice, no soya milk (or milk); not even the 'nourishing' sorts of drinks you find at Hock Hua/ZTP, such as Luo Han Guo.

Naturally, some part of this was health-centric.

Inevitably, you wake up one day and realise that having 3-4 cups of coffee daily probably isn’t alleviating your inability to sleep deeply. Also, a sweetened drink every now and then doesn’t hurt – but something’s a bit off when you routinely hit 6:00pm, and find your 750ml water bottle is still half full.

Health reasons aside, however, this was mostly a challenge rooted in a curiosity about my mental limits. Never before in my life had I consciously stuck only to drinking pure, plain water for only a week. Could I actually do it?

Weird experience not getting a Sprite when having Mac's

The process...

Before things kicked into full swing, I thought the biggest obstacle that I would have to overcome was the craving for something flavoured - whether it was the irreplaceable taste of espresso, or fruity-sugar.

Wrong.

It was the headaches.

Pushing away the usual cans of Qoo and cups of kopo kosong beng, surrpsingly, turned out to be much more achievable than expected.

Right up till Day 5, however, I was consistently battling a dull but throbbing pain towards the rear of my head an hour or two after waking – almost as if someone had their fingers permanently pressed on the nerves underneath my scalp. The pain would last annoyingly all the way into the evening, until I had finished my dinner.

I wasn't entirely caught off guard - a friend had previously shared with us how his attempt to wean himself slowly off coffee had resulted exactly in nagging headaches – but experiencing it was different altogether. Withdrawal effects from a lack of coffee (or caffeine), I guess, is how we understand it. But the result of that was... arguably positive ultimately, because it spurred me to drink more water.

The lack of sugar from the sweetened drinks found its way back in the form of desserts (I didn't cheat here!)

Did I cheat?

I'd like to think I was fully committed to the challenge. Still, the answer to that question depends on how we look at things. 

I don’t consider myself a heavy dessert-consumer, but with the sugary kick of drinks like 100 Plus (especially after workouts) no longer in the picture, I did surprise myself with how much I started to gravitate towards cake and ice-cream. Both of which I’ve never considered myself to be a massive fan of, by the way. (Again – this wasn’t an inherently health-motivated challenge, and ice cream is eaten, not drunk. I will not be convinced otherwise.)

A jug of sparkling water to fend off the temptation from my friend's iced matcha latte

The temptation to slip up was also always there. Since the weekend is also when meet-ups kick into full swing, it was torturous to watch my friends - across three separate cafe outings - sip on their drinks of choice: An aromatic pourover coffee, an iced americano, and an iced matcha latte.

Again, I held my ground resolutely, but I do wonder if - in a thirst-steeped moment of seeing another a glistening jug with cut lemons arrive at a table across us - my decision to order sparkling water ($3 before GST and service charge, by the way) muddied the water. (Pun intended.) Does sparkling water count as plain water? I was convinced both by my friend and by my own self that it does, but I’ll let whoever reads this be the judge.

On the contrary… having to be on a video shoot on just the second day of the challenge meant having to take a few sips of iced latte for the camera. Fine - I do regard this to be a genuine violation of the challenge, but one done in the glorious name of *heaves chest* a dedication to my work.

At that point, getting to taste the mixture of espresso and milk already felt heavenly (again, this was just my second day!), but I made sure to not take more than what was necessary for the camera to capture.

I can't deny it - it's nice to have coffee back in my life (at a more moderate level now)

Post-challenge reflections

I used to see coffee, caffeine and sugar in any liquid form as a necessary part of getting through my day, but that dependency has been genuinely reduced now.

I think of it in the same way as putting onself through a ‘social media detox’ every now and then.

After a period of having Instagram/TikTok on your phone, those little squares can gradually become the de-facto buttons you press when you’re bored or can’t think of anything better to do in the moment. But life actually goes on – perfectly normally – even when you don’t reach for them. Our minds can be trained out of those subconscious routines, and it's nice to be reminded of this reality ever so often.

Likewise, I’ve since returned eagerly to coffee in my life, but with some boundaries for now: I mostly don’t do more than one cup a day anymore, and I also make sure it’s not the first drink I have. Realising that I don’t need a cuppa to get through the day feels oddly empowering.

Pre-challenge, I had also started to feel some level of guilt from believing that I wasn't drinking enough plain water generally, and embracing it more warmly now has made me happier. (Even if it’s just the mind at work here, that still counts.)

Challenge ticked off for July - for the most part at least, I hope. Time to plot another one (I say, as I sip happily again every now and then on my iced lemon tea).

- Matt