Coffee should be your best friend

Image by trophy geek via Flickr

Meghan Maclaren | Contributing Writer

opinion@fiusm.com

Too much of anything is bad. We all know that. Too much candy, too much alcohol, even too much of the things that are supposed to be good for us. Let’s be honest, when you’re running late for your 9 a.m. class, standing in a Starbucks line for 20 minutes trying not to get irritated by the mixture of overly happy morning people and overly impatient not-morning people isn’t really what you want to be doing.

But coffee can change your life.

I know that sounds extreme, but none of the most successful people in history got where they did by having ten hours of sleep every night. Sleep is wonderful, but there are a lot of important things to get done – and if you haven’t realized that yet, you’re not in college for the right reasons. I’d love to be one of those ridiculously efficient people. You know the ones who go through one task and the next with a machine-like application while you’re still struggling to actually write your to-do list. Try as I might, I can’t make myself into one of those people. But give me a couple of well timed coffee breaks during the day and suddenly I am one of those people. It might be artificial, but the work you’ll produce won’t be.

For any of the other coffee drinkers out there, you’ll know what I’m talking about. I don’t just mean the people who like going to Starbucks because it’s Starbucks, the ones who alternate between various types of frappucino and rejoice when the beginning of the fall brings the pumpkin spice latte with it. I mean the ones who are tired – not just wanting some more sleep tired, but the tired of trying to find inspiration in a world where people themselves leave you drained.

Until you have that first sip. And suddenly all of that mess fades into the background; an abstract blur that is somehow now easy to keep at bay. All of the ideas and knowledge that had been simmering on the fringes of your brain is able and ready to get turned into something concrete. Something you can put on a page. Something that will get you an A, or boost your resume or inspire your classmates. College isn’t easy – if you want it to be, it can be the most fun four years of your life – but you can go out and party regardless of whether you’re in college or not. But you might not have access to the opportunities that college gives you once your four years are up. Don’t let tiredness keep you from achieving all the things that you are capable of achieving.

Try not to completely rely on coffee. It’s hard, trust me. Try not to get to the stage where it’s mid-morning and you have a headache for no reason other than lack of caffeine. But if one more espresso shot is what it takes to get that paper done or that extra hour of studying in, don’t give up and go to sleep. Don’t go out and party again. Ease out the alcohol and ease in the coffee. You’ve got work to do.