Summer Experiments

Entering the summer months has brought about unique states of mind across the indieweb blog community. I began running my own experiment after seeing posts from Manu that linked to posts from Kevin and Luke. We all have unique motivations for these experiments, which makes the theme more fascinating to see from different perspectives. Most of these experiments fall squarely into the familiar territory of doing without. What makes these a departure, from my view, is that they weren’t planned far in advance or part of a larger year-long effort.

Work and life have been busy, so I didn’t post about my first experiment until now. It’s no secret to readers of this site that I enjoy brewing and drinking coffee. I’ve written about my ritualistic romance with the process. Sometime in April, I started to question whether my coffee-making and consumption patterns were aligned with the joy I get from them. I wasn’t losing sleep—I always enjoy making and drinking coffee—but it started to feel like I was making excuses to do it several times a day. I began to wonder if it was becoming the wrong kind of escape. Rather than a refreshing breath, walk, or moment of contemplation, I’d sometimes turn on the kettle out of muscle memory, without any thoughtfulness. I was going through the motions because the idea of my ritual was an escape.

That recognition led to my current experiment. Minus three exception days, since sometime in May I’ve had only one cup of coffee each morning. By reducing to one cup, I’ve appreciated it more. I’ve reconnected with why I love making coffee. It has returned to a more intentional ritual. The few days I’ve had more than one cup weren’t absentminded—they were intentional too, and for that reason, I don’t consider them a violation. It wasn’t about reducing caffeine or breaking an unhealthy habit. I just wanted to renew the purpose of the ritual.

I don’t have a predefined plan for how long I’ll run this experiment. I’ll deviate when it feels right. I’ve toyed with the idea of trying tea in the afternoon, mainly because I’ve read about its mental benefits. It hasn’t gone beyond a fleeting thought, but if I do experiment with tea, you’ll hear about it here. Since my coffee reduction experiment wasn’t as structured as the ones I linked above, I’m not sure when I’ll start the next one. I like Manu’s current one—putting space between him and his phone. I may try a variation, since I’ve weakly returned to using my phone before bed instead of reading. While I don’t use social media, scrolling the YouTube homepage and feeling compelled to watch semi-interesting videos without intention feels shallow.

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