Letter to my Younger Self No. 2 - Energy

Dearest Little Julie,

You know how grown-ups drink coffee in the morning? And now, they even bring you to coffee shops, to get special drinks? Why do grown-ups love coffee so much?

I'll give you one guess, and it's not because it's a dessert, the way Starbucks drinks are for you.

It's caffeine. It makes them feel better.

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Before you grow up think about this. You know all that energy you have inside? The energy that needs to get out at recess, and that makes it hard to sit too long in class? That's called natural human energy. Kids are FULL of it, right?

Now imagine this. If you start drinking coffee when you grow up, you might give up your natural energy. Does that sound weird?

The real reason grown-ups drink coffee is because they need it. Because they don't have enough natural human energy any more. Probably because they don't take care of their body.

They do too many things every day and get too tired, and they don't sleep enough. And there's other stuff, like what they eat, and not getting exercise, and dealing with stress. All that makes people really tired.

So instead of protecting their natural human energy, they use coffee to keep them going.

I wanted you to know this, so you can figure out how to not need coffee, if that's what you want.

People who don't drink coffee usually feel more calm and peaceful. They've made a life that's easier and more fun to live, and they still have all the energy they want. They just get it different ways.