my addiction

Hello.  My name is Natalie and I am a Coke Zero addict.  In fact, I've been an addict for a little over 4 years now.

It all began when I started traveling for work 4 years ago.  And yes, I've been traveling for work for a lot longer than that, but my previous job only required me to travel from either the Bay Area to Reno or Salt Lake to Reno - wherever I happened to be living at the time (which wasn't always clear).

Now I travel to the east coast and couple that with my insomnia, well, it's a bad combination.  But nothing that my trusty Coke Zero couldn't help me get through.

I don't have much of a history with soda.  Growing up, we only had soda when we had pizza which was a pretty rare (and fun!) occasion.  But now?  A Coke Zero a day keeps the fuzzy head awake.

For a while now, I've been wanting to kick the Coke Zero habit.  I knew it wasn't good for me.  My new best friend Jillian would always tell me how bad it was for me.  And it certainly wasn't doing anything to help my insomnia.

When we were filling out our initial adoption papers, it asked if we had any addictions.  I wrote down Coke Zero.  I'm sure my social worker thought I was a bit nuts, but it really did bother me that I couldn't kick the habit.  I felt like I wasn't in control.  Sure, I could go a day or even two without one, but I started getting cranky by day three.

So with that, I am proud to say, I am Coke Zero free since the last day of my last trip:  June 10th.  The real test will begin on July 11th - when I fly to Atlanta for my next tradeshow. 

But for now, it's TEN days and counting...