4 January 2026
At some point, I came to a clear conclusion: I needed to give up caffeine. For this reason, I have not consumed caffeinated drinks for several years. The situation with alcohol is similar. More broadly, my rationale for abstention applies to anything capable of creating dependency in one form or another. I will now explain what this rationale is.
It is quite simple: any dependency is a form of unfreedom. Dependency is a compulsive need - a need that cannot be controlled by will. In such a state, choice becomes a fiction, and a decision ceases to be a genuinely rational decision. For me, this means a loss of control and, consequently, a loss of free will.
From an ethical standpoint, I regard freedom as a good. Therefore, rejecting things that constitute forms of unfreedom (things that directly deprive a person of autonomy) is a striving toward that good. For me, this is the correct way of life.
Even in such a minor form as a dependence on caffeine, addiction distances a person from freedom - freedom that is gradient in nature and unattainable as a final goal, yet valuable as an orienting principle, a moral beacon.
At times, I ask myself: “What limits my freedom?”
Such reflection helps me identify the EXCESS (the things one can and ought to give up, such as dependencies that require constant “maintenance”) in order to concentrate on what is IMPORTANT (the things that bring one closer to the good, for example, greater autonomy).