Many people have drink addictions, maybe to tea, or in most cases coffee. My drink addiction is carbonated soda drinks such as Seven Up, Root Beer, or Coca Cola.  I drink it almost every day even when I’m not supposed to. I know it may not be good for me but I really don’t care. I have a habit of going to almost any vending machine nearby. I need my Dr. Pepper or Root Beer, I couldn’t imagine going a week without it.

The week started out rough because usually when I walk in waiting for my first-period class to start, the vending machines are nearby. I was so tempted to spend my two bucks to get what was my almost daily Dr. Pepper before gym class, which may have been slowing me down because of the fact that I drank soda each morning before going to gym. I watched others around me with their own soda. This temptation lasted through around half the week, but that was only a portion of the challenge.

After going through all four of my morning classes each day and drank from the water fountains instead of carrying around a Dr. Pepper, I got to lunch and that was where things got a whole lot harder. Friends sitting next to me had bottles of Pepsi and if you look around who knows how many people had soda with them.

Every Tuesday I go to youth group after school, there were vending machines there and our own cafe there as well. I would normally get myself a Root Beer every time. If not, it was because I forgot my money and got to finish off friends drinks anyways. This week I had to stand by during worship service as my friend Mia had a can of RC Cola in her hand.

Back at home didn’t help me much either. Especially at dinner when my dad would ask me to get up and go get him a root beer from the basement fridge that was full of two whole cases of it. It was great having to hand him a root beer knowing if I wasn’t challenging myself, I would have gotten one too. Being me I would usually keep a can on my desk while doing homework, but of course, that wasn’t an option anymore so I had to switch to either tea or water. It wasn’t too bad, it was healthier.

I was starting to feel like I could achieve in going the rest of the week without soda. I started drinking more water and Arizona tea instead. I didn’t feel as unhealthy and slow as usual. I wasn’t wasting my money on vending machines almost every morning either. I started to forget about soda on the last two days and that’s where things went downhill. I forgot I was doing the challenge and chugged a whole root beer once I got home from school.

I have failed this challenge but it taught me that soda may taste good but it isn’t always healthy when you drink it every day and that I should take breaks from it every so often.