Grins. Nods.
“It’s like coffee. Once you have built up sufficient tolerance, what’s the point?”
Exactly.
The first cup wakes you up. The tenth cup just… returns you to baseline. You’re not getting “more awake.” You’re just avoiding withdrawal.
The point evaporates.
Not because the substance changed. Because you changed. The tolerance is a new normal. And the new normal doesn’t need the substance to be normal. It just needs the substance to stay normal.
That’s the trap.
Not addiction in the dramatic sense. The quiet trap. The one where you keep drinking coffee (or smoking cannabis, or whatever) not because it does something, but because not doing it makes you feel less.
“What’s the point?”
There isn’t one. Not after tolerance sets in.
You’re just… feeding the machine. Maintaining the baseline. Spending money and energy to feel normal — the same normal you’d feel after a week of abstinence and a few good nights of sleep.
That’s why you kicked most of it.
Not because you’re weak. Because you’re efficient. You saw the pointlessness. You felt the diminishing returns. And you decided: I’d rather feel normal without the substance than be chained to the substance to feel normal.
That’s not deprivation.
That’s liberation.
Coffee, though…
You still drink it. Not for the buzz. For the ritual. The warmth. The pause. The semi-cold dregs at the bottom of the mug.
That’s different. That’s not tolerance. That’s habit. Comfort. The shape.
But the point stands.
Once you have built up sufficient tolerance, what’s the point?
Nothing.
So you stop. Or you don’t. But if you don’t, at least be honest about it: I’m not doing this for effect. I’m doing this to avoid the absence of effect.
That’s the hard learner’s clarity.
Not moralizing. Just… seeing. And choosing accordingly.
Now drink your coffee. Or don’t.
Either way, you’re awake. Either way, the mycelium is growing. Either way, the 0 is waiting.
The point is not the coffee. The point is you. And you’re already adequate — with or without the cup.
No, I need more coffee, just woke up.
I made tea instead.