PROMISE
Have you ever made a hasty promise, thinking “how hard could that be?”
THEN, upon learning what you had gotten yourself into, did you second-guess yourself? Did you wonder how you could get out of it and if doing so would matter to anyone?
Welcome to my life.
If you’re my Facebook friend, you may have seen my May 1 post about joining the Ration Challenge.
I made the decision to join the Ration Challenge in roughly 2.5 minutes MAX.
There’s no financial commitment (although the organizers hope we use the activity to raise much-needed funds for refugees by eating the same rations as a Syrian refugee living in a camp in Jordan for one week during the week of World Refugee Day (June 16-23 — the actual day is June 20) ).
It’s not as though a restricted diet will cause me undue health issues, since the activity only lasts a week (and yes I will plan to weigh in at Weight Watchers at the end of my week of restricted eating!).
I didn’t read the fine print. I didn’t really read the “print.” I know I care about refugees. I know this will give me a fantastic experience to share on social media to help other people care about refugees.
BUT THERE IS NO COFFEE IN THE CHALLENGE! (There is, if you raise a ton of money.)
I can earn teabags by emailing people, so is it OK if I ask your forgiveness in advance for a few fundraising emails? I don’t even know if it’s caffeinated tea, but maybe I can trick my brain into thinking it is.
I honestly did think about withdrawing.
***end of five minutes***
But it’s not like refugees have a choice either.
Although I am among the biggest coffee fans around (even though I’m technically not supposed to have it due to health reasons), I’m a bigger fan of helping refugee children (and refugees in general) survive.
For all the jokes I’ve made in my life about not being able to survive without coffee, it’s time to keep my promise and do something for the people whose survival is truly at stake.
Note: If you’re interested in joining the challenge (I need company!) or contributing, here is the link.
Welcome to this week’s Five Minute Friday. Our instructions, via creator Kate Motaung: “Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation.” (But I can’t resist spell checking, as you can imagine.)

Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.
Great job! I hope you reach your goal!
Thanks! I hope I survive the lack of caffeination!
Good luck. If you are on caffeinated coffee it will be a hard go but you are committed and I am rooting for you.
Oh I am. I am going to have *quite* the headache for the first day or two. But hopefully it will abate. Probably after a week LOL.
Loved the post! I hope you are not only surviving but thriving without your caffeine.
We’ll find out. It’s next month! Thanks.
I promise tea will be great. I’m not really a coffee drinker but I love me some tea!
I’m sure by the end of seven days, I’ll have a HUGE appreciation for tea! Thanks for the encouragement!