Images have been a bit problematic for me lately, for sure. If storing them locally is not a solid option, the question I would have is how much of the other requests are proxied? As in, what other stuff apart from images/media is not being proxied? If the clients are leaking IPs anyway, maybe it's okay to have them download the images, too. But if the server is proxying everything else then having some sort of a cache might not be that bad an idea
I'm not on any medication yet so can't really compare. But where do you stand on caffeine? I guess it's technically also a stimulant but since it doesn't seem to have any effects on me I sometimes drink some in the evening for the taste. And it doesn't alter my sleep/tiredness at all
Fellow people who grew up poor?