The day always starts off well. You’re full of determination to meet your newly found goal. The mornings aren’t usually difficult. It’s not until a few hours later when the withdrawal symptoms hit that you really start to doubt yourself.

You can get ready, drive to school and make it to your first class on time without a problem. But when the teacher starts to talk and you’re bored, your mind begins to wander. Soon you can’t stop yourself before you’re there: on the verge of relapse.

So much time had to pass before you reached this point. Months of being unable to admit to your addiction. And now that you’re here, you’ve realized that your battle has only just begun. And this is just the start of a life-long war.

Looking back, you probably can’t see where it began. Maybe it was just one time. You needed it to get through the day, after all. These people around you – your friends, family, peers and teachers – have so many expectations. How are you supposed to keep up and meet all of those expectations without a little help?

Before you even realize what’s happening, you’re addicted.

Maybe you realized it on your own or perhaps your parents and complete strangers expressed their concern. Either way, you can see that you have a problem and now you’re fighting it everyday.

But withdrawal is terrifying. The dizzying, light-sensitive headaches come first. They make a sunrise painful. The exhaustion hits you next. It’s so overwhelming that you’re nearly knocked off your feet. Yawns become your primary form of communication accompanied by impaired vision due to your drooping eyelids. The lack of what you had been thriving off of sets your teeth on edge. Everything anyone does irritates you. Your best friend becomes your worst nightmare and you become their’s.

Just remember one thing before you hit up Starbucks for that caramel macchiato with four times the espresso: you are stronger than your caffeine addiction.