I had made it an entire month of my first semester of college without walking into the nearest Starbucks on campus. I would walk past it every single day on the way to class, but I never had the urge to walk in. That was until I told myself I really wanted a cup of coffee. While I had made it an entire month without drinking coffee while at college, I also wasn’t a huge coffee drinker at home either. I never had withdrawals if I didn’t have my daily cup, and, quite honestly, I was never thinking about coffee at all. I was nothing like my parents in that if they weren’t given their daily fix-in of coffee, sometimes even two, they would be shaky, jittery, and have major withdrawals. Overall, I just never understood how coffee could ever have that strong of an effect on someone.

So, a month of college went by, and I reluctantly walked into the Starbucks on campus. I waited in an incredibly long line, was wondering what it really was I wanted to order, got up to the front, and ordered my cup of iced coffee. Again, I was never a huge coffee drinker to begin with. I never really enjoyed the taste and I didn’t believe that caffeine had the power to keep me awake at late hours of the night or cure my intense migraine. But, there was something about that cup of coffee that suddenly had me going back the next day. Before I knew it, I was going back to Starbucks every consecutive day. I feel like the workers knew me at this point because of the excessive amount of times I walked into Starbucks each day, sometimes even purchasing more than one cup of coffee per day.

Honestly, I never really thought I could ever get addicted as fast as I did. Like I said, I called my parents crazy when they told me they had major withdrawals when they didn’t have a cup of coffee. But, my parents clearly aren’t as crazy as I thought. When they wake up in the morning, I could always smell the Keurig brewing up whatever roast they were making for the day. I remember thinking “why do they want coffee this early in the morning?” Before you know it, that’s the first thought I have every morning. I roll over to snooze my alarm in the morning and then am suddenly taken over with the thought of when I am going to have my first cup of coffee for the day. The bottom line is, I have succumbed to this newfound addiction of mine and I know that there is no possible way I can get out of it.

If I’m being honest, half of the time I end up with a cup of coffee in my hand, it was never meant to be there in the first place. Sometimes I’ll find myself wandering around campus and within seconds I’m waiting in the Starbucks line, pulling up my app, and getting myself another coffee for the day.

As Spring Break approaches in the upcoming week, I am going to try to give my coffee craze a break. Hopefully, I won’t be too tempted to drive myself to the nearest Starbucks, pull up my app, and walk out with a cup of coffee for the day.

In reality, I already know this new coffee addiction of mine will only get worse as the years go on and my body relies on it more than it already does. But, in the end, I think it’s only natural that I only lasted a month as a new college student until cracking under pressure into buying my first cup of coffee. From that moment, I knew it was only the beginning.