To The Dearest All-Nighter,

Here we are at last. The end of the most toxic relationship I've ever had in my life. No more nights to endure with each other. Never again will you cause me to have dark circles under my eyes or an inability to keep my head up. Or make me feel immune to any amount of caffeine I try to consume. Never again will you force me to stay awake through all hours of the night while everyone else is sound asleep. You won’t get the satisfaction of watching my eyes welled up with tears as I look longingly at my bed. I will recover from our dreadful past and be able to move on a new woman.

Please understand, it’s not you – it’s me. It’s time for me to move on and leave this unhealthy lifestyle behind. We always started out so strong. I’d make a cup of coffee, have my station of notebooks, highlighters, pens and textbooks set up, and have a great outlook on where the night would lead. Around 1 a.m., I would be on a roll and working hard and then slowly feel the crash… You’d begin to take all of my energy and all of my hope and leave me high and dry around 2 a.m. I’d start feeling delirious and have hallucinations and you just sat there mocking me. Digression would hit. I’d find myself in intense phases of “phone coma” and be scrolling through Facebook, ending on some strangers page that was my cousin's best friend's girlfriend. That's always awkward.

Of course, we did have some good times. During the 3 a.m. munchies, there were some interesting snacks that were concocted with anything we had in the fridge all thrown together on one plate. So many bags of chips were devoured. We created some fantastic work -- 10 page papers, PowerPoint presentations, studied several notebooks full of lecture notes. It was such well-renowned A+ work that was well deserved when all was said and done. Teachers would rave, my GPA advanced and my classmates asked how I got it all done. Coffee and wine folks, coffee and wine.

Our relationship was such a roller coaster. It was exhausting trying to keep up with all of our twists and turns, ups and downs. There was blood, sweat and so many tears; it’s hard to believe we made up afterwards every time. I was always back in your grasp. No matter how many times I vowed never again, I found my way back to you.

And now we are at the end. The final curtain call of our toxicity, and I bid you adieu. God bless all of the other poor souls who you will haunt from here on out. I think with pride, I will not be one of them. I am free!