I never thought I would become addicted to anything but this is pretty tough to quit. :/

I have never had any issues with addiction in the past until I just realized recently that I may very well be addicted to caffeine. It is hard to admit because we all drink coffee, energy drinks, fat burners, pre work outs, and the list goes on and on. We look at these things as harmless since they are every where socially accepted now and since the energy drink market blew up it has gotten to a whole other level. I even see kids drinking Monster now.

As some of you may know, I own a supplement store and I have been involved in the supplement industry for 10 years now and the health and fitness industry for over 20 now. I have access in my store to every kind of caffeine and stimulant based product you can imagine for free, companies send me boxes and boxes of samples. I usually start my day at around 6am and the first thing I do is take some kind or form of caffeine when I wake up. Go to the gym, get my training done and then go to my store and start my day. Some days if my day is dragging, I may need at some point another bit of caffeine in the form of coffee or an energy drink. I talk to so many people that drink upwards of 3-4 cups of coffee per day, even though I dont feel like I would ever get to that level, I am concerned that it is almost impossible to quit it.

How I feel sometimes about coffee or caffeine lol.

I dont know if I am over reacting and I should not really worry about it, or if its just that society has made it ok to intake caffeine daily now with out guilt. A few weeks ago I tried to just stop taking caffeine in any form and was getting nasty headaches and was super irritable to the point that my job that I usually love was actually aggravating me. I love interacting and helping people and that is why our business has thrived for so many years against all the major chains of supplement stores. But I felt that with out caffeine I was like Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyl was out for the day. I lasted 2 days in this state of being annoyed with everything and every one and having headaches all day. Once that coffee hit my lips, I swear it was like the gates of heaven where opening and rainbows and unicorns where running out smiling at me.

I found this interesting, it says that 400mg of caffeine can actually be beneficial to your health.

Do any of you guys struggle with this issue or am I just being silly? I feel like caffeine itself also wears me down by stressing my addrenal glands and raising cortisol levels. Its like a take and give situation that I am not sure where I stand with it. I thought about maybe just drinking green tea through out the day which would be much more beneficial and inline with my antiaging and health goals. What do you guys think here? To caffeinate or not to caffeinate?