Sips of Love

The soft yet healing power of a good cuppa

I have never been a coffee person.

Its taste was always too bitter and aggressive on my tongue. If I didn’t like coffee, how could I consider myself a true adult, ya know? If my caffeine boost could not come from a bean, then it would come from a leaf instead.

Tea, to be exact, what were you thinking? I began to ditch the cups of coffee I so desperately tried to like for a nice mug of tea instead. It is comfort in liquid form. A warm embrace that one doesn’t have to go too far to find. I can open up my cupboard, plug in the kettle, and be transported to a calmer land all within a matter of minutes. That, my friends, is a simple pleasure.

Such pleasures are ones I’m trying more and more to cherish. Maybe it’s the turning tide of becoming a little bit older now where I seek fewer thrills in favor of solace. Whenever people talk about their, “happy place,” my mind always drifts to a cold, winter’s day where I can curl up on the couch in a heavy blanket, watching the snowfall with a steaming cup of tea in my hands. Sounds like peace to me.

So often I get wrapped up in the horrors of the world or my own, personal strife that I guzzle down the stuff, letting the mugs pile up in the sink, carelessly leaving behind the sticky residue of honey I too generously use. Stopping to the smell the flowers is lovely, but stopping to enjoy a sip of tea is even more so. Taking the time to do this is where the knots I had tied myself in begin to unravel. The first heated drops find my tongue as if to prep my lungs for a nice, long sigh of relief.

The thing the passing of time does well if you’re lucky is the way it fosters gratitude, especially for what we previously took for granted. A few short years ago tea wouldn’t have been enough for me, I would look down into the depths of its cup and see nothing, but a soulless, black abyss that happens to give me a pep in my step for the rest of the day, or let’s be real, makes me have to pee way too much. Now, I look down and see a soothing sea of love and recognition of the small act of kindness I’m doing for myself just by having made this cup in the first place.

It may not be a lot, tea doesn’t have as good a PR team as coffee does, and I probably drink too much of it for my own good, but as I find myself in moments of reflection it’s on hand without fail. Moving on into another chapter of my life, ridding myself of unrealistic expectations, and self-imposed pressures, I can hold this toasty salve in my hand and finally know it is enough.

I would like to give a shoutout to Sam Finlayson and her piece on dealing with anxiety by appreciating the small, yet miraculous things in life. It’s a very touching story that certainly encourages us all to take stock of the goodness and help around us when we can, and how that can make all the difference.

If you enjoyed my piece above consider checking out the one I submitted for the New Years Coffee Challenge!