5 Things I Learned from a Coffee Shop

This past weekend my friend Lauren and I took a small trip to see our other hardworking, dedicated, and might I mention old, college best friends. College is a stressful time in life. Who am I kidding I haven’t been to college yet, but by the looks of Twitter, it’s pretty challenging. On our visit, we decided to mosey on down to a coffee shop to take away the stress of finals. The name of the shop was “Awaken.” That simple name got my brain juices following. Yes our brains have juices. I think. But anyways during that short time we were there, I learned many deep philosophical things. And here they are.

1. WAKE UP!!!!!                                                                        

Great! Now that you’re awake, get up and do something. Anything. Give your pet a bath. Play with your kids. Call a friend and talk to them. Go outside without your phone. Take a shower. Cook a meal. Get some exercise. Do something adventurous. My point is that life is too short. Duh. You only live once! Duh. But seriously. It’s good to have days when we can just kick back and rest, but we can’t kick back and rest every day of our lives. Our world needs us! Most importantly, we need our own selves to stay motivated and creative on days that feel like the end of the world. So if you’ve ever dreamed of doing something daring or extravagant or spontaneous, take the advice from the coffee shop and awaken yourself! YOLO!

2. IT’S OKAY TO BE HAPPY                                                  

Sometimes us humans like to hide our emotions because that’s what society tells us to do. We’re always being told that someone has it better, or what we’re doing isn’t good enough, or that we shouldn’t be happy for ourselves when we succeed because succeeding is already expected. Over time we start to listen to the world and lose the calmness that God has hand delivered to us in a pretty package. If you’re happy and you know it, don’t be afraid to clap your hands, stop your feet, and say “amen!”  

While my friends and I were sitting in this coffee shop sipping on our coffee and making our own s’mores. Yes you heard right. We had a little campfire going inside. Here’s proof.Back to the point. If you’ve ever been to a coffee shop it usually has many photo ops. For the people in the back with troubled hearing (I’ll say that instead of calling out all the old(er) people), ops means opportunities in modern-day language. So my friend Kenz and I started to scope out our set up and we found a few spots that had potential. Naturally, we started moving around the decor to use as props for the photos as you can see in the pictures below. The man who was working at the time just laughed at us the whole time. And so did everyone else that was in the shop. The thing about all the laughter is that it showed that we had something to laugh about. Something to help us forget about whatever stress we had in the back of our minds. Something that allows us to have a moment of peacefulness. And something to show us that in the midst of this messed up world, there are nice people who encourage you to keep doing what you’re doing. Like the kind people in the coffee shop. So don’t be ashamed to do something fun that you enjoy. If people stare, then good job you’re doing something right.

3. fuhgeddaboudit                                                                   

Take Donnie Brasco’s advice and just… wait for it… fuhgeddaboutit. Life tends to get busy and run away from our reach sometimes so it’s important to just forget about it every once in a while. I’m not saying to just keep pushing off your work and become a couch potato. Sometimes we just need a day to soak in everything we’re blessed with and get rid of the stress that hangs over us. A good book, a nice bubble bath, some yoga, or even a short walk should do the trick. Point being that every person on this earth, or might I say every hard-working person, deserves time off from his or her work whatever that may be. So don’t get caught up on things that aren’t pushed for time. Instead, take some time living in the moment. After all, we aren’t promised tomorrow.

4. Friends are Valuable                                                          

Do you ever find yourself saying “wow my friends are weird but I like them anyway”? Me too. But that’s what makes our friends… wait for it again… our friends. We get to bond with people who have the same hobbies and likeness as us. It’s just awesome to me that different humans with different views, morals, and attitudes can easily become a shoulder to lean on. A best friend is what most people call it. But what is a best friend you may ask? When I think about it, a best friend is someone who sees all of your flaws, but loves you anyway. Someone who always keeps you in the loop. Someone who you call or text at 3 in the morning to share a story that happened earlier that day. Someone who encourages you in all that you do. Someone that can dish your sarcasm back to you without hesitation. Someone that will tell you the truth about what outfit/ hairstyle looks best on you. It’s a person that will adventure with you whenever the time allows. Most importantly, a best friend is someone who you can sit in complete silence with and it not become awkward. That’s when you know that person is your BFF. When I was looking back at the day I had, I felt extremely blessed with the awesome friends I was surrounded by. You never know how much your friends rub off on you until years have passed and you’ve grown so much as a person. If you haven’t grown any (not physically), and you’ve instead went the opposite way down the root into the ground, then that’s probably a hint that your “friends” probably aren’t really your friends. If you caught my flower metaphor then great, but if you didn’t here’s a small visual. You begin as a little seed that can either rot and not grow at all, or grow into a beautiful sunflower (or the flower of your choice). Outside objects will try its best to knock you down, stomp on you, or just flat out eat you. But if you have strong support and get the opportunity to grow beautifully, then you’ll most likely be picked. To be someone’s best friend. Say it with me. Awwwwww. That’s the whole point of friendships. We couldn’t get through certain situations without their continuous support and patience. And overtime they help us grow for the better. So if you have that type of friendship, never take it for granted. And thank your friends right now for being awesome.

5. Coffee is Confusing                                                              

I think I can speak for everyone on the fact that coffee names are quite confusing to figure out. Of course the coffee can’t just speak to us and tell us what they are like because, like I said, they want to be confusing. Some people would compare it to a teenage girl. You can ask my friends, I literally always order what they order because they have way more knowledge than I do on what sort of coffee is needed at the moment. I have learned about a few facts that pertain to the confusing words written on a chalk board in a different language at a coffee shop though. Be prepared to be enlightened. Black coffee is just coffee that’s black- I only added this one to make my list longer. Iced coffee is just coffee with ice- this one as well. Chai has a spicy taste to it that doesn’t go well with a raw tongue. I learned that the hard way. And people get mad when “espresso” is pronounced as “expresso.” As you can tell, I’m a coffee pro. But really, if you’re stuck at the front of the line and don’t know what to get, you have 2 options. Ask the person taking your ordering their favorite drink and get that, or just simply get what your friend gets. I know by experience that 99.9% of the time neither of these 2 options will end well, so it’s best to just find out what you like before ordering.                                                                                                                       

Who knew that a simple coffee shop would contain so many life lessons. If you didn’t get anything out of these life lessons, then at least you found out a few coffee facts that you probably already knew. Shoutout to all the coffee shops out there. Keep up the good work!