ME-TIME

May 11th, 2018

Compare:

The café goer, just settling in, holding a nice hot cup of coffee still steaming, laptop just getting propped open, or book thumbed open to a page, or just watching people come and go. Smiling.

The barista. In the same place. Steaming some milk that will definitely take a good 25-30 seconds, stressing about all the other orders that need to be made after. Aggravated that nothing else can be done during that 25-30 seconds, except holding the stupid froth tin.

They are in the same place. Strange how a place of leisure can be so stressful.

During that short time, nothing can be done about the impending orders. So why think about them? In that moment, the barista is just a person, in a nice coffee shop, holding a hot cup.

It’s a missed opportunity for me-time.

We cannot control the slings and arrows that come our way. 

We can control how we look at them. 

We can control how they affect us.

This morning as I waited for my coffee in a busy café, I noticed all the stressed workers, taking orders, running food, taking cash, scurrying from ingredient to ingredient. Wide-eyes and taut voices. 

And then.

A barista, steaming some milk. Quietly smiling to herself. 

Perhaps she was thinking about a great date she’d had the night before.

Perhaps she’d just reached a goal. 

Perhaps an old friend had just reached out to tell her how much she was missed.

Or.

Maybe. Unlike her co-workers,

She was enjoying the simple fact that she is in control of how the things around her affect her. And at it’s most basic: she was just enjoying some time, in a nice café, holding a hot steaming cup. Smiling.