A cup of tea.

I was sitting at a great small town tea shop the other day and looked up on the wall and read a sign that said, "life is like a cup of tea, it is what you make it." I smiled, agreed in my mind and carried on with the day. As I sipped the amazing cup of tea my mind drifted over the idea, but it didn't really hit me until later that week how profound that statement can be. Life is so truly like a cup of tea, and it really is what you make it. It can be amazing and memorable, sweat and cool, hot and spicy or so many more things. But the trick is knowing how to make it, knowing how to get the right sweet, how to avoid making it bitter, how to get the right combination so you can enjoy it. Some days we will want our tea hot, and that is great, but has anyone told us that you can burn the tea leaves and your tea will become bitter, and how hot will burn us..?  how do we know the balance? Experience is the best teacher but also the toughest, if we drink bitter tea everyday we may not know that it can be smooth and sweet, how do we learn there are other options. For many years I only knew traditional black tea, peppermint and sleepy time, when made right they could all be great tea. Now I have a stack of 20 different teas on my counter. Each has to be brewed a bit different, each goes with different sweeteners, some go with milk, some don't. One can through them in hot water and enjoy with little effort, but sometime it is nice to take my time, brew exactly to the instructions and truly enjoy a sweet cup of tea. We can go through life drinking the same tea and loving it, we may never change, but don't be afraid to try a new type of tea, or trying brewing your tea a bit different. We may go back to our old tea or we may find a new favorite. Let your tea inspire you and motivate you. Life is like tea, learn to make it right and it will be so amazing that you just cannot get enough!