Rituals

I guess we all have them. They may not be all that obvious, but I think for most of us, it's just a little something special that makes us all unique and brings joy to our day or helps things run smoother.

For me it's the ritual of drinking tea.

I've been thinking about my tea drinking over the past few weeks. Several bloggers have had posts that have got me thinking, and on those occasions the answer is in a cup of tea.

First up, Sharonnz post a week or so back spoke of being a mindful parent, slowing down and just being in the moment. I shared with her that one way for me to be able to do that is to grab a cup of tea and sit down - whether that is with the kids to play or just hang out with them while they play (sometimes it makes playing the same tedious (to me) game over and over bearable if I can have a cuppa beside me) but mostly it's just nice to grab that chance to sit down and enjoy the moment with the kids and have some headspace where I'm not constantly thinking about what else I could be doing.

Then there was Chile's Quit Now challenge a few days back where she asked us what addictions we were going to look at giving up in a world where we may not have time to continue as we were, or have the money or the availability of items. Once again I was drawn to thinking about tea. Initially I pledged to reduce my black tea drinking habits right back from 5 cups a day down to 1 and then if things got to the point of not having black tea available then I'd just give it up, but it would no longer be cold turkey and I would not go through the horribleness of suffering migraines as my body weans off it. So while the challenge was just for a month, I found good reason to take it seriously and make this a long term commitment. But, I'm going slow and just cutting back gradually because as I delved further into this I realised there was more to the Tea Drinking than just being addicted to it.

The fact is I enjoy it. It's not so much about the taste or "needing" it, but it's the ritual attached to everything about sitting down for a cup of tea. And I'm sure it is the ritual that led to the addiction.

I realised that every time I decide to make a cup of tea (yes, I do actually go through a conscious thought process when I decide to have a cup of tea) I choose my place to drink it - I might grab a book, spend it with the kids depending on what they're doing, I might decide to share my tea with the internet, I might sit in front of the fire, sit on my sunny porch or lie down on my bed in the sun and read a novel. I will rarely make a cup of tea when I am busy because I don't like drinking on the run when I have to come back for a sip and carry on. So, I get out my teapot and the kids love to sit down with me and enjoy a cup too. They enjoy mint tea and one of my fruit infusions.

So for me to successfully cut back the actual addiction to my cup of tea, I need to maintain the lovely ritual attached to it and I know I will handle it fine (having found some good tasting replacements).

The addiction can go, but the ritual can stay!