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This morning I woke up and went to make coffee like I usually do. I used my Vitamix to whip up my butter, MCT oil and french press coffee, but as I was about to pour my “bulletproof” coffee into my tall, stainless steel to-go mug I was horrified.

No, there wasn’t any gruesome thing lurking in my to-go mug, I was astounded by the sheer size of it. You see, after traveling in Australia for the last 3 weeks, we had been drinking plenty of coffee, stopping at as many coffee shops and cafes as possible, but we had been drinking our coffee in small ceramic cups. We had also been drinking this coffee while sitting down.

I started to wonder...how had I never noticed how big a 20-ounce cup is?!? (And just last month I recall telling my husband that I thought I needed a bigger one!?! 😳) Do I really need that much coffee?

Probably not. It seems weird now to drink that much coffee in one sitting. Except...I wasn’t even sitting most of the time. No, I was often taking my coffee to-go. I was drinking a very, very large cup of coffee while running around doing errands.

Can you relate to this? I think many of us can.

When is the last time you actually sat down for a cup of coffee or tea?

If you can’t remember then that’s ok. You can start today!

You and I, and just about everyone else raised in America, consider being on the move and constantly busy as a normal way of life. But what I have discovered, and perhaps you have too, is that there is a large part of the world that lives a slower lifestyle. And many of these same people are less stressed than the typical American. I’m talking about the countries in which people actually sit down to drink their coffee or tea! Our fast-paced lifestyle here in America leads to a lot more stress than we can handle day in and day out. We often don’t even sit down to drink or eat!

To further show how much our cultures differ, as we traveled through Australia, my husband and I were shocked to find some cafes wouldn't even make coffees to-go. We were like, what?!?! At first, it felt weird. Come on, we had places to go, things to see! But after embracing the slow-down culture a bit, we both felt a little better and the kids relaxed more as we did. I guess the take-home message was: stop, sit and sip! 

Mindfulness is a huge buzzword these days, and for good reason, it’s a great practice to embrace. But you don’t necessarily have to read a book or go to a class to discover how to be mindful. You can start by sitting down and sipping a (small) cup of coffee or tea. Give yourself time to just sit. And just be. This will do wonders for your mindset and stress levels for the rest of the day.

And if you are wondering if I will be throwing away my 20-ounce stainless steel to-go mug, the answer is no. I mean, I might try to only fill it halfway up from now on! But I also need to keep using it to protect my laptop from spilled coffee! (I have a history here...) And I will definitely make sure to have at least one of my cups of tea or coffee while sitting and not doing anything else. Just me and my tea.

I hope you can find a moment to slow down and smell the coffee as well.

Cheers,

Buy the ingredients and kitchen tools for my version of "bulletproof coffee" here:

Also, check out my post on how to make my favorite cup of coffee and why it boosts my energy and mental powers!