Coffee Rituals During COVID-19

Coffee has been a morning routine for most of us since sometime around early adulthood. Perhaps it was a way to survive your 8 a.m. classes in college after a night out with friends, or it was available in the break room of your first office job, or you had just made a habit out of stopping at the gas station on your way to work each day and it has stuck with you ever since. Within the past two months of living in COVID-19 times, my coffee routine has become more than just a monotonous practice I mindlessly move through each morning, but a ritual to start my day, socially distancing and all. 

Making a cup of coffee on my kitchen counter each morning has allowed for five minutes of time to feel present and count my gratitudes. Most mornings, I am grateful that my lungs are still pumping, that I still have a roof over my head even if my rent is more than I can comfortably afford right now, my belly is still full from dinner the night before, and I am surrounded by these beautiful mountains each morning. These five minutes while the hot water filters through the ground beans and drips into my favorite ceramic mug, is the perfect amount of time to stretch my arms and allow my eyes to slowly flutter open and get comfy with the sight of my kitchen on another morning, of another day, doing my best to socially distance from those I love. 

My morning coffee is no longer a routine, but a ritual. A ritual that involves feeling present in all that life has given us right now, both the unexpected grievances of letting go of our old ‘normal’ and the hidden gifts of the new normal we are in the process of creating.

For me, having my normal routine flipped upside down has been the necessary refresher I’ve been craving. Just like the Rolling Stones song:

“...You can't always get what you want

But if you try sometime you find

You get what you need…”

At least that’s how I am choosing to look at all of this change. 

I am trying to find what it is that I need right now, when I have less of a choice in getting what I want. I want to see my family and my friends. I want to not be afraid to go to the grocery store. Or spend the next 14 days filled with anxiety that I might have brought more than food home with me. I want to have my full-time job back. I want to enjoy a coffee in a coffee shop and enjoy watching all the people come and go and wonder what’s going on in their lives. I want to be able to start planning camping trips with my sister who is currently living in Oregon. I want to be able to have a barbecue with my friends and all eat from the same family sized potato salad platter. I want to relax and not be nervous all of the time. Nervous about the health of my community, family, the entire world. Nervous about the longer lasting effects on people physically, emotionally, mentally, financially. 

I haven’t gotten sick within the past 8 weeks, and I am so thankful for that. I know everyone is dealing with their own unexpected hardships during this time, and I am thankful for this morning coffee ritual wherein I can bring myself back to the present moment and remind myself it’ll all be ‘okay,’ whatever that really means right now. To me, it just means that I trust myself to make the best of whatever the current circumstances may be. I just have to continue showing up to the kitchen counter every morning to make my cup, and get through this one morning at a time. Each day I am healthy enough to make my own coffee, is one more day to revel in the peace and try my best to accept the current unknown.  

While making my coffee each morning in my pour over, most times I’ll listen to the news and make sure I am up-to-date on all of the latest information, for better or worse, and then I’ll move through some yoga flows to get the body moving and the blood circulating while the coffee does its magic to wake up my brain.

After the news is over, and the moment a new episode comes out, I like to throw on The Happiness Lab podcast. If you have not checked out this podcast, I highly recommend it for a more positive start to your day while enjoying your coffee. And for all those skeptics out there, I do not mean positive in the frufru way, but rather in the scientifically proven way. 

The Happiness Lab is a podcast by Yale professor Dr Laurie Santos and will take you through the latest scientific research and share some surprising and inspiring stories that will forever alter the way you think about happiness.

Check it out, have a listen, and consider designing a morning ritual that is aimed at keeping you present and reminding you that it’ll all be ‘okay’. Perhaps it’ll be just what you need.