I don’t do coffee. Just generally don’t like it – though I do occasionally enjoy those iced Starbucks Frappuccino things. So the problem is that I drink Coke. Diet Coke actually, and lots of it. Most of the time I drink decaf Diet Coke, but at least a few times a day I drink the straight stuff. I know it isn’t good for me, but I am just not a big fan of plain water. It is just so, so… plain. But now I hear from British researchers, of course British, that tea may actually be healthier than drinking water!
I occasionally try to have tea, and here in the South we are supposed to drink iced tea, but I have never been a big fan. Usually I end up doctoring it up with lots of sweetener and lemon just to make it palatable. But maybe I have been doing it wrong. Maybe I have been trying the wrong teas. Of course, being the cheapskate that I am, when I go to try tea I know that I may not like it so I get something cheap. Hey, don’t want to waste money if you are not going to drink the whole thing, right? Wrong. I need to approach it, like we should approach most things, with the idea that I will like it and will enjoy it. In that case I want to purchase something good that I will want around. Maybe it is that preconceived notion that I don’t like tea that is keeping me from enjoying it.
Then I started thinking, isn’t that the way with a lot that we do? If you were to go on a date with someone you thought your probably wouldn’t like, you wouldn’t put much effort into it. You would take them to a lesser restaurant, maybe not waste money on flowers, etc. But by doing that you have pretty much insured that you won’t have a good time and that you won’t want another date. Whereas if you had approached the date with enthusiasm it might have turned out differently. And even if you still didn’t want to go out with that person again, at least you would have had a more enjoyable evening.
Again, if you approach a task at work with the attitude “this is going to suck so I am not going to give it my all,” guess what? It will suck. And the job you do on it will suck. And most likely someone will notice, call you on it, and make your life suck even worse. Deal with it – you caused it. Now, if you go into it with the attitude of “this may not be my favorite thing, but if I hit it hard and do it well then I can move on to better things”, then you might actually do a good job on the task and get assigned better more interesting task. Attitude, yes, but also just a way of approaching things.
So, back to the tea. Can someone give me some good recommendations? Matthew Stibbe over at the Bad Language site says that tea is a great tool for writers and even has a few recommendations such as Breakfast Americana Mighty Leaf. Don’t know if it is a good one for a newbie, but sounds as good a first step as any!
