There I was, ordering my Iced Venti Soy Chai at Starbucks. My eyes were like a hawk watching the barista make my drink every single day to ensure they were using soy milk. It was an intense time for me every morning. It took a lot of focus. I couldn’t smile at anyone, or even talk to those that I knew, in the off chance they were making my drink and I would miss them putting in, heaven forbid, milk!
Milk and I have a sour relationship. I can get explosive diarrhea if I have too much which makes for an embarrassing experience when I used to be in an office every day. And, this is dramatic. One sip of milk in my chai would not sending me searching for the nearest escape. The problem is I really worried that I would drink the entire thing without knowing it was milk and that would make me sick. Every morning, it felt that serious. (And yes, we can talk about why I even went to Starbucks in the first place if I got that anxious.)
Some days the barista got my order right and other days they didn’t. The problem was not the barista. The problem was me. I lacked trust. My lack of trust was not because the baristas were bad at their jobs. My lack of trust was because I didn’t trust myself. In this specific case, I didn’t trust myself that I could tell if my drink had milk on the first sip. That didn’t make any sense at all. I drank it every. single. day. Of course I could taste if the drink was off in any way.
I believe we are souls having a human experience. Part of the human experience is learning and growing. The world around us is where our curriculum shows up. In my case, I needed to learn about trust. My lack of trust was attracting in the very experiences to teach me about trust and it just happened to be, thankfully, at Starbucks. I could have had to learn about trust in much more challenging situations so I will take it.
Once I realized trust was the lesson for me, I was able to focus on it. The beautiful thing about all of the qualities we want to bring forward in our life, is that they are already there. Trust, courage, resilience, or anything else is already within us. It is just a matter of reminding ourselves of the beauty we already have.
I brought forward my trust in these ways:
- I created an affirmation to remind myself trust is the quality I want to bring forward. You can read this article to learn how to create your own affirmation.
- I slowed down to really hear my inner wisdom to cultivate the trust within
- I practiced tasting my Starbucks while reminding myself my body knows what is right
- I forgave myself for any judgments of myself for past experiences where I did not trust myself or act on my inner wisdom
What is life showing you to work on right now?
It is important to work on life’s lessons when you see them. I have found that if I don’t, they show up in even bigger and more challenging ways to the point I cannot avoid them. If you are getting your lesson while at Starbucks, take it and be grateful. If life is throwing something harder your way, I am here for you. Send me a note and I am happy to help.