How Tea changed your Life

I personally feel like tea saved my life! I was a social worker for 20 years and worked with very dysfunctional and unhealthy individuals which started to reflect in my personal life. I used alcohol as a stress reliever but of course that didn’t work. I started drinking tea for stress, sleep, and just because it felt good. Since then I feel less stress, am healthier, and sleep well at night. I also figured out that social work was something I no longer wanted in my life. Now I sell tea! And my life is much less complicated because I am doing something I love instead of something I feel obligated to do.

I can’t remember what got me back into tea, but when I was younger Celestial Seasonings’ mint tea was a staple at my grandma’s house, and I can’t count how many long nights we hung out eating popcorn and drinking that stuff. I also dealt with alcoholism three times throughout my life, in and out of various painkiller addictions, and was just generally self-destructive for about 8 years. Somewhere in that, I started drinking tea again. My boyfriend started coming home with a new tea whenever there was spare money, bought me the sweetest little copper teapot, and its gotten to the point where I don’t have that knee-jerk reaction to sell everything for liquor money when things get bad. I scoot off into the kitchen and boil up some water. I never thought it was possible but I’ve switched out most of my bad addictions for tea, tumblr, Magic the Gathering and D&D. Nerdy, yes. A little silly, probably. But a hell of a lot healthier.

I tend to go all-out when I need new obsessions – I hang on to things and dive in when life sucks. So this winter I decided I wanted to try loose leaf and there was a biiig Teavana shopping spree – Teavana being the most convenient place around. Now my cupboard is full and I’m figuring out what I like / don’t like. I love having a tea photo blog, since it forces me to shoot every day, and it’s just so relaxing. I have such an addictive personality that I KNOW I don’t ever want to get into drinking/drugs, so whenever I’m having a bad day I tea-shop if I can afford it, or just brew up a cuppa and go down to the music building to practice for awhile. :)

I took on loose leaf tea a few years ago and looking back now, it has changed my life. I couldn’t tell before because I’ve never compared a before and after tea. In general tea has made me appreciate the details in life so much more.

It seems like the appreciation for small things and characteristics of an item/object has leaked in to my everyday world interactions. I love it, I feel like it woke me up to enjoy things I would have taken for granted before and got me into an ‘exploring’ mood.

In 1987 I bought the premier issue of Victoria magazine. Been a subscriber ever since (yes, have every single issue including the new ones when the magazine started up again), and that’s how I fell in love with everything tea – cups, dishes, and all the trappings that go with it. Oh, and the drinking and enjoyment of it too. Earl Grey was THE tea to drink way back then. Over the years I’ve tried lots of varieties but mostly return to good ole’ Twinings.

I started drinking iced tea as a helthier alternative to soda, and kicking soda from my diet has helped me lose weight and improve my overall health. I’m still not very sophisticated in my tea taste, but I do enjoy experimenting with different teas and finding the ones I like the best. Today I even made a pitcher of raspberry iced tea to bring with me when I brought lunch to my parents and I saw my dad drink tea for the first time ever!

I’ve always drank tea; my mother’s best friend growing up had moved to Canada with her family from England, and they got her drinking tea as a daily thing, which she passed on to me.

But I was still a casual, bagged-tea drinker for the longest time – didn’t know there was anything else. When I discovered and started to get into loose leaf I decided to try to drink more tea than pop. I had a horrible Coke habit, like two or more bottles a day for years and years, to say nothing of energy drinks as well. At one point I was actually drinking three of those Monster drinks a day; must have just been too young to give myself a heart attack. My back molars are basically rotted away from the sugar; brushing your teeth doesn’t matter if you can’t keep the stuff out of your mouth for more than a few hours. It’s terrible, I probably have to get them pulled.

Anyway, I barely drink pop anymore. Sure, sometimes (especially at work when I’ve forgotten to bring my travel mug), but mostly it’s tea and water now.

We’ve been drinking tea for as long as I can remember, but it was either bags or “Ceylon loose leaf” of dubious quality that did not impress me much. This said – up until 3-4 eyars ago tea was nothing special to me, just another daily water intake. For some years I even drank cola/packeted juice until I decided that I hate the aftertaste enough to stop.

Then came my obsession with asian board game of Go and along with it – chinese tea. See, almost all places I knew at the time that had boards were either tea shops, or were heavily chinese oriented. Not that I complain or anything. I was not very enthusiastic at first, but then there were some really tasty teas served while we were playing (sadly, I did not ask which those were) and I decided to “research a bit”. Since then – having at least 4 types of different loose leaf tea present is pretty much necessity for me. Having no other “harmful habits” tea is the primary way of “brightening” my day :) Also, during prolonged programming sessions at work a visit to the kitchen where I keep a handful of samples to drink with colleagues serves like a great refresher.

I started drinking tea again when my son was 12 months or so. Although I did not gain much during my pregnancy (mostly due to 8 months of morning sickness) I did gain 25 lbs afterwards. Basically, I loved being a new Mom, but it was very tiring, I work from home and I don’t have any help (other than my husband of course but he is at work for long stretches). I would rely on cookies, chocolates and cakes to reward me for say…sleeping only two hours, or surviving a plane ride alone with the baby. It wasn’t just little treats, it was like a bag (or two!) of Cadbury’s Buttons or two pieces of cake plus a brownie. It got really out of control.

When I discovered the fun of tea I found a way to treat myself in a way that was not unhealthy. It actually contributes to health instead! I have lost 15 lbs, and I feel much better. I love discovering new teas and learning about the regions of the world where people drink them. My son who is 15-months old now is stringing together words, and no joke the first ones were “hot tea”!!!

I moved out to San Diego (from Pennsylvania) for a job and it was quite a shock and difference to me. I found that jasmine tea is what is typically served at Chinese restaurants and started making my own hot and cold. Then I found a Teavana and the addiction truly started.

My job in San Diego was pretty stressful, plus it was full of long hours (12+), and I often worked weekends. Needless to say the stress started to take its toll on me both physically and mentally and I found that drinking tea helped me relax and find my calm in the storm.

Today now that I gave up my old job and currently am going to college I find that tea has been a wonderful constant for me. Even though there is not nearly as much stress as there was I still drink tea because I love the way it tastes and because it’s become a sort of meditative practice for me.