Coffee Conversations: Sparking Joy and Rebranding

Just letting you real deep into our minds and hearts this week. Godspeed <3

It’s Sunday morning and let’s set the scene. It’s looking like most every other Sunday morning: I am sitting at the kitchen counter sipping on my coffee that Savannah so kindly made me (since I am still not remotely close to mastering the Breville). She always makes mine before hers and knows which mug is my favorite. So she has single handedly set a standard that will be nearly impossible for any male in my life to surpass. Norah Jones radio is playing and the door to our balcony is open. Ideally, there would be a crisp breeze blowing through the doors, but it’s 84 degrees, humid, and getting hotter by the minute. I wish I could say that we are unbothered by it, but we are extremely bothered by it. Once school starts, we need crunchy leaves and chunky sweaters and steamy chai tea. But nevertheless, we will persevere. It’s the South. 

Today, we don’t know what we are going to talk about. We feel like just letting you into our minds and hearts for a little bit. As Savannah was just barista-ing, she said two rather poignant statements and I quickly jotted them down. I don’t think she meant them to be so telling and inspirational, but we’re just going to roll with it. Savannah is going to elaborate on the first quote, and I am going to try and make something of the second. 

Savannah at 11:12am: “Honestly the only thing that is going to bring me joy today is my fucking coffee.” 

Well, when I opened this doc, I didn’t *expect* this to be what we were writing about – but that’s *totally* chill, too. I guess my wise morning words just strike home sometimes. So, today I am going to talk to you about my morning cup of coffee. However, my morning coffee means a little more than just an oat milk latte with honey – it’s a moment that sparks joy.  

I am not addicted to coffee, although it may seem like it. I am just attached to the ritual. I love my mug (although I am looking for a cool ceramic one, so basically I like Blakely’s mug). I love our honey because it’s from the farmers market. I love our machine, not only because I’ve mastered the art of hitting the espresso range and getting the perfect creamy froth and temperature ratio, but because it’s the puzzle piece that puts it all together. Lol I think that’s a little weird to say, but I am just rolling with it because it’s Sunday and I’m having a little bit of a writer’s block (Blakely across the table is too). 

What I am trying to get at is the fact that I love doing things that spark joy. Whether that be making coffee, calling my brothers, going to vegan ice-cream, searching for my new ceramic mug, trying to propagate our new plants, waving at our neighbors in our apartment building, driving 45 minutes to dinner, sending voice recordings, reading a good book, taking a long shower instead of going out, or watching Gilmore Girls. These small acts have sparked joy for me in the last week. These aren’t necessarily the most groundbreaking things, and one might think that they are useless, unproductive, and somewhat boring. But to me, they contribute to my happiness. 

How Blakely and I think of joy is a little different than how we think of happiness. Happiness is an underlying feeling and joy is more of an act that brings us happiness. So, by doing the little things that ‘spark’ joy, I am inherently contributing to my happiness. You get it.

These things aren’t necessarily career-building, inspiring, or ‘productive’, but doing what I love is never a waste of time. So, I’m just going to continue making my cup of coffee like it’s the best thing that’s happened to me everyday. Because sometimes what I need doesn’t need to be complicated. Simple pleasures that spark joy. Hoping you guys can find something that sparks joy for you today <3 

Savannah at 11:13am: “I might go through a rebrand.”

Although I don’t think Savannah was intending to make such a wise proclamation, she really hit the nail on the head with this one. A rebrand is, essentially, entering a new era. Yes, brands do it all the time. But how about humans? I would argue that we are capable of doing it all of the time, too. 

I think that it is easy to get caught up in the labels and definitions that society has imparted on us, or that we have imparted onto ourselves. I’ll use myself as an example. When I was younger, I was naturally more quiet and introspective. I would listen more than I spoke, and that earned me the description of “shy.” And I was, by all definitions of the word, shy! As I grew up and continued to mature, I held on to this title. I was shy—that is who I was! Instead of sparking conversation with new people, I waited for someone else to start talking. Instead of speaking up in class, I listened as other people contributed —I was wholeheartedly loyal to this “deeply-ingrained” part of me: it was my nature, right? How could I be anything else? 

Slowly but surely, I have come to realize something: you are entirely up to you. As human beings, we have the power to create the person that we want to be in this life: no matter the identities we’ve clung onto, the qualities we’ve been told that we have, or the place we are at in our life. It had finally clicked for me: I get to decide. I had gone through the majority of my life believing that I was shy. This self-identity reinforced my behavior: because I thought I was shy, I acted shy. I played the role dutifully—until I realized that I have the power to create me. I woke up one day and decided that I would be the one to spark conversation, to contribute in class, to ask questions. I no longer identified with being shy, and therefore, I wasn’t shy anymore. So here is where it gets fun. You get to design the character you want to play in this life. You can enter a new era of you at any moment. You can go through a rebrand a million times over!!! And it can be as small or as large as you want. If where you are, or who you are, feels stagnant and BLAH, take this as permission to make a change. I have been going through this in a big way recently, and I’ll walk you through what I’ve been doing as I enter a ~new era of me~ LOL.

Imagine the version of you that you want to be: your best, highest self. We are going to design that person. What does this person wear? What do their mornings look like? What do they spend their time doing? What does their life look like? Describe it all, down to the little details. If you are a Pinterest fanatic like me, imagine that you are literally stepping into the world of your Pinterest boards. What do you see and feel? Let your mind run. When I did this, it turned into half manifesto, half stream of consciousness. You do you, yeah?

Ceramic mugs. Dirt roads. Wild strawberries. Devotion to a creation. A soaring, expansive feeling in the heart. The crinkly sound of book pages turning. Outdoor twinkle lights. Meetings at a wooden kitchen table with coffee. Flowy, curly hair. A meadow. Vibrant health. Calmness in the chest. Lacy slip dresses and cowboy boots. “I decide.” Rosy cheeks. Flannels. Dinner over candlelight. The sound of a fiddle. Cakes with foraged berries. Dancing late into the night under neon lights. Belly laughs. 

You get the picture. As you go through this little exercise, notice how it feels in your body to create this person. Does it feel expansive? Free? Exciting? Joy-inducing? For me, it was freaking fun. I love that person, and I know that I am merging with her. I hope that this gives you permission to create and embody the person that you want to become. Because you decide!! And how fun is that. 

Sparking joy and going through a rebrand: sounds like a solid Sunday to us. Cheers to it all, love you guys lots!! Thanks for sticking with us XOXO.