48. Fa Mulan drinks tea

With the ascent of coffee, for a lot of people, tea 茶 was relegated to a quiet drink in the afternoon shared with nobody. Or tea 茶 drunk quietly at home in the evening; in private. In those quiet moments alone, a lot of people are actually in their way practicing Tea Time equals Me Time, even if they didn't realise it. It is in these private moments that some of our daily pressure can come off and we are able to unwind, let go and de-stress in a gentle way. And when ready, take an account of wars we've been through. While I cannot speak much on the female side of things, for a lot of men the pressure to save-face, be-a-man and win against the odds can take their toll: Mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. I got reminded of the importance of Tea Time equals Me Time just the other night during a family reading session of Mulan 花木蘭. Not the Disney version, nor the traditional Chinese version but another version which should have been called... Mulan 花木蘭 goes to War and what she learnt there: Leadership Lessons for the Aspiring Business Woman. And what I learnt was that in the worst of times, sometimes that simple cup of tea 茶 is all that we have to keep us going. A small break, allowing us to rest and make sense of it all. Wars will come and go. And we don't always get a chance to celebrate our victories, no matter how good we are... Going hard all the time will make us brittle, unfeeling and uncaring. This is one of the reasons why so many martial artists eventually quit before reaching their peak - never to self-realize their inner warrior. Mulan 花木蘭 drank her cup of tea 茶. And she returned home victorious. I know from experience that business and life isn't so simple. It just grinds on and on and on. Until we demand enough is enough and say: You know what? I'm going to make myself a cup of tea. Let that be the start of a new direction! Liked what you heard & want to connect with me? Join me at… linkedin.com/in/peterhainzl/