I had one free reward drink and $1 left on my Starbucks card.

I got a free Pumpkin Spice Latte and bought a Beyond Meat breakfast sandwich, and I emptied my Starbucks card without refilling it for the first time since I got it, over 15 years ago.

Before the pandemic, I used to go to Starbucks all the time. Even though it wasn’t my values to support a multi-national corporation, I did have a reason why and it worked for me then.

And when I say all the time I mean all the time. Pretty much every day.

One of the things I found most disorienting in the pandemic was the loss of “working from a coffee shop”.

Maybe it’s that I am more productive working that way.

Mostly I think it’s just that I thrive on routines and I need exercise first thing in the morning so GETTING to a coffee shop mattered as much as being there.

Losing that routine was harder than I thought it would be.

So it’s really surprising to me that I no longer want to work out of coffee shops.

I mean - going for coffee + journaling is still a big YES. Occasionally, even a few times a week, but not as a daily routine.

And when I do that, I am going to the small local shops. Both the coffee and the food are so much better, usually for less money, and it supports the local economy.

But anyway. This was the day I closed out my Starbucks account.

The Starbucks was SO busy and SO loud and I waited SO long for my stuff.

It was obnoxious all around and I just felt really glad to let this all go.

Not that going to coffee shops every day wasn’t REALLY REALLY GOOD FOR ME for a long time for a lot of reasons.

AND

Not doing this is what is REALLY REALLY GOOD FOR ME RIGHT NOW.

I’ve set up my new creative studio and I want to start my days here, lighting candles, meditating, watching the sun rise, writing and making art.

It feels good to clarify these ways that my routines are changing in this “pretending to be post-pandemic while Covid hospitalizations and deaths haven’t dropped at all” phase of the pandemic.

I think the real, actual “post pandemic” phase is going to bring more changes still.

But, from where we are today, I know I’ve grieved A LOT OF THINGS these last few years as we all have.

And now I feel mostly out of that grieving phase, I am ready for “what’s next”.

I think we are all being called to be more true to ourselves in how we live our lives, and I am so ready to answer that call.