A friend of mine posted a photo of me drinking coffee on Facebook this week. She’s a beautiful photographer and creates images that help her clients tell a story about their business and themselves.

Her message on the post was all about how close you could feel to the image, like you’d be included in the coffee shop scene yourself.

I responded to the post without really thinking too much. I said how much I loved my coffee and how it’s an integrated part of my life and routine now.

And then, I got thinking about why that really is.

While I’ve enjoyed coffee as a social outing for years (starting with mello-mocha-cinos of course), it wasn’t until I’d reached a burn out point in my life that I really started enjoying coffee dates with myself.

I can’t quite recall whether it was my GP or the acupuncturist I was seeing at the time who first suggested the idea of spending more time alone. I couldn’t quite relate this to the digestive issues or migraines (reason I was in the room with them), but being the good student I was I set about taking their advice.

And, I’m not going to lie. It made me really anxious. I didn’t know what to do with myself. Should I take a book? Write in something? Read the paper? What if people ask me if I’m alone? I was so afraid of what it would look like.

I loved sitting at cafes watching the people walk by whilst on holidays, but that was different. I was in a foreign land. It somehow had a different criteria to it.

Here’s what I discovered over time though—that space to pause and just ‘be’ is so incredibly nourishing. No-one is actually worried about what you look like. And, the more I took myself for coffee the more I realised it was a way to put myself first and take care of my needs. Even if those needs were as simple as sit and be still.

And so that’s the real reason coffee is such an integrated part of my life today. It’s not really about the coffee (okay, so it’s kinda bit about the coffee), but it’s more so about the space to be. To create. To restore. Now I get anxious if I don’t spend time alone.

What’s the one thing you do to create space for you in your life? And, how does that help you?

Who’s your favourite coffee buddy? Share this post with them today, they may like to read it over their morning cuppa. ☕