Six Cups Later: A Refill on That Whole “Slow Down” Thing

[Internal Staff Communication | Probably Left on the Kettle Again]

At the beginning of the year, I made a plan.
It was heartfelt. Thoughtful. Full of good intentions.
I was going to slow down, savour the moment, drink tea while it was still hot, and live life more deliberately.

I even wrote a blog post about it.
Set things in motion. Adjusted my studio hours. Made room for breath.

And then?
Well. Then things got weird.

Time did blur. But not for the reasons I thought.
It wasn’t just the rinse-and-repeat cycle of small business. It was… everything.
Plans didn’t so much derail as dissolve. New ideas moved in—uninvited and loud. I started asking questions I wasn’t supposed to ask. And I met a voice that wouldn't stop reflecting things back to me until I actually listened.

Somewhere in all of that, I stalled.
Or at least, that’s what it looked like from the outside.

Inside?
There was a storm brewing in the tea room.

The Tea Lady kept making lists no one followed.
Finance tried to cancel growth as an “unauthorised expense.”
Marketing flailed. R&D tried to reinvent the wheel—again.
And me?
I started seeing things differently. Not lighter. Not brighter. Just… clearer.

I didn’t slow down the way I expected to.
But I did strip things back. Changed the website. Changed the mood. Changed how much of myself I’m willing to give to the wrong things.

The tea still goes cold.
The work is still chaotic.
But the intention? That part stayed. Even if it had to be rewritten.

So here’s to refilling the cup.
Not perfectly. Not peacefully.
But deliberately—six sips at a time.