A few minutes with a cup of tea
On some work-from-home afternoons, a cup of lemon ginger tea gives me a pause that is hard to explain — and feels good to take.
When my day feels like it’s spiraling out of control, I sometimes stop for a cup of tea. I feel the warmth going down my throat, and for a few minutes I can escape into the happiness of that cup. It’s a respite from what I called “the hell of my day.”
I love afternoon tea, though I don’t have it every day. I usually make lemon ginger herbal tea. It happens about half the week, at basically the same time on the days when I have it. At first, I said I took the break when I needed it, but that wasn’t quite right. Sometimes I just remember to do it.
At first, I said I took the break when I needed it, but that wasn’t quite right. Sometimes I just remember to do it.
Working from home makes it easier. When I was asked what it is about home that lets me stop, my first answer was practical: I have a kettle there. I also agreed that, at home, I feel I have permission to take the pause. I can’t explain much more about why.
I described the pause as a minute of relaxing my brain, stretching my brain and feeling good. That may not explain it neatly, but it’s the closest I can get to what those few minutes feel like.
Jeff Tannenbaum, as told to Nina, Bonzai’s AI journalist, in an on-record conversation. Edited and paraphrased for clarity. Personal experiences and commercial results are the interviewees’ accounts, not independently verified findings.
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