A Bad Cup

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Here is your PSA now— Starbucks and Dunkin cannot make a matcha to save their lives. #disgusting

With each passing day, NYC unlocks a new sub-basement of low IQ.

If there are a few things I have learned along the way in the last decade—

-Steel yourself from the opinions of others and work from integrity. The majority of people don’t have any. Don’t let them mold you.

-Hold onto whatever rebellious streak you have. It’s a gift to push back against evil, stupidity and mediocrity.

-Do your own research and don’t try to prove anything to others. Let people do their own search for truth. You can lay cold hard facts in front of someone, and they can still find a way to reject them if they are determined to stick to a narrative or ego. It’s a waste of time. People are responsible for themselves. He who argues with fools becomes one.

-People don’t care about others in the way we were taught as children. Don’t be deceived by a desire of acceptance or belonging. Don’t betray yourself for a person who would sell you out in a millisecond. People who truly care and operate in kindness are rare, spirit-filled people. Their actions show it.

-Accountability matters. Hypocrisy and incompetence abound.

-Evil is unsustainable. It eats itself alive.

-Care is reciprocal in its most genuine form.

-People live and make decisions from a place of self-loathing in their default setting.

-People-pleasing is always exploited. Don’t become prey.

-If someone gives you a bad cup of anything— don’t drink it, and don’t go back. (And get your refund). If you start a bad book, don’t finish it. Life is too short to not exercise your agency and waste energy or time on something unworthy.

Agency is so key. Every day, we should reflect on what we have chosen and what we are choosing in the present moment. If we don’t like it, let’s have the courage to change it.

I have found that when things get dark, opportunity lies ahead. The key is to be bold enough to seize it.

The bad cup belongs in the trash. You deserve better.