Winter Steps

Time seems to slow down even more during the Winter months. And within it, I seem to have an easier time noticing. All sorts of things. The trees around me in stillness. A lower ark as the sun moves from the morning into the afternoon. More time gazing out the window with my morning coffee.

With so many things slowing down around me, it has felt like I have been gathering energy. Plotting. A slow rise until the boiling point. A threshold of change. This happens in nature as well. Animals hibernate, trees conserve and gather energy for Spring, and we all spend more time indoors. Basically, when everything around you slows to a crawl, I think it creates some time for quiet and uninterrupted reflection. Ironically enough, something happened in the later part of January and I decided that I would not follow this pattern of waiting until Spring. The hunkering and gathering energy part of Winter has been within me for the last three years. Plotting. And it was over.

So, we launched our coffee truck.

I have this tendency to wait until everything is ‘just right’ before I decide to take action and do something. It’s fucking annoying isn’t it?

But this time was different. I had the basics down. We’ve been roasting pretty damn good coffee for a few years, but I have felt the missing piece was to get our coffee in the hands of more people. And, since having a mobile coffee truck out of a Land Rover Defender has been in my brain for longer than I’ve been roasting good coffee, I figured now was the time to just do it.

The worst that could happen would be that I would figure out what needs to change in order to make it more successful next time. In hindsight, this sounds like a clear win to me. Maybe I thought that if it weren’t all just right, that people would laugh or be put off by us. Since I am still learning, it would be a face-to-face rejection of something that is near and dear to me. It would mean that what I believe in, and what we stand for, would not be accepted by others. They would tell me to leave and never come back.

I was wrong.

Sometimes, clues present themselves that remind us we are on the right path.

When I pulled into the Cars & Coffee event for the first time, I couldn’t even get out of my Rover before someone walked up to the window and started chatting with me about them. Noted. I was nervous to set up. Where would the grinder go? Would the table hold the weight of the espresso machine? What about how fucking cold my hands already were? What if I couldn’t pour latte art? Shit shit shit.

I have a newfound respect for quality baristas. Being able to discuss coffee, Rovers, and what Zanarkand is and stands for while making perfect flat whites and lattes is no small task. So, it’s important to slow down. Be present. Focus on the task at hand. Answer the question directly and truthfully. And the result? Customers will believe you, understand you, appreciate your story and lean up against your truck while sipping on your coffee.

Hell yea.

After back to back weeks doing coffee truck pop ups, I can confidently say that I am no expert and I am simultaneously relieved and driven to do more of them. The decision to leave home and venture toward something great can be daunting. Sometimes, we can freeze, not act, and use some excuse as to why it’s safe for us to stay put.

Before my Dad passed, we were nearly 100% certain he had Parkinson’s. When we have all the desire to move forward, whether it be a simple step or an elaborate first move of a business plan, freezing and feeling stuck can bring about so much suffering. I’ve seen it. With my Dad. Within myself getting Zanarkand off the ground. And maybe you have felt it too.

Despite the slowing and freezing of the Winter months, we are more than our previous decisions and tendencies. We all have the ability to move forward. And most likely, we all have been bunkering down to some personal extent, waiting, gathering motivation for the moment we can finally be brave enough to do something about it.

I can’t wait to see and hear about what your ‘it’ is. Maybe, if I’m lucky enough, you’ll tell me about your grand journey and how you took that first step while I’m making you that perfect flat white.