It's the little things

I just had a realisation (in the shower, naturally). It's a realisation that sounds very similar to thoughts I've had previously, and it will suprise none of you (or at least not those of you who know me), but I think it's actually quite significant. It was one of those realisations that completely stops you in your tracks when it strikes you and makes you wonder how you never thought of it before. This time around, it is this: A decent shower and a cup of tea makes the world a better place in almost any situation.

I realise that that sounds a little trite, but I genuinely mean it literally. Think of any situation - pick the absolute worst thing that you can imagine happening; Your best friend is involved in a car crash and there's nothing you can do to help, your home country is invaded by a foreign power and is now at war, there's a plague science has never come across and is powerless to deal with sweeping the globe, you wake up with a horrifying realisation that you're going blind and deaf - literally anything. Now picture the exact same situation, but now you have a shower and a cup of tea and imagine how you feel - still pretty darned awful, but slightly calmer, slightly more in control. Perhaps not perceptibly better (and if you're in such a situation, I doubt you'd consciously notice the improvement), but definitely incrementally better.

Now take the other extreme - think of the best thing you can imagine. You fall utterly, hopelessly, uncontrollably in love and the object of your desires reciprocates, you land that dream job that you never believed might even be a possibility, you win big on the lottery just at the moment when you thought you were going to have to declare bankruptcy - again, absolutely anything. Picture it with a shower and a cup of tea afterwards - you're ecstatic still, but now you're even more energised.

It works for everything in between too. You're feeling too hot? Shower and a cup of tea. Had a long, tiring day? Shower and a cup of tea. Someone was horrid to you at work? Shower and a cup of tea. An old friend calls you up out of the blue and you have a lovely conversation over the phone? Shower and a cup of tea. In fact, the only things I can think of that aren't improved by a shower and a cup of tea are water and energy shortages. But with anything else, a shower and a cup of tea might not be the solution (it rarely is), but it'll certainly improve matters. It's the little things.

I've just got out of the shower - I think I'll go and make a cup of tea...