Breaking Up with Starbucks: Embracing the Local Coffee Scene

Readers of this blog will know that I have a love/hate relationship with Starbucks.

Things I love:

• Free wifi and electrical outlets
• Opens early! Most open by 5:30 or 6:00 am
• A coffee shop vibe where I can block out the world and focus on some work
• The baristas mostly know me. They know what I drink and have it punched in before I even get from the door to the till. We chat. Even though it’s a big corporate giant and some people think it is uber anonymous… become a regular there and they staff do get to know you.

Things I hate:

• Expensive - $3 for a tea??
• Corporate giant that isn’t the best
• As they renovate their locations, they are reducing seating which makes it harder to get a spot
• a 45 minute walk or a 8 minute drive... every day... spewing carbon fumes

I have tried other places. Really, I have. I tried a local coffee shop once and it was horrible. Sterile. Crappy tea. No outlets. Didn’t feel welcome. I’ve tried McDonald’s (I know… also a corporate giant). But it had erratic opening hours and while the tea was half the price of Starbucks… the vibe was off.

A few weeks ago, I was visiting my Mom in a small town. They have a Starbucks (yay!) but it’s in a grocery store and… while they had basic seating pre-Covid, that all changed during and after Covid… they now have zero seating. Buy your uber-expensive drink and take it with you.

Buy Local

But this morning… I am at one of the local coffee shops in my Mom's town. And no, it is not Tim Horton’s, although that is nearby. This coffee shop is cute. I last came here years ago. Not much has changed, except the faces behind the counter. They have varied seating – tables and chairs. Some bar stools at counters and a few comfy areas (couch). There’s even a bookshelf with books to read. And local artwork on the walls. It’s got a nice vibe with indirect lighting and relaxing instrumental music. They sell various drinks and bakery items as well as lunch things. The only negative is… they only open at 7 am. Which is kind of late for my blogging tastes but… you know what… when in Rome…

Here’s what I Love:

• A tea is $2.50... not bad
• They have electrical outlets (yay)!
• Nobody has barked at me for setting up my laptop – mind you, the place is not screamingly busy at this hour of the day. A lot of people come in for take-out. Heck, I even chatted with an old school-mate (we’ve known each other since Grade 3!).
• They asked if my tea was for  here or to-go and when I said “here”, I got my tea in a ceramic mug. Excellent.

Here’s What I Hate:

• I’m not sure if they have free wifi. There is a wifi network but it is secured. Online reviews say there is free wifi here but… I don’t see any signs with the wifi password. So I’d have to ask. And I hate asking. Sigh.

But on the whole… this is a very nice, very civilized coffee shop. I have made adjustments to my normal work pattern and am writing my blogs in a Word document. I can then copy and paste them later when I am reconnected to wifi. There is something about the coffee shop vibe that just works for me.

The other thing that I like here is… the owners are Asian, possibly Korean. I hear some accents. But what is cool is… I see all these older “red-neck” men coming in and they are all happily chit-chatting with the staff. “How was your weekend? Did you see the northern lights?” There is something refreshing and reassuring about small-town folk. Friendly. Welcoming. Open.

Now… all of this is leading up to… a new coffee shop is opening up just down the street from our house back home. I can actually walk there in 3 minutes or less. Will it be my new hang-out spot? Will they have electrical outlets? Free wifi? Cheap(ish) tea? And most importantly… what time will they open their doors? That is the burning question. Can I actually kick my Starbucks habit? Or will I just turn it into a new habit?

As the summer approaches and the sun rises earlier and earlier… I also realize that I could get up at 5 am and go for a nice long hike, come home, have breakfast and then go to the coffee shop. It would require me to alter my schedule but… is that such a bad thing? It might work. I will have to try it and report back.

The Shear Terror of Stepping out of my Comfort Zone

Taking the leap
(Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay)

I'm really comfortable with Blogger/Blogspot, Google's free blogging platform... the very site that this blog is hosted upon. I started using it over 10 years ago and have written a number of blogs on it. It's comfortable. It's familiar. It's safe. It's also limiting. There is only so much you can do with Blogger...

I've looked at other options in the past... Weebly, Wix, WordPress (both .com and .org)... but I always came back to Blogger. It's safe you know. And free. There's no risk with Blogger. I just write and post... but, for one of my blogs, I've been realizing that I need more space and more options.

After much research (which can be a form of procrastination), I've taken the leap and started the process of migrating 9 years worth of blog posts to WordPress.org site. And it is absolutely terrifying! On top of that, I am wracked by self-doubt. Am I making the right decision? There is sooooo much new stuff... you would not believe the learning curve. Am I smart enough to figure all of this out? Finding a hosting site, picking a theme, getting a security plugin and a backup plugin and an anti-spam plugin and an SEO plugin and... there are literally thousands of available plugins. There is a part of me that just wants to call the whole thing off and retreat back to my happy, safe little nest in Blogger. Yes, it might be limited... but it's safe... and easy.

It's kind of like going from a Model-T Ford to a Tesla or a Ferrari. Waaayyy more bells and whistles. And tonnes more power under the hood! But all of those buttons and levers and switches and options... do I have the time to figure all of this out? I want to write... not try and figure out the best plugins for my site... or worry about being hacked or figure out how to use Gutenberg blocks... 

The difference between my comfort zone
and where the magic happens!

Have you ever seen this picture... Two circles... one with "My Comfort Zone" and one with "Where the Magic Happens. The trick is to get from one to the other and that means stepping out of my comfort zone. Which... as the arrow suggests... isn't necessarily a straight line. Call it terror... call it excitement... but there's a lot of emotion bundled up in there.

And I know that I'm not the only person this has ever happened to. If you Google "comfort zone", you'll find a gazillion websites and articles that talk about moving out of your comfort zone. As I read them, I'm pretty clear that I've built myself a nest of comfort. And I'm also clear that it is time to leap out of that nest. I can only do so much from my tests... and there is so much more to do "out there". So much more to be... But when you're standing on the edge of that nest... man... it's a long way down!

Moving from the Comfort Zone through the Fear Zone
into the Learning Zone and the Growth Zone

And yet, I know that it's the only  way forward...  Move through the Fear Zone... into the Learning Zone and then into the Growth Zone. Until... what was learning and growth becomes my new Comfort Zone. And the cycle repeats itself.

I can see that I'm in the Fear Zone... but working my way into the Learning Zone. I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos on WordPress... reading a lot of blog articles and test driving the new website/blog and tinkering with things. There have been challenges... but I think I'm slowly finding solutions for them.

I can see that it might be a while before I feel comfortable with the new system. But the same thing happened 10 years ago when I first started on Blogger. It was all new and unfamiliar and it took me a while to get a handle on things. And now, I can help other people get set up on Blogger... who'd-a-thunk-it 10 years ago? Not me!

So there is some comfort in knowing that I have been in the place of fear and terror before... and moved through it. And... I keep reminding myself to tackle one small step at a time. I don't need to become a WordPress virtuoso in a week or a month. All I need to be able to do is write and publish my blogs. The finer details can come later... It doesn't need to be a perfect looking site right out of the box... small steps... I keep reminding myself of that... just one small, next step...