Comfort Zones and Kombucha!
I was thinking about comfort zones today when I tried Kombucha for the first time EVER. I have NEVER even heard of Kombucha before but because all the girls at Sumits Hot Yoga were drinking it and loving it like it was a new boyfriend, I decided I needed to try this. The last time I did this, however, was when they suggested “coconut water” and I went to Mama Jean’s and bought a six-pack (with pulp)! Did you know that coconut pulp floats around in the can in little chunks and tastes fleshy (not that I’ve even eaten flesh)? Yes, hard to drink at first and even second but luckily they have coconut water WITHOUT pulp which really isn’t too bad…UNLESS you buy it and spend a lot of money on it because it’s expensive AND THEN get some kind of stomach bug and then hurl it up for two days straight. Yep, true story and the moral to that is do NOT buy more of ANYTHING than you can “stomach” (little pun) because months later the unused and unopened portions will still be staring at you every time you open your refrigerator. As cool as those cans look on the top shelf every time I reach in for butter, or processed cheese, or bologna to make a sandwich, you know all the healthy stuff, I just can’t bring myself to drink coconut water EVER AGAIN.
Which brings me to the Kombucha. Unbeknownst to me, Kombucha is basically a concoction of bacteria, tea, and sugar…a fermented probiotic drink. Sounds nasty when described like that but its been around over 2000 years ago from ancient China where it was consumed to treat inflammation and ward off cancer. It’s also been called the “elixir of life” by the Chinese! How can you can no to this fizzy, sort of vinegary tasting, carbonated fruity beverage that is supposed to be filled with vitamins, enzymes, probiotics, and a high concentration of lactic, gluconic, and acetic (I don’t even know what any of these means) acids? I know right? I didn’t say no and drove my Impala straight down to Mama Jeans. I would like to add that going to Mama Jeans health food store for the first time after the coconut water was in itself a comfort zone moment. It’s kind of like leaving your country and going into a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT country and have never spoken the language and don’t even know WHAT language it is you WOULD SPEAK if you knew HOW to speak it. For me, going into a health food store is waaaaayyyyyyy out of my comfort zone. It’s amazing what adventures persuasion and peer pressure (at age 52) can lead you into. Nonetheless, I went in. I came out…yes you guessed it…with 5 bottles of Kombucha!!! I had NO idea that there are that many brands and THAT MANY DIFFERENT flavors! Who knew?????? I didn’t even really know what Kombucha was at that moment but if the girls at Sumits were drinking it then by gollys I was going to as well. I might also add that I adore the girls at my yoga studio. They’re all young and in shape and appear to be really healthy and have been a huge blessing. I, on the other hand, am on the front steps of getting older and am trying to slow down any process of aging so if I see something that might be working for someone, I’m willing to give it a whirl.
From the minute I slammed the car door shut in the parking lot of Mama Jeans to head home, my interest was peeked. So much so that I hadn’t even backed up yet before someone was honking at me while I was pulling back in to park just so I could reach in the bag and get out MY kombucha…my pineapple peach flavored komubucha. The effervescent fizz and the slight vinegar smell deterred me at first from immediately putting it to my lips but after I braved through the initial “oh my God what the hell is this and why did I just spend $3 for one bottle?” buyers remorse moment (another moment), I took a sip and it wasn’t half bad. It was almost good. It was almost a little bit quenching. I puckered and sipped on it all the way down Sunshine Street when I finally decided it needed to be colder and put the lid back on it to save it until I got home. What a good excuse I came up with for NOT drinking it.
I did finally drink the ENTIRE bottle later in the day and felt pretty good after I did. Lavender and Melon will be next on my to-do list and then so on until the remaining 4 bottles are gone. I may even get enthusiastic and start on those darn coconut waters…but probably not.
The definition of a comfort zone is “a place or situation where one feels safe or at ease and without stress.” I’m proud of myself for stepping out of MY comfort zone from time to time to try new things and to get a different perspective and broaden my view. It’s in that zone that we become complacent and sometimes fear what we cannot control in our environment and in a sense, our own lives. It’s good to get out of that comfortable place and do something that makes our hearts race and skip an extra beat even if it’s something so simple as trying Kombucha.
Namaste and God Bless,
Kelly 🙂
