06/08/2025
A group of successful graduates once visited their former professor.
They had built impressive careers, held prestigious titles, and lived seemingly perfect lives.
While waiting for coffee, their conversation turned to the stresses of work, exhaustion, and the pressures of adulthood.
Some laughed.
Some complained.
Some philosophized.
The professor returned with a tray full of mismatched cups —
porcelain and glass, ceramic and plastic, elegant and chipped, minimalist and ornate.
As the guests chose their cups, the professor quietly observed…
Then he spoke:
“Notice how you all instinctively reached for the finest cups — the fancy ones.
Not a single person chose the worn-out or plastic ones.
And that’s the root of much of your stress.”
“You wanted the coffee — not the cup.
But you focused on the cup’s appearance, not the essence of what you came for.”
He continued:
“Life is like coffee.
Career, salary, status, home, car — those are just cups.
They don’t define the richness of life itself.”
“Sometimes we get so distracted by the ‘cup’,
we forget to savor the coffee.”
☕ So drink your coffee with joy.
Not by comparing.
Not by competing.
Not by glancing sideways.
Because the happiest people aren’t those who have the best of everything —
but those who know how to make the best of what they have.
