“You’ll never know how strong the tea bag is until you put it in hot water.”
It sounded so simple, almost too ordinary. But for some reason, it stayed with me. Maybe because, in my own quiet way, I feel like I’ve been living that line.
Hot water. Life has given me plenty of it—moments I didn’t ask for, challenges that felt too heavy, days when I wondered if I had the strength to keep going. And in those moments, I thought I would break. I thought the heat would destroy me.
But somehow, something else happened. I began to discover pieces of myself I never noticed before. A kind of courage that only shows up when I’m scared. A patience I never knew I had. A resilience that whispers, “You can still stand, even when it hurts.”
It reminds me of the tea bag. You can’t really tell what’s inside just by looking at it. But when the boiling water touches it, its flavor seeps out—slowly, quietly, but powerfully. And maybe that’s what life’s struggles do to us too. They bring out the depths we didn’t know were there.
Looking back, I realize some of the hardest seasons of my life also became the ones that shaped me the most. They stripped me, yes—but they also revealed me. I may not have chosen those moments, but they taught me I was stronger than I believed.
So now, whenever life throws me into “hot water,” I try to see it differently. Not as a punishment, but as a chance to uncover what’s hidden inside me.
Because just like tea, I become deeper, richer, and stronger when tested.
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