Beloved readers, I'm writing this with bandaged fingers and a transformed soul, because what I'm about to share with you involves both third-degree burns and third-eye openings. The humble tea bag - that small sachel of dried plant matter that most people thoughtlessly dunk in hot water - has become my greatest spiritual teacher, my metaphor for resilience, and the catalyst for healing a sisterhood wound that has festered for thirty-four years.

It started when I was six, and my older sister Stephanie (who now runs a successful pyramid scheme selling 'activated' water bottles) deliberately poured an entire pot of Earl Grey over my favorite Barbie. But it wasn't just the doll that got burned that day - it was my ability to trust anything involving hot water and steeping. For three decades, I've been a coffee person, telling myself it was about the caffeine, but really it was about avoiding the trauma of transformation that tea represents.

This year, everything changed. I was at a silent retreat with Deepak Chopra (well, it was marketed as 'with' Deepak Chopra, but he appeared only via a pre-recorded video message) when during the breakfast service, they ran out of coffee. The only option was tea. Various teas. Walls of teas. A entire temple of teas. And I stood there, paralyzed, while everyone else calmly selected their morning beverages like they weren't about to engage in an act of pure alchemy.

That's when Deepak (on the video screen) said something that pierced through my tea-resistance: 'The tea bag must surrender to the hot water to become tea. What are you refusing to surrender to?' The timing was so perfect that I'm convinced the universe paused the video just for me, though the retreat coordinator insists it was just a 'buffering issue.'

I reached for a chamomile tea bag with trembling hands. As I held it, I realized it looked exactly like a tiny pillow of potential, waiting to release its essence. The tag on the string had a quote: 'You are stronger than you steep.' I'm pretty sure they meant 'think,' but I took it as a divine typo, a message meant specifically for my journey.