Needless to say, I was hooked. It was a new thing for me and it was hip and cool and tasted great!

I never really made a whole lot of money but always found a way to get my Starbucks.

I started out with the double, tall, mocha and at the time I think it was about $3.20, give or take a dime, maybe. Before long, it couldn’t have been much more than 2 months, I moved up to the triple, grande, mocha and that was to be my drink, everyday, up until December of 2015. That started out at $4.03 and it was 1998 at this time.

Work was always stable for me, though I wasn’t rich I always had a job. Getting my Starbucks on the way to work became an enjoyable ritual for me. It was fun to get to know the people and I have been a regular at various Starbucks from Everett, Washington to San Jose, California. In 2005 my commutes became longer as I had moved away from the county I was working in and those long mornings, commuting with my Starbucks and my stereo, were fun times.

I listened to all sorts of audio on my drives. Anything from metal music to Thich Nhat Hahn giving a lecture on mindfulness or David Crow discussing the deeper, spiritual aspects of aromatherapy.

Even when, in 2014, I did not work from January to September and money was tight, I still went to Starbucks everyday! Addiction or bad financial planning? You decide. But later in 2014, I began to enjoy a substantial increase in wages, more than I had ever made, and increased demand for my skill set in the marketplace. And also, I became a little more budget-minded with this sudden burst of financial prosperity and Starbucks was about to be chopped from the ‘ol necessity list. But was I treating it as a necessity or did it become an unconscious habit? Did the spirit, or devil, of Starbucks automatically make me drive my car there everyday? Sometimes I would end up in the drive-through and think to myself, ‘what the hell am I doing here’? I don’t even really want this! But I would get it anyways.

But something made me think deeply about this habit and other habits that affected my financial well-being. Not just the money or the calories but the deeper implications of contributing to certain, hidden aspects of big business and the role the individual consumer plays in the cycle.

To be continued…