It’s never the same lap.

I watched an F1 movie this week. Well, haha, even though I run a tearoom, it is not all about tradition, history, or sacred vibes. I take in all kinds of culture, and pop culture is definitely part of that.

©Apple TV

I have always loved anything with wheels. Cars, trains, bicycles.

I was never a big fan of watching F1 races, but I played the games growing up and at least knew the name Schumacher.

What I did not know was that they go around the circuit for more than sixty laps. Are you serious? Sixty laps? At that speed?

These days, I hike the same mountain almost every day. I cycle the same course now and then. I have been visiting the same country for three years in a row.

And I have started sweeping and mopping the building where the tearoom is every morning. It is hot in Seoul now, and I sweat like crazy doing it.

But there is something in that kind of repetition. It gives me a strange kind of peace. It makes me feel grounded. Calm. Focused.

©Jason.

It makes me feel like I am doing something that matters, even if it looks small from the outside.

Doing the same thing over and over actually helps me move forward. It clears my head. It makes me better in ways I cannot always explain. It gives me space to think. To reflect.

I still do not know exactly why I am so drawn to tea. But it pulls me in. Just like sweeping does. Just like the same view of the sky through the same tree on the same mountain.

There is something steady in it. Something that keeps changing even though it looks the same.

©Jason.

It is never really the same lap. Never the same dust on the stairs. Never the same ride. Everything repeats, but nothing is identical.

That used to frustrate me. I was stuck in that gap between sameness and change.

Then I found tea and the tearoom. And I started running it.

Repetition became a habit. A habit turned into a rhythm. And somehow, that rhythm keeps me sane.

Maybe that is what I am trying to say. Find a habit that gives you that feeling.

Something that makes you feel more like yourself. That shuts out the noise and brings you back to who you are.

Just like Brad Pitt says in the movie, it is not really about the money. It is about you. Your life. Your small daily wins.

Your quiet, humble steps forward.

©Heesum.

Maybe that is why I mop the stairs every day. And why I hike the mountain, again and again.

And why I make tea for myself each morning, even when no one is watching.

Jason.

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Jason is the operator of Heesum, a traditional tea room in Seoul offering an authentic Korean tea ceremony experience. Before joining the tea room, he worked in journalism and served as a writer for a Fortune 10 company. He is also an avid painter, photographer, and lifelong tea enthusiast. If you book a Korean tea ceremony in Seoul at Heesum, Jason will be there to host the session alongside Songna, the certified tea master who leads the ceremony with warmth and expertise.