Vol.11 Hot water 🫖 & the 🍺 norm

I’ve looked everywhere.
In the drawer, under the sink, behind the closet.
Nothing.

Finally, I picked up the phone and dialed the hotel front desk.
“Sorry to bother you, but I think our room is missing a hot water kettle,” I said.

“A hot what?”
“A hot water kettle—you know, to make the tea.”

“Oh… we don’t carry those in our rooms.”

She sounded polite, but also kind of…confused.

That was my first cultural shock in the U.S.

You see, in China, hot water is an everyday essential.
Every hotel room—from five-star towers to tiny hostels—comes with a kettle.
Because, of course, it does. How else are you going to have your hot water?

But not here.
Not in the U.S.

And that’s when I realized—what’s considered “normal” in one culture…
might not even exist in another.

Tell me if this sounds familiar:

“Everyone drinks—it’s just a norm.”

But here’s the thing most of us were never told:
“Norm” doesn’t mean good, or right, or even true for you.

It just means a lot of people are doing it right now.
Because they saw other people doing it.
Because it’s expected.

Norms are social habits. And habits can shift.

It takes a wise and courageous person to pause and ask:

Yes, everyone drinks.
But is that really what I want?

Micro-Dose Take Away: 

1. Name the old belief:
   “Everyone drinks—it’s just what people do.”
2. Examine the evidence:
   – What feels normal is often just what we're used to seeing.
   – Cultural habits vary, and that means we can question our own.
3. Rewrite the belief
   “What’s considered ‘normal’ is often just what we’re used to—not what’s right for me.”