Swiss Miss hot chocolate has a flawless marketing strategy. It’s quick, easy, and for the most part, it’s decent enough to fulfill a craving for hot chocolate – just add hot water! You never see a Swiss Miss commercial because everyone already knows what it is and what you get when you buy Swiss Miss. I myself have purchased this type of hot chocolate plenty of times in my life. Quick, easy, decent.
Based on my previous paragraph, you may be surprised to learn that I have a problem with Swiss Miss. I have beef with the company and with the message they send with their quick, easy, and decent hot chocolate. There are too many instances in our lives where we settle for the quick, easy, and decent options for satisfaction. We are not always to blame for depriving ourselves of better pleasure. Everyone you know has a million things going on in their lives and self-care doesn’t always break the top ten list of “most important things to do before tomorrow.” I sure know the feeling. We are constantly overwhelmed with work, school, friends, family, significant others, COVID – the list goes on for far too long. The overstimulation of things every person has to take into consideration every day leads us to push aside time and energy for self-care. We have been programmed to behave this way. Swiss Miss has programmed us to believe that our satisfaction should be quick, easy, and decent. They have defaced the name of self-care – and more tragically, of what a good cup of hot chocolate should be. It’s shameful.
So what do we do in an age where consideration for ourselves is supposed to be quick? How do we give ourselves a break when it’s supposed to be easy? And is a ‘decent’ act of self-care really worth it? The answer is no. No, self-care is not supposed to be quick, easy, and merely decent. The whole purpose of self-care is to truly give yourself a moment to appreciate the time and energy you put into everyday life. Like I said, almost all 8 billion people have a million things going on, and each one of those individuals would greatly benefit from allowing themselves to take a break. Not just a crummy watered-down hot chocolate break. A true cocoa with milk break, where you warm up the FULL FAT milk on the stovetop and break down pieces of quality dark chocolate that get melted by the warm milk. Maybe you add some cinnamon if you’re feeling crazy, or maybe you go all in and top it off with whipped cream and a few marshmallows. You hold that steaming mug of cocoa in your hands and relish the smell of chocolate and cream. Even if it is just until you finish your drink, you feel at ease, and fully satisfied.
The case for cocoa with milk. Take the extra ten minutes and make yourself a wonderful cup of proper hot chocolate. Give yourself the time of day necessary to accommodate a break worthy of your satisfaction, worthy of all the work you do. You are wonderful, and you deserve to invest even a small amount of time into something 100% for yourself. Perhaps that investment won’t be spent on making the perfect cup of hot chocolate. Perhaps it will be spent reading the latest book by your favorite author, or watching an episode of the newest Netflix drama. Maybe you’ll cook yourself a special dinner or call that friend that you’ve been dying to catch up with. Whatever it may be, know that you are entitled to that time and that experience. I’m not convinced that hot chocolate isn’t the perfect way to soothe the soul and clean the mind, but I hope that each of you has (or finds) an activity that brings you the satisfaction of making cocoa with milk. Cheers!
Can’t get enough of HC UMass Amherst? Be sure to follow us on Instagram, listen to us on Spotify, like us on Facebook, and read our latest Tweets!