Yemen once strictly forbade coffee seeds from ever leaving its borders. To protect the secrets of cultivation, no living seed was allowed to cross the frontier. It was an absolute law of its time. Coffee, which had spread from the port town of Mocha, remained for a long while the monopoly of a single country.

According to legend, a Sufi holy man broke that law. On his way home from a pilgrimage to Mecca, he hid seven seeds on his body, slipped past the watchful eyes at the border, and carried them into India. It was an act that could have cost him his life had he been caught — and still, he refused to let them go.

From those seven seeds alone, coffee spread through India, then through Dutch and French colonies, and before long, across the entire world. Had that law been obeyed, coffee might still be a secret held within a single nation. Even this cup we drink today, without a second thought, exists only because someone once stepped outside the boundary.

Rules, more often than not, are made to protect someone. But sometimes, it’s only the one who steps beyond them who gets to see what comes next.

There’s no need to follow every rule. That’s exactly what lets you hold something new in your hands.