Monday-morning Blues

Monday morning.

The sun was shining brightly outside. A stray bird chirruped outside my window. And a gentle breeze wafted in. All seemed right with the world. The world that is, not my world.

I just turned over and continued to lie in bed. My immediate thought? So what if it was a bright and beautiful day, it wasn’t for me. If this was going to be a day anything like what the last few days had been, I did not even want to open my eyes.

The past two weeks had been harrowing. Ever since that Friday two weeks ago: the day I quit my job out of sheer frustration. It had been a nightmarish scenario where I had been made a scapegoat. Changing my job had been on my mind for several reasons. I felt I had not been really appreciated for all that I put in. Thanks to a superior who had vested interests and his own personal agenda. I tolerated it to an extent. But when I was pulled up in front of a client for something I had not done, I thought, enough is enough. There was only so much I could take. I submitted my resignation in the very next hour, took a waiver on my notice period and walked out.

I was sailing high on the cloud of optimism, for a couple of days after that. There were so many things I wanted to do. See movies I had missed. Catch up on books I wanted to read. And sign up for that 3-day Feng Shui course. In the meantime I would look for another job, one where I was recognised for my worth.

My cell phone rang, shaking me out of my reverie. I looked at it suspiciously. Of late, I was not in a mood to speak to anybody. Checking the number on the display I saw it was Sonia. I had to take that call. Sonia was my one friend at work. Yes, friend. In an eat-lunch-or-be-lunch corporate scenario, I had actually found a colleague who had grown to be more than that. We shared office gossip, our own personal secrets and sought each other out for advice. We celebrated our little job victories together. And commiserated with each other’s falls. What would I have done without Sonia!

She was the only one who consistently told me that I had done the right thing. Optimist to the core, she kept saying that I had a better future in store. Her optimism was infectious. But two weeks and several job rejections later, my optimism had lost its shine like a brass jug exposed to the salty air of the sea.
But back to the insistent ringing.

“Hello”, I said dully.
“Hi”, chirped Sonia from the other end, making me look up at that bird still on my window. “Still in bed? How’s it going?”
“Going?”
“Yes, with the job search and all. How was the interview on Friday? Any result?”
“Yeah, sure”, I said dryly. “The outcome was a big No. Actually, it was not a NO, it was a YES MAYBE, some time in the future. Oh, you know how it is, Sonia. I’m so fed up of this. This is the fifth rejection so far. I don’t know whether I’m ever going to get a job.” And I broke down.

There was silence at the other end. I thought I had dampened Sonia’s optimism. But Sonia was indomitable.
“Do you know what I just read?” she asked me gently.
“No”, I said still sniffling. And actually not really interested.
Sonia continued, “I just read an article on successful job-hunting tips by someone, I forget his name. Anyway, he’s talked about a model for the typical job hunt. He says, the more NOs you get out of the way, the closer you are to YES!”
“Oh”, I said, still not getting the point.
“Don’t you see?” Sonia gushed excitedly. “You have five NOs out of the way, my dear friend, it means you are getting closer to a YES!”

Good old Sonia. Wonderful dear colleague mentor friend philosopher guide. She always had the right things to say! Or possibly to read. I could have hugged her then.
Sonia continued, now in a sterner voice, “So my dear jobless friend, I now suggest, you throw back the covers, get up and start getting more NOs out of the way.”

I laughed. It was a bright, cheerful Monday morning after all.