Week 10 Storybook: Trust the Process
Tom was on his way to work and it was presentation day. Today was the day that would make or break his career. Either he was going to blow the CEO away with this new proposal and be able to afford the diamond ring his girlfriend wanted or he was going to be stuck in his corner cubicle for the rest of his life.
The day had already started off rocky. He had barely slept because he was up all night practicing his presentation. He didn't hear his alarm and woke up 20 minutes late. He spilled coffee on his lucky shirt and changing it made him another 10 minutes late. As he got into his car and entered the freeway, he felt his car bumping along. Tom pulled over to check his tires out and saw a flat. By this time, he was already 30 minutes late. He didn't have his spare and AAA had a 45 minute time estimate. He wasn't going to make it.
Sitting in his car, wiping tears from his eyes. Tom thought back to the moments that had brought him here. He grew up poor with wishy-washy parents who seemed to care about everything but him. He paid his way through college, never missed an assignment, and graduated with honors. He worked himself to the bone getting to the position his was in now. Was hard work not supposed to pay off?
Sitting in his car, wiping tears from his eyes. Tom thought back to the moments that had brought him here. He grew up poor with wishy-washy parents who seemed to care about everything but him. He paid his way through college, never missed an assignment, and graduated with honors. He worked himself to the bone getting to the position his was in now. Was hard work not supposed to pay off?
Fast forward to later that afternoon. Tom and his colleagues are gathered around the TV in the conference room. A bridge had collapsed that morning, killing over one hundred people. Tom already knew this, because this is the usual way he takes to work, but this morning he saw the wreckage. He knew that if he had been 30 minutes earlier, he would have been under that bridge.
Author's Note:
My story is loosely based off of the The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking. This story is about a turtle and his geese friends. The geese tell the turtle they'll bring him to their home, but it's a long journey. The geese hold both ends of a stick and the turtle grabs the middle with his mouth. He'll make it as long as he keeps his mouth closed. The turtle see's spectators talking about him and as he opens his mouth to yell at them, he falls to his death.
When I read this story it reminded me that sometimes we just need to stop talking and trust the process. Like Tom, so many of us work toward this huge singular goal and a lot of the time it doesn't go exactly as we planned. But that doesn't mean we did anything wrong or that we didn't work hard enough. If we trust the process, we will get to the the other side.
Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbit
Author's Note:
My story is loosely based off of the The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking. This story is about a turtle and his geese friends. The geese tell the turtle they'll bring him to their home, but it's a long journey. The geese hold both ends of a stick and the turtle grabs the middle with his mouth. He'll make it as long as he keeps his mouth closed. The turtle see's spectators talking about him and as he opens his mouth to yell at them, he falls to his death.
When I read this story it reminded me that sometimes we just need to stop talking and trust the process. Like Tom, so many of us work toward this huge singular goal and a lot of the time it doesn't go exactly as we planned. But that doesn't mean we did anything wrong or that we didn't work hard enough. If we trust the process, we will get to the the other side.
Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbit
Everything will work out in the end. web source
Jasmin, your story exhibits a phenomenon that I think about all of the time. I love how you provide details about Tom's past and all of the struggles that he endured that day so that we can get a feel for how heavy not being able to get to work weighed on him and we could also understand the relief that he felt when he realized that is happened for a reason. Great story!
ReplyDeleteHey Jasmin,
ReplyDeleteI was really interested in seeing how you created your story because I actually read this story! Your story was amazing. When I read your last sentence, it was such a relief. I agree though, we should all just trust the process and know that some things play out the way they do, because there's another purpose.