Somewhere

Somewhere

It was a Friday afternoon and there I was with my teary-eyed friend, standing in front of the mirror by the ladies room. I gave her a consoling arm-over-her-shoulder hug. It was the most I can do knowing that I was part of her jigsaw-puzzle-of-grief that day. While I listen to her run down of week long frustrations, the well of tears started to fall all over again. In that moment I can feel like her chest is going to explode. I feel the weight of her burden. Like all is lost and no amount of consoling can make it better.
I was actually reading a paperback (of a feel good story) that night and for some eerie reason not connected to the book, the memories of that afternoon came back to me. I tried (while still focused on my reading) to think back what triggered it.

And then, in a perfect “eureka moment” I knew. It was the well of tears.

It jogged my subconscious. It made me look back.

So I asked myself (while still reading…), when was the last time I cried a tear over work-related frustrations anyway? Maybe next time I can tell my friend about it and exchange stories with her of how I survived it. Maybe it does not make your angst go away but it lessens the pain. Maybe it does not really make everything better at that point when your cauldron of emotions is boiling over but at least we’ll have an interesting topic to talk about over coffee.

And so my mind made a mental rewind as I approached chapter three of my book.

Well? It’s been quite a long, long while.

How so?

It is inevitable that we sometimes find ourselves in an emotionally gripping situation at work. As mature people, we have to face the music but there will also be unsolicited, unwanted spots of verbal-torture that can leave you feeling drained and useless.

When I am about to be overcome by such difficult, gripping moments, I realized that I can always go to this place somewhere inside me where no one can reach you. Where no words can hurt or has a power to tear you into shreds. Where I am invincible to pain, grief, sadness or disappointment. Somewhere. Where I can retreat so that I can come out whole and unscathed. And go on with life (in this case, work) as we know it.

I am glad there is Somewhere.

Postscript: And at this juncture, I closed the book and got up to find my laptop. My next blog entry was born. Thanks to you my friend, for the inspiration.