"Patience is not
about how long you can wait but on how you behave while waiting"
I got my termination
letter. A termination letter drafted by me having my name on it. The day was
14th November 2017, when one of my sirs emailed me my termination letter. It
was hardly six months since I joined and here I was on the cross road of termination
and going back home, my first job and my first termination. It was not sudden.
I knew this is going to happen so it was nor shocking nor surprising for me.
Why is that, when
everything is working out smoothly there always comes a wave which disturbs
that steadiness and stability? In my life that wave was my termination letter.
I was happy with the ways things were moving. I made good friends, they were
like another family, I even shifted to a new room where I made many beautiful
and trustworthy relations. Everything was on track. I was living fully while on
the other hand our company was finding it difficult even to survive, I was well
aware of the fact that the company was facing financial crises. I was able to
sense that tension way before other employees got their termination letter and
even before the decision was made.
This was the time I
knew I have to stay calm and just trust the process. I warned about our company
situation and the uncertainty of my job to my family. They were fine with it
but I was not. This was the time a struggle was going on inside me, what I’ll
do, how is life going to be and at the same time I was trying to convince
myself that maybe my time in UAE is over and that I should make a fresh start.
I was back to square one, I had no choice, things were not in my control,
how I deal with the situation was in my control, after all I was not the only
one, more than half of the employees got their termination letter, I happened
to be one of them. We all were serving our one month notice period.
Every employee in the
office was in tension, I could see their shoulders loaded with an additional
baggage of finding a new job and the sadness on their face. I started updating
my CV with the hope to get a new job. I am not sure why but instead of finding
a new job in UAE, my heart was telling me to go back to India. I finally made a
deal with myself, I will not run, I will try looking for other job in that 1
month time, if I get job I’ll take it and if I don’t, I will happily go back to
India. I prepared my CV and one particular day my manager asked me, "Did
you update your CV?” I was surprised when he told me to show him my CV and
cover letter for correction and modification. He even gave me tips and
suggestions on what to include and what not to include in the CV. If you think,
isn't it a funny moment, where a boss is helping his employee to find a new
job? and that day my respect for him stepped up. After that I started
posting my CV on job portals. Time was running out. I wonder do these job
portals even work. I didn't get a single response.
Even though I got my
termination letter, I don’t know why, I was not stressed out, I was cool with
everything, having the attitude of “If I stay, it is good but if I don’t
it is even better”, Everything happens for a reason and maybe life after
this will take me one step closer to the life I wished for, you never know what
treasure life is holding, unless you stop resisting. During this 1 month time,
I discovered one of my personality traits which I didn’t even consider as a
trait i.e., smiles. Yeah, smile and laughter. Usually I smile a lot, but I
realized that when I am stressed out or in tension, I smile more than usual, in
fact I laugh. One of my colleague even commented that in this situation of tension
I shouldn't laugh that loud. I stay cheerful. I was always this way. I recall,
when I was in University, one of my seniors asked, why are you always smiling and
my simple reply was, “tension leke kya hoga" (what good will
happen by taking tension). Maybe that is the reason I was not feeling the
tension of same intensity. We all know life keeps moving, no matter what. I
knew taking tension was not going to solve my problem.
"Worrying doesn't
take away tomorrow's troubles; it takes away today's peace”
I was living in the
present moment. The secret of being happy is to accept where you are in
life and making the most out of every day. I have learned this a hard way.
Smiling and accepting defeat/truth is an effective way to attain peace of mind.
Last 4-5 days of my notice period were left, my manager called me in his cabin
and told me that, "Everyone will be going today or tomorrow, as you
know, we are searching for clients to sell our business, but in vain, we will
take a chance to save the business in the next 3 more months, if you want, you
can stay for the next three months, after that we will figure out
something." I simply nodded (in words, I wanted to say, I would love
to stay till the end, no matter what the end will be). I can understand how
difficult it can be for a person who has given his time, blood & sweat for
setting up a business, working 24 hrs a day, only thinking of that business,
our manager did everything he can do to save the business or at least delay the
D-Day. He was calm & strong during that time, trying to help other
employees in finding other jobs and doing everything that was in his control. I
would have shattered in such a situation because two things I couldn't stand,
one is "the feeling of helplessness" & other is “you
being the reason for someone's disappointment". The inability to help
others when they most need us is very painful. But throughout that time he was
composed and I never saw emotions taking control over his mind. Mostly labors
got affected by this decision. Finding a job in UAE is difficult, many labors
are the sole bread winner for their family, after knowing their stories, their
need, if I know that management decision is going to add misery to their
situation with no way out, I would have broken inside, not because the business
is dying/ I worked so hard but, because of one decision, many lives are getting
affected and I am helpless. The D-day came and on 15th December 2017, I bid
most of my colleagues a farewell, only hoping best life for them.
Subconsciously during
that time, I learned a most important lesson that,
"Sometimes we
have to make difficult choices instead of holding on to false hope, we all have
struggles in life but we have to continue to fight. We need to accept what we
cannot change, because either way the result will be same only the state of
mind will differ".
Smiling was and is my
defense mechanism to tackle stressful situation and trust me it works and it
even doesn't cost anything. Face every day by wearing a smile on your face and
you will be amazed how beautiful life can become. I was told three months but
my journey continued.......... the sword of termination didn't slice me in fact
it gave me a permanent shield of "acceptance of the uncertainty" &
an evergreen friend, "smile".
"Smile is a free therapy"
#Smile always
