Journey mercies

"Everyone needs to go through the moments you think you're reaching your breaking point," my mentor affirmed when I told her of my corporate near-death experience earlier in the week, in our first lunch together. "I've gone through it, our CEO has gone through it. You might even experience it several times."

We talked about many different things, and though she doesn't speak like an aggresive go-getter, her calm, steady and confident mannerism commands a person to follow her pace. Even if you don't know much about her, you cannot help but respect her.

Before I asked her to be my mentor, I had heard that she is one of the nicest persons around and that among all the managers, she is one of the best and even the most difficult customers love her. When she agreed to be my mentor, I felt pretty honoured.

After our lunch we walked back to the office, and there were a group of senior employees standing at the entrance, along with some senior managers. When they saw her approaching, all of them stopped talking and turned to greet her with warm smiles. When I left her to go back to the office, I felt awed. She is one of the most incredible ladies I've met.

The irony of having been so close to giving up and surviving those despairing moments is that you do come out stronger, as cliche as it sounds. It's one of those things that you probably understand what it means, but you really need to experience it to truly appreciate it.

I read an article on the lady who dresses Sarah Jessica Parker (or was it Jessica Sarah Parker?) of Sex and The City, who is one of the more iconic actresses of today, largely due to her dressing. And the lady made a comment, that she knows of many people who had gone and graduated from university and become nobody, but without anything she had become somebody. Ironic isn't it that I can't for the life of me remember her name? Anyway, that comment kept me thinking for a while about my own life and what I am making out of it.

Being in one of the largest and most iconic companies in the world today, with a start of a career that shines with golden hues, I feel content. Not from comparing my achievements and life with that of other people, but from the knowledge that I am living my life to its fullness. It is the simple knowledge and absence of doubt that I am giving my best and my all that convinces me I will not look back on these days and feel I wasted my life meaninglessly.