You're stronger than you thought

 

Everyone has his or her own struggle in life. We all had our ups and downs, and that makes life so interesting and inspiring. I have been many times amazed by triumphant stories of people around me who once reached the lowest point in their lives, but then came out even stronger. 

My close friend, let's call him Andy, had an inspiring life experience that taught me that we are stronger than we thought and whatever that life throws at us we can always rebuild again. 

Andy has a master qualification from an overseas university. He was offered a job even when he was still studying. Immediately after completing his study, he travelled away from his hometown to his new job. Unfortunately, in this first job experience, he had to face a bad character at the office, but he managed it well. He braved through a couple of years working in such a difficult environment and completed his contract. 

He was then offered for another job, but it was a position in a project pending for approval to mobilise. Unfortunately, the waiting time dragged on for almost a year. He made a decision to wait for this position and stayed on in a foreign land without any incomes and just living on his saving. He said his saving was almost depleted by the time he started this job in the end. 

It was the darkest time of his life. While he didn't understand why he made the decision to stay instead of returning home, I could fully understand his decision. If I were him, I wouldn't want to risk going home and lose the opportunity that was already provided for me. 

Had he had more years of experience in his pocket, he might have gone looking for other opportunities, but that was his second job experience of working in a formal setting, so you would be risk averse. 

"Everyday, I spent my time waiting for the call, watching my fave shows until late in the evening and woke up late the following day with an awful feeling of realisation that the call that I had been waiting for was not yet made" 

As he settled in his second job, his life improved, and he could take a breather to enjoy his life. He gained more experience working and showed his great potentials. 

As always what happens in life, just as we thought everything is going great, suddenly we are thrown to another test. There was change of leadership in the organisation, and again, like most of the people in that organisation, life became miserable for him, and he experienced it first hand. 

He went through a drastic change from an organisation whose leader was confident and appreciative of his contribution, to an organisation with a leader who questioned Andy's added value. Again, he conquered this mountain and completed the contract. He came out with lots bruises and terrible wounds that took sometime to heal but he came out victorious. 

Learning from his experience before when he stuck out waiting for a job and almost depleted his saving, he learned to live a simple life and became a lot smarter with his saving. He was fully prepared then. After finishing this toxic work, it took him a couple of applications and interviews for different positions before he finally got a job that he has now. 

It doesn't mean that his struggles end, but reflecting on his life experience taught me that we are all stronger than we thought. We cannot control the situation that we are in, we cannot control what people do and how people see us, but what matter is how we respond. People were vicious to him in words and attitude.  They said about him being unfit for his position but that didn't stop him. It hurt him but it motivated him to be better and try his best every single day. 

My friend Andy, I know has already reached a financial freedom, but he remains a humble person and is still doing his work as if his tomorrow's meal depends on what he produces today. I'm inspired and humbled by his life experience and what he has achieved. 

You ARE who you are with. Your friends define who you are and I'm happy that I'm surrounded by such a great person like him.