When we choose personal growth over short term gratification - Real life example

 

We all know that most relations or connections are made through smooth communication. If you can express yourself in easy words, if there is no base stress or tension between the individuals and if there is a fair exchange of energy, usually things work out. Ideas get exchanged, opinions are respected and the outcome is usually positive or at least neutral. 

Then, there are times when people in power need to communicate. The power can be financial, a giver of hope and opportunity or exposure and growth. This is usually true when someone is offering us a job. Recently, I heard a story of a person applying for a job. Let's call her Fiona.

Fiona had searched for a job for some months without much success. She was starting to get nervous about her future and her dwindling savings. She applied for a job and finally made it through a couple of rounds of interviews. Her hopes were not too high, but higher than recent times. Ever an optimist, but not overconfident, she even started imagining being selected for the post.

Unfortunately, the dream was cut short. The person in charge of communicating with her sent her a very generic email. Something that said that even though she was good, they had chosen another candidate. Fiona was disappointed. She had to push back tears and lick her wounds. She had to reassure herself of her capacity to bounce back and her worth. The crying was done and she moved on.

About a week later, however, Fiona got an email from the same person offering her the job. Reading that part of the communication made her initially very happy, but the sentence just after left her with a dirty taste in the mouth. The mail said categorically that Fiona was actually the third choice in the lot and since the first had refused the offer and the second had found something more convenient in the meantime, the job was now being offered to her. Fiona needed the job desperately but was also aware that she had much more to lose if she worked for a company that had simply no empathy, no human side. The decision was clear. She declined the offer. 

Fiona soon found a job that was more suited for her and with a management that had more empathy and the story had a happy ending. It just goes to show that we need to choose ourselves even when life is hard and choices aren't ample. We need to prioritise ourselves, period.