Altered Perception

Jim stood up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He dressed in his casual work attire and checked himself out in the mirror.

Sighing, he said to himself, “I really don’t want to go to work today. We have waaaayyy too much to get done and I doubt we can even put a dent in it by the deadline. Plus, this new game we are working on is absolute garbage...” he sighed again, “Don’t know why I torture myself with this pointless job. Maybe I should have been a doctor or something.”

Sighing heavily, he walked away from his mirror, but his image seemed to go in the opposite direction. With a furrow of his brows, he backed up to the mirror seeing his reflection as it should be. He shook his head and left his room to start his day.

He made a pot of coffee in his one-bedroom apartment, looking around and thinking about how little he had, this is just pathetic... I’m almost 30 years old and I hardly have enough to fill up my apartment. Even Jenkins has a nicer apartment than I do and he’s a total loser. He scoffed as a smug smile spread to his face, thinking about how awkward Jenkins could be.

He realized that he was going to be late if he didn’t get going, so he rushed down the stairs of his apartment complex. Halfway down, he stumbled and spilled his coffee all over himself.

“Oh, that’s just great! Just my luck!”

He ran back inside to change and pour himself another cup of coffee. He headed out five minutes later than he had intended and ended up being 5 minutes late to work.

“Jim! You’re late!” His boss yelled from across the office. “Don’t think I need to remind you that today is a very important day.”

“Yeah yeah, I know. Traffic was terrible and I spilled-”

“I don’t want to hear it. Just head into the conference room, Jenkins is already giving his presentation.” His boss glowered behind Jim as they entered the conference room.

Jenkins stuttered through some of his speech. His hands straight down by his sides, as if he didn’t know what to do with them. Jim mostly doodled during his presentation, scoffing occasionally at his co-worker's stutter. Jim’s boss shook his head disapprovingly.

After the meeting, as they were all filing out, Jim’s boss said, “Jim, may I speak with you a moment?”

“Yeah, I guess. What’s up?” Jim’s nonchalant attitude frustrated his boss. “Look, I know you are not particularly fond of Jenkins and his work here, but his software is an integral component of our company. You have a lot of natural talent when it comes to game development, but your attitude has to go. You either get behind Jenkins or you may need to consider finding another line of work.”

Jim’s mouth hung open in disbelief, but before he said anything his boss said, “I would be careful with your next words Jim.”

Jim clenched his jaw shut, defying what he wanted to yell in his boss’s face. He couldn’t believe that Jenkins had become his new favorite. Jim remembered when he was the top dog in this office. After all, if it wasn’t for him, there wouldn’t even be a company to build up! This was ridiculous! How could his boss even consider speaking to him like that?

“You know what!?” Jim cried as he stood up. “I don’t need this! I’m the best thing that has ever happened to this company and you know it. I quit! We’ll see how you feel when I’m on the front of Wired Magazine, making more a month than this trash company earns in a year!”

And with that Jim stormed out, but not before finding Jenkins and giving him a piece of his mind. With the blood boiling in his ears, he grabbed his computer and the few supplies that he kept at his desk and stormed out of the office.

When he got home, he headed straight for the cabinet above the coffee pot. He pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels and poured a couple of fingers into a tumbler. After knocking it back in one go, he poured another. And that drink turned into another.

Before he knew it, he was drunk, angry, and depressed. As opposed to being drunk and relaxed as he had hoped. He went upstairs and looked into his full-length mirror again.

“You’re an idiot. Now, what are you going to do without a job? You know that you won’t ever amount to anything. You’re not even half as good as Jenkins.”

After reinforcing all of his negative thoughts, he passed out cold for 12 hours.

Jim stood up and stretched with a smile on his face. His first thought was, what a great day to be alive. He got dressed and looked himself over in the mirror saying, “Busy day today. Better get down to the office early to help out.” As he turned away, he noted that his image seemed to go the opposite way.

He walked back to his mirror with a quizzical look. He stared at himself for a moment. Finding nothing abnormal about the mirror or his reflection, he shrugged, smiled, and left his room.

He headed to his kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. As it was brewing, he looked around at his apartment with a sense of accomplishment. He knew it wasn’t much, but he was grateful that he had a place to call home. He had come so far.

With his coffee made, he rushed out the door and down the stairs of his apartment complex. Halfway down, he stumbled and spilled coffee all over himself.

“Oh, man!” Shaking his head, he chuckled to himself. “Could be worse. At least I’m early and I have time to change. I just need to slow down a little.” And with that, he headed back up the steps and changed his clothes.

He made it to work with ten minutes to spare. He took a couple of minutes to just take in the outdoors and appreciate the beauty of the sky that day. He headed in and was greeted by his boss and the rest of the staff.

“Hey Jim, welcome in. We are about to start the meeting in about five. Fresh pot in the break room if you need it.”

“Thank you, sir, I have what I need though. And hey, I know that Jenkins is leading this project, but I have a few ideas I would like to share with the team if that’s okay.”

His boss smiled, “Yeah, of course. This isn’t a one-man show.”

The meeting went smoothly, and Jim presented his idea when the time came. The team, including Jenkins, enjoyed his pitch, and they figured out how to work it into the project.

After the meeting was over, his boss said, “Hey Jim, can I have a word?”

“Yeah, of course. What can I do for you?”

“I just wanted to say thank you for taking the initiative to consider the areas where we need help. He’s one of our best, but keep up the good work and you’ll go far here.”

“Thank you. I just want to be able to contribute.”

The rest of the day was spent working side by side with Jenkins on their new game development. After work, Jim and a few of the guys went out to have a drink, or two, before heading home.

In high spirits, Jim crossed his room to his full-length mirror. His smile beaming with pride, “Another day closer to the goal. You’ve got a long way to go, but you have a good start.” And with that, he was off to sleep.

Which side of the mirror do you want to be on?

Is this a cheesy exaggeration of life? Absolutely! It was supposed to be. I think most people are somewhere in between. We all have good days and we all have bad days. However, we get to choose on a moment-to-moment basis how we view our lives.

Perception is a powerful tool. It can create positivity or negativity. There is so little in our control. We can truly only control our actions, thoughts, and behaviors. And a lot of these are formed by habits that we create over an extended period of time.

Maybe things do not work out how you expect them to, but we have to be able to adapt to the external forces that we have zero control over. Otherwise, we will never be content with life. We will constantly be worried about things that we can’t change.

That’s why I believe it is important to remember there is always something to be grateful for when things don’t go your way. Plus, when things aren’t going your way, it’s probably for a reason. Life can teach you a lot if you take the time to evaluate what it is trying to show you.

Perception can be your victory or your demise.