THE SKY IS THE LIMIT

It was almost eight o’clock when I came to work. I was feeling good and fresh after my morning jog and having my healthy breakfast which mom fixed every morning. At nine o’clock sharp our department manager came in and asked me to join him in his office with his favorite “Cafe au lait.” It was simply coffee with milk but he loved saying it in French. Some people just love to be different I thought, when I first heard him saying it. He was a funny man and loved lecturing everybody and today it was my turn. 

“There is nothing you can’t do once you put your mind to it. Anything is possible. You can achieve anything if you really want to,’’ he said. We often make the mistake of underestimating the simple. Isn’t it easier to climb the stairs one by one? He went on. I was listening with all ears. 

It had been almost a year since I started working. My first year at the country’s leading textile company  had passed very quickly. I was working so hard to be successful, to be accepted by my boss and my colleagues. 

At the beginning, my apprenticeship period was painful, difficult but it’s how it should be I was told. I had limited time to manage almost everything. Despite the limits, I tried to do everything by the book but nothing I did was good enough. No one appreciated anything I did. I would go early to work and leave the department as the last person. I would tidy up the department I was working in, I’d even serve tea or coffee to our guests, clean up and leave after everyone else. 

Things at home were the same. Mom’s health was doing better. My two sisters were doing well at school and my little brother was getting taller. I could not see them and spend time with them as much as I used to but we were all aware of our responsibilities and no one was complaining. We had limited sources, we spent money within limits. 

We moved to a nice house near where I worked and this really made a lot of difference. I could sleep more actually and I could even carry on with my morning jogging which made me feel good before going to work. 

The first three months of work I had limited time for doing almost everything I was asked but this actually helped me get more practical. 

“Limitations really make us get practical in life, so it’s not something that we should complain about.” I would say to my sisters and little brother. 

After my father’s death my perspective on life had changed. Life had rules. To be happy and succesful and to establish good relations was not just a matter of will. We had to really work hard and pay the price to succeed. Expecting everything from the outside world, complaing when things didn’t work out the way we wanted, didn’t get us anywhere, on the contrary it slowed us down.

“If you don’t move on in life, you will fall back,’’ my father once told me. 

“Those who have big goals in life, don’t get hung up on little things on the way.’’ 

At the time, as a child, I didn’t really understand what he was saying but now I knew what he meant. It helped me a lot thinking about the things he said and applying them made my life easier. 

Our company also had rules like life had and they were there to be obeyed.

At work I was generally in a good mood. Despite all the hard work, I was smiling most of the time and this helped me build good relations with my colleagues. We din’t meet socially but while at work we were a good team. Everyone knew their limits and no one crossed the borders.

Periodically we had in-house trainings. We were lectured about different topics, not only about work but also about life itself. A phrase I heard frequenly during these trainings motivated me even more;

“The sky is the limit!’’ 

“Wow!’’ I was so impressed when I first heard it. It meant a lot to me. It reminded me of my father saying things about having big goals.  

I should write these down somewhere and hang it on my wall. 

Although I spent limited time with my family, on Sundays we tried to catch up. Mom was very strict about all of us being together at the breakfast table on Sunday mornings. No one complained actually, we all enjoyed being together and having long conversations  for hours. There was no time limit. We all shared our opinions, our needs, what made us happy that week, what we were upset about, our dreams and so on. 

On one of those precious mornings, my sister, the older one, said she wanted to write an article. Actually it was their school project of that month. 

“What do you  think I should write about?” She asked me. I said that there a lot of topics she could write about and could start with the first thing that came to her mind. 

“How about secrets of happiness?’’ she said and I said;  

“Why not! Go for it, don’t restrain your thoughts, sky is the limit!”