Motivational Stories | March 2012
1. Happy Ending:
Everyone says life is not always fair; sometimes it is tough-to-handle, but there is always a happy ending. Well, I never believe this. I am a happy-go-lucky person and I enjoy my life the way it is. This was her attitude, whenever I used to meet her for a cup of tea on every Saturday evening. I am going to narrate a story about a beautiful young woman called Megan, whose story is one of those motivational stories that always inspire me. If any of my friends or colleagues is going through emotional distress, I always share Megan’s motivational stories.
Megan and I were best friends since high school. We went to school, studied, and joined a cooking class together. Both of us were enthusiastic cooks and had the dream to become a chef one day. When I moved from Florida, Megan was in search of a job in some upscale bistros. After moving to New Orleans, I started my cooking business and eventually, opened a seafood restaurant. All this time, I had no time to meet or talk to my school friend Megan.
It was a fine morning, when I was sitting on my porch and sipping a cup of tea. My mind just flew to the time of those old days when Megan and I used to meet up for a cup of tea. I thought of calling her right then. I searched her number to give her a call. The phone was ringing, and I was over-excited to speak with my old buddy.
Hello, “Megan Speaking.”
Hey Megan! How are you? It’s me, Sam.
Hello Sam! How are you and where are you? She asked in an excited way. We were just so happy to speak with each other after a long time. She was asking me a lot of questions and I was just answering.
Stop! I said and started asking her about her life. Alas! She was separated from her husband; she had no job and moreover, her daughter was suffering from a life-threatening disease. She was no longer that old Megan with a happy-go-lucky attitude. In short, her life was devastated.
After talking to Megan, my mind was overwhelmed. I just felt to go out for a drive. I took out my car and drove to a nearby store to grab a bottle of beer. As soon as I entered the store, I saw some cooking show ad on the TV. It was an advertisement of a cooking show enrollment and the winner’s award included a handsome cash prize, and a job in some culinary school. I was no way ready to take up this opportunity; but, my old school friend’s name suddenly came to my mind. I thought this would be a great chance for Megan to get rid of the painful situation that she is going through and start a new life. Quickly, I grabbed a pen and took down the number advertised in the show; the next step that I had to do was to call Megan and convince her to take part in this show.
Of course, it was quite hard to convince Megan after knowing the facts about her present situation. However, I felt to visit her instead of calling even if it was a long drive. I took quite sometime to convince Megan; I also discussed about an alternative plan for babysitting her daughter. Finally, the discussion came to an end with a positive note.
Megan was ready to take part in the show and appear for the initial rounds. Being an enthusiastic and innovative culinary student, she was one amongst the best contenders in the show. The show was aired in a particular TV channel nationwide. Each time she cleared a round, I could see that triumph in her face. I never missed a single show; her performance was outstanding, so she qualified for the finals.
On the final day, there were three contestants including Megan. Each of them was equally good as Megan; still, I had the feeling that Megan would grab the title of the winner. The final verdict was based on the judge’s and jury’s voting. When the countdown began, my heart beat became more faster. Two contestants received two votes each and Megan received three votes. There was just a single vote pending. If that vote goes to some other contestant, then it will be a tie and there will be another voting round. I was praying God and desperately waiting to hear Megan’s name. When the last vote was revealed, it was her name. Yes, it was Megan. She was the winner of that cooking show. Tears just rolled down from my eye and I couldn’t believe that it was her. I was just feeling happy seeing this jubilant and happy ending of Megan’s story, which is still one of the most favorite motivational stories in my life.
2. There is always an Option:
After finishing my Bachelor’s degree in computer science, I was eager to get through an on-campus job interview. Each day I appeared for an interview, but had no luck in clearing any. Most of my friends and classmates were successful in getting a job in several popular IT companies. While all my friends have those fancy appointment letters in their hands, I was empty-handed with no job offers. Few days after the campus interviews, I started looking for walk-in interviews. I appeared in few and got rejected. Eventually, my days were becoming tough and hard. Even after trying for two months, I was unable to get through a job. Still, I have never lost faith in me.
Few weeks later, I received a call from an agent asking me to appear for an interview in a foreign IT firm based in downtown. It was a bad rainy day and I had to reach the office on time. Hence, I was hurrying up to get ready and start from home. Due to the heavy rain, the roads were blocked and I was unable to find any alternative freeway to reach the interview venue. In short, I was badly stuck in the middle of nowhere. After a half-hour, the traffic started getting dispersed, so I rushed to the IT firm in downtown and took the elevator to reach the office on the 8th floor. I looked at my watch and unfortunately, I was little late.
Although I was nervous, my interview did go well. While coming out of the interview hall, I came to know that somebody was already hired for the post this morning. I was completely upset after hearing this news. In despair, I started feeling negative about what all happened with me since past few months. Even though, I was hopeful that something good will certainly happen in near future.
While going to the parking lot, I realized that it’s again raining badly. Sigh! “I have my car,” I said. Suddenly, my eyes were upon the fuel indicator and it was empty. I started my car to head back to home and thought of stopping by at a nearby gas station. But that didn’t happen. My car suddenly stopped amid the parking lot; I feared that the fuel tank was empty. Due to heavy rain, I wasn’t able to call anyone. With the help of the parking authority, my car was towed to a safe lot. Then, I thought of going to a nearby gas station by catching a local Metro bus to get some gasoline for my car.
As I entered the bus, I found a seat next to a middle-aged man. I was completely drenched and feeling cold; also, the whole interview and job thing started revolving in my mind. Suddenly, the bus stopped at a signal and my tote just fell down. I started picking everything carefully to put them back in the tote; meanwhile, the man next to me picked my handmade small craft and handed it over to me. While passing the item to me, he asked whether I have made that item. I nodded with a smile and took the mini figure from him. Crafting was my hobby since childhood; I used to make small figures from colored porcelain. This craft was one of those.
“Do you still make similar crafts?” he asked me. I answered him casually saying no. Then he told about Tulia, his craft company and passed me a business card asking me to call in case I was interested. I didn’t have anything to say at that point. I took the card and kept staring at it. The next day I called the number and visited his craft company. It was a beautiful small business unit. In a little while, I met my co-passenger from the bus. He introduced himself and asked me for the CV. Few minutes after discussion, he told about the salary and the date of joining. After a short time, we finalized everything and he handed me over an official job appointment letter. With the letter in my hand, I came out of the company and smiled while saying, “there is always an option.” Today, I am a local craft store owner and work full-time as a craft maker. This is how the incident became one of those motivational stories that changed my life, and I always feel happy to share some of my own motivational stories with my friends and family.