My Coffee Has Gone Cold

“You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting so.. Get on your way! – Dr Seuss

I arrived in the office 30 minutes past eight today – pretty late than usual. I still arrived ahead of anyone else anyway.  I did my normal routine – turned on my computer, checked my emails and decided to have my morning coffee…

While waiting for the water to boil in the kettle, I looked outside the window of the office, taking in the view of Jumeirah Island and the clusters of skyscrapers in Jumeirah Lake Towers. It was quite a sight to behold especially on a day like this…

 8:30 am morning view

Lost in my thoughts, I heard the pleasant ping from the kettle. I simply fill my cup with water and made my first coffee for the day. Ah, the smell! It’s almost more than enough to lift up my soul. I went back to that same spot beside the window and watched the morning rush outside. Everything seemed scripted – the driver finding a spot in the parking lot, the British men in suits crossing the street in front of Bonnington Hotel and even the sight of the fast metro in motion from afar.

I came across a post from one of my favorite blogger Patty Laurel a couple of days ago where she talked about the irony of “good-bad” days in life. It was so timely. I have been having more and more of these “good-bad” days lately – where you feel like riding in a roller coaster of happy and sad state of being. That kind of day when you wake up feeling “oh it will be a great day today!” and then suddenly you find yourself staring outside the window of your office, not noticing that your coffee has gone cold. Oh yes, I forgot about my coffee! I didn’t realize how long I’ve been staring outside the window. 5? 10 minutes? And then my colleagues started coming in…

I reheated my cup of coffee and settled myself in front of my computer. I stared at the blinking cursor and started to write. Type, delete..type again, delete again. Today was definitely one of those days, I told myself. I was writing an interview piece for one of our clients and I couldn’t even think of a synonym for the word “transcend”. I had already been rewriting answers to each question for almost an hour until I remembered that I haven’t drank my coffee and it had gone cold again!

Should I still drink it? I had to! So, I reheated it one more time. I decided to stop what I was doing. Once is enough, twice is too much. So this time, I sat down and took the time to drink my coffee. I neither look outside the window nor started thinking of synonyms and what not – I simply sat there and finished it. Surprisingly, it made me feel a bit better…

In life, it’s so easy to get caught up with all the stuff that’s going on around us. It’s so overwhelming! One moment, you feel extremely positive. But just when you thought that the universe is finally at your side, something bad happens that make you ask “Why is this happening to me?”.. When we feel happy, we feel like it will never end but when we feel sad, we have lots of regrets. Isn’t that so true? Life abroad is not perfect and it doesn’t have to. Saying “I’m living or working abroad” sounds like music to the ear but in reality, it can get out of tune at times too. While it’s true that you should try your best to make the most out of it, hard times are inevitable. It’s okay if things aren’t going exactly as you wish it to be. You can do something about it! (Thinking out loud here..) Easier said than done but you have to confront it, you got to do what you got to do.

I’m not sure how many more “good-bad” days are coming my way. If all I have to do is close my eyes and wish for good days ahead, I wouldn’t waste a single second to do so. But life isn’t made that way. Without bad days, how would we be able to know what a good day is like? Repeat after me: “Oh well, tomorrow is another day!”

Today had been just another of those “good-bad” days that I’m glad had passed – one that made me stop and ponder after my coffee has gone cold.

6:30 pm night time view from the 32nd floor