Who Whinges Wins

 

Guess who has a killer cold AGAIN and despite all good intentions (also expressed here) did not stay at home to rest, but powered on. I know, I know. One occasion I did not want to miss was private (my MBA graduation ceremony last Friday), the rest were business-related. In particular, I did not want to bail out on my colleague (super stressed as it was) with whom I had co-organised a mini conference and with whom I was supposed to co-moderate/-facilitate it. I woke up that morning feeling deader than dead, but dragged myself there and only found out afterwards that pulling myself together did not do me any favours: she actually had the impression that I was more or less totally fine and "normal" as I did not show it. Truth be told, I was hurt by this blatant lack of empathy, but then reflected on it and realised I had myself to blame: if you just grin and bear it and always show up, you can't expect gratitude, nor understanding. Who "celebrates" every little ailment they have and stays home at the very first sneeze gets pity, not the thankless office heroes and heroines. This might just have been the sign from the universe I needed.