My life – past, present, and future – can probably be summed up in one incident. When I was working in retail, the store had a contest. If you sold more than $150 then you put that receipt (bearing your name as the sales associate) in a white envelope, which would later used for a random drawing. If one of your receipts was pulled out of the drawing then you win an extra 20 percent off your employee discount on a future in-store purchase.
For a week, I continued to fill that envelope with my receipts to the point where I would contribute at least five each day I worked. At the end of the week when they had the final drawing at our store meeting, I held my breath for a second before they called out the winning name in the small hope that mine would be uttered. But it wasn’t. Another girl won… and in the end I wasn’t too surprised. Any recognition or gifts I may have received in the past never have been accrued through luck. Any contests or promotions that involve a drawing (and pretty much luck) have never benefitted me.
Any means of gains and tribute bestowed unto me have only been accumulated through my hard work and efforts. Going back to my previous story, wouldn’t you know that only two weeks later I had also received the additional 20 percent discount voucher, but it was only because I stayed to keep the store open an extra hour so that it could make its sale numbers that day. Instead of leaving at the designated time of 9 p.m., a manager and I stayed until 10 p.m. So there you have it – same reward, but mine had to be received with bigger sacrifice.
I even remember the first time I bought a lottery ticket. It was one of those liberties you decide to take when you realize you can do so legally at the age of 18. I scratched off the silver film on blue my ‘7 Diamonds’ lottery ticket with such anticipation and vigor. How much money will I win in this instant? $100? Maybe even the $1,000,000 jackpot? Two dollars. I won only $2, which was the price it cost me in the first place to buy the ticket. That was when I learned an invaluable life lesson that day – don’t try to cut corners and get rich quick. Sometimes you’re just not that lucky.
That’s how it is sometimes in life. Some are just inherently lucky – whether it’s in the genetic or actual lottery – while others have to work ten, twenty, a thousand times harder to get what they dream for in this life. I’m not saying I’m bitter though. You learn and grow more from the work. What’s that saying again? What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. So to those who are like me, who don’t have Lady Luck cheering them on along life’s sidelines, I tell you this: keep fighting and don’t give up. The fruits of our labor will be all the more sweet once they’ve ripened and we can toast ourselves on a job well done.
Night Owl Chatter 