Words can change your life

Susan got on the bus. She was slightly anxious. It takes the bus about 40 min to reach her workplace. She looked at her watch. If there wasn’t heavy traffic, she could still make it on time. Luckily, there was less traffic, and she reached just on time. Right as she was about to enter the campus, she realized she had stepped on dog poop. The smell was dreadful. “Oh! Shit. My day is spoiled. It is a bad day. A terrible day”, thought Susan with complete disgust and anger. By the time she cleaned herself and got rid of the odor, she was 30 minutes late.

“It’s a terrible day. It’s a terrible day”, muttered Susan to herself as he walked to her seat. Indeed, it turned out to be a terrible day for her. She got fired from her job that very day.
The moment Susan reached her apartment, she cried out loud. This is not the first time she was fired from a job. She could never hold a job for more than six months.” Oh! It is a terrible day. Life is terrible” She kept muttering this sentence till she dozed off. Her cheeks remained wet with tears till the breeze coming from the window erased it all.

Next day she woke up at noon and felt thirsty and hungry. She opened her apartment door to pick up the milk packet that gets delivered every day at her doorstep. To her surprise, the milk packet was not there. Oh Shit! How come they didn’t deliver the milk packet. Oh! God! What a terrible day. My life is so terrible. She goes back to her bed and gets consumed by self – pity and began chanting ‘What a terrible day’ till she slept off again.

In the evening she dragged herself out of bed. Decided to go to the market nearby and buy a milk packet and some groceries. As she got off the lift, a little boy gave her broad toothless smile and greeted her “Hello What a terrible day Aunty.” He then waved and ran off to the playground. She stood there speechless. She was so struck by his greeting she took a minute to recover and find her voice again. She then walked to the playground and went up to the boy who greeted her and asked him “Why did you call me ‘What a terrible day Aunty.” The boy again gave her broad smile and said, “Well, you always murmur that when you walk by.” Well looks like you are chanting some mantra. My grandfather chants the name of God always.”, said the boy.

Oh! Shit, What a terrible day. She muttered in irritation. The boy gleamed. Oh! There you go again “What a terrible day. What does terrible mean Aunty? “Is it some name of God. Does it have some magical power”, The boy innocently asked. Susan just stood there with lips tightly closed, but in her head, she was indeed chanting ‘What a terrible day.’ Just that this time she was aware of it. With no response coming from Susan, the little boy joined his friends to continue playing.

She sat on the park bench and contemplated on her life. The boy was right. Whenever anything goes wrong, even if it is a tiny issue, she gets into chanting “What a terrible day’. And somehow her day ends in a terrible way. And recently, every day has been ending in a terrible way. “Does a simple statement ‘what a terrible day’ has such power that it can indeed turn a normal day into terrible day and that too every time? Does language have that much power? She sat there confused, bewildered and shocked. One statement ‘What a terrible day’ turns my life upside down. Everything has gone wrong for her for god knows how long. She is single and now without a job. Oh God! What a terrible d….. she stopped herself. Oh! Come on Susan. Stop saying that.

Then an idea hit her like lightning. What if I start saying opposite of ‘What a terrible day.’ How about ‘Wow! What a great day! Will that change my life? Every time something goes wrong, she decided to say ‘Wow ! what a great day.’ She felt energized and felt positive about transforming her life back in order. She would get up in the morning and say “Wow! What a great day! And then think of a couple of reasons why the day is indeed a great day. Every time something went wrong, she would say’ Wow! What a great day and then look for some reasons to why it was a great day.

A few weeks later she walked into a large corporation for a job interview. She really wanted to work for this great company. She kept murmuring ‘Wow! What a great day’. Finally, her turn came and was called inside the conference room for the interview. The interview lasted for more than an hour. Finally, the main interviewer looked straight into her eyes and said “ I need to be very straightforward to you. You don’t qualify for the position that is vacant. Hence you are not selected.” Susan’s face lit up naturally. With a sparkle in her eyes, she said, “Wow! What a great day”. The interviewers were puzzled. One of them asked “Why is it a great day? Are you saying this sarcastically?” Her eyes continue to radiate. Wow! What a great day!. I am saying this because I really wanted this job and I couldn’t qualify. Me not qualifying is a great opportunity to lift myself to higher standards. Isn’t that something great to look forward to? That’s why it is an excellent day. You will see a better and wiser Susan soon. Thanks for letting me know that I need to work on myself. Wow! It is a great day. Thank you, gentlemen. She got up to leave. The main interviewer requested her to sit back. The interviewers interviewed her for another twenty minutes, and by the end of it they reversed their decision and confirmed to her that she had got the job.

She walked out of the interview room and straight away headed for the bathroom. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. She didn’t want anyone to see her crying. Of course, they were tears of joy. Wow! What a great day, She muttered to herself.

– Manoj Keshav