The Coffee Spill of '10

For the past several weeks, I have been working hard as a glorified – no, make that a glorious – secretary. I’m partial to the term administrative assistant. With my duties encompassing sorting emails, organizing and composing documents, making calls, prepping meetings, and wearing skirts and blouses, I’d say I’m quite content to be gaining some work-world skills and earning a paycheck.

Up until today, everything had gone smoothly. Then at 9:16 a.m., disaster struck. I was labeling dividers and arranging papers on my desk when – wham! – the back of my hand knocked over my full cup of hot, freshly-brewed coffee (my loyal, morning companion). As I let out a panicked “oh no,” I watched the brown liquid engulf my desk, drowning important papers and notes in its flood. I rushed to the conference room, grabbed a roll of paper towels, and proceeded to mop up my mess. As I dried the wetlands of my desk, I noticed how the ink of crucial passwords bled into a smear of nothingness. Not to mention, I had to redo my task of labeling because I’m pretty sure the boss wouldn’t want coffee-infused manila folders and dividers.

This accident seemed like a big deal in my little office microcosm. I had screwed up, things were ruined, and I had to start over. As I tried to make out the bleeding ink and transfer it onto dry land, I began to think of how this happens throughout life, in general.

Why do we expect perfection from ourselves? We are human, therefore we are imperfect. We all make mistakes. Sometimes the oil pipe leaks. Sometimes a hurtful comment is said. And sometimes we knock over our coffee cups and face damages. But we must be resilient. With patience, we remove our dark stains, clean up the mess, and pick up where we left off. Sometimes we have to backtrack and recreate what was lost. We must be kind to ourselves and forgive.

Though the future may present its difficulties in work, relationships, and everyday occurrences, I’m confident that if I can clean up my spills with poise, I can face and overcome most anything. And so can you.

We can all take something from Alice as she falls down the rabbit hole and says:

“Well, after this, I should think nothing of falling down stairs.”