The Liberation Of Realizing No One Cares
Leo woke up groggy, not wanting to get out of bed.
His alarm we set for 7 am, he checked the clock, hopeful he had time to go back to sleep.
That can’t be right, he thought, he rubbed his eyes and checked again.
7:30.
That can’t be right, why didn’t my alarm go off?
He panicked and jumped from his bed.
His drowsiness blasted away by the terror of being late.
Leo hates being late.
His boss was nice and didn’t care too much but that’s not the point.
Leo took it as a sign of honor that he showed up a few minutes early to work every day.
He liked being able to get ready for the day without being rushed.
Since he woke up thirty minutes late, his dreams of getting to work early turned into a nightmare.
He hurriedly got ready, going through the same morning routine, but at a much quicker pace.
He didn’t get to enjoy his morning, this usually makes Leo grumpy the rest of the day.
In his flustered panic, Leo paced back and forth in confusion. His haste and anger with himself for being late caused everything else to fall apart.
In his rush through the kitchen, he spilled water all over the floor.
Cleaning it now isn’t an option, I’ll deal with it later he thought.
Next, while almost out the door, he realized he forgot something for work. This sent him into another frenzy to find the missing papers.
Finally, he was ready, he hurried out the door and down the street to the bus stop.
To his dismay, he saw the bus he needed riding off in the distance.
His lateness had caused him to miss the bus, but Leo has turned a new leaf, this kind of thing doesn’t bother him anymore.
Although it’s not ideal, he can just call an Uber.
This might work out, Uber is way faster than the bus, I can still get to work early he thought, this made Leo happy.
He called an Uber and it was only six minutes away, perfect.
However, the driver got lost somehow and never arrived. Leo was annoyed but called another Uber.
His hopes of getting to work early were dashed once again. While waiting for the new driver Leo began to fall into the familiar pit of anger and despair.
No, not anymore, I can’t keep living like this, he told himself.
I need to take responsibility for myself and stop blaming my problems on others.
If I wasn’t late in the first place none of this would have happened.
Although Leo wanted to blame everyone else, he knew, deep down, it was his fault.
It was hard to admit.
But once he did, he could feel a weight being lifted.
It didn’t solve the problem, but it put him back in control of his life.
The Uber Finally arrived and Leo made it to work only three minutes late.
Most people wouldn’t even notice, but Leo did.
He was beating himself up about it as he was making his way inside.
As he approached he saw his boss walking towards the same door.
Leo’s boss is nice and cool, yet Leo has a healthy fear of his employer and their judgment.
Leo quickly began to run through his mind all the possible excuses for his tardiness, trying to find the best one.
Leo’s boss was on the phone, he seemed upset, did he know Leo was late? Is that what he’s mad about?
Leo began to sweat.
Just then his boss hung up and met Leo at the door.
He looked up, in a distracted tone said, “Oh, hi, good morning Leo” and scurried his way inside and up to his office.
Leo was taken aback by this.
He thought for sure his boss would say something about being late.
However, he was so consumed with his own problems he didn’t even know what time it was.
Leo began to wonder how often this happens.
I’m worried about me and my life, worried what other people might think.
But they are too worried about their own lives to care about mine.
Just because I’m the center of my universe doesn’t mean other people think about me all day.
Most of the hate and criticism I’m afraid of only exists in my head.
Sure, there are some mean people out there who say mean things.
But to think that everyone in the world sits around thinking about what Leo is going to do next is crazy.
This gave Leo a tremendous boost, another weight had been lifted.
This made Leo happy, although not much has changed, he could feel the change coming.
He felt it inside, the truth, burning to come out.
Thanks for reading, here are the previous parts of the story if you want to read more.
