Topaz's Journey - Part 2: Growth

[Dragonmomma]

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Learn something every day.

Topaz had stapled this thought into the forefront of her mind, ensuring that she consistently moved forwards on her path in life.

She would think "If I never let my brain see learning as work and then i'll find myself constantly eager for more knowledge."

Today, Topaz was learning one of the hardest lessons of all.... The art of loving one's self unconditionally.

She would have thought learning this lesson would be easy, with how much she enjoyed giving and receiving love from others, but it was about to prove itself to be quite the opposite...


She felt herself groan involuntarily as she got home from work, the draconequis absolutely drained from the arduous day on the job. She had just a few months ago come in to start her first day at a company that shipped on trucks across the country, specifically in their billing department.

She would be one of many people in cubicles manually entering in shipment details into the company's private computer program...

Running off of windows 95 through a Virtual Machine.

Having to type for 8 hours a day meant that... She not only had to start limiting her computer time at home, she also began encountering pains in her wrists she hadn't previously felt before...

Which really began to get to her. Topaz would feel her wrists begin to cramp while even just doing basic gaming or even typing a few messages after working her shifts...

She felt herself questioning her decisions, while the money was consistently above average it was absolutely not being worth the job conditions having such a negative effect on the rest of her life outside of work.

It seemed like a no-brainer... like just quit right?

But it truly was one of the best jobs she had worked at yet. After years and years of abuse at the hands of cheap fast food restaurants and awful warehouse work, she had finally found something as close to a "cushy office job" that she had ever seen.

Topaz truly wanted to enjoy it. She had started bringing in her own keyboard, decorating her cubicle, and even making friends among her coworkers (as usual).

But she knew now that it was unavoidable.

If she truly valued herself and her health, not to mention all of her long lasting online communities that she's cultivated.... it was time to move on.

Sitting down at lunch one day with her coworker, who was also quitting, Topaz would divulge that she didn't even want to hand in her two weeks to her manager...

Her friend, an older porcupine lady, would scoff and wave her paw, telling her that "You should get out while you're still young, go make something more of yourself!"

As she went back to her desk she was deep in thought. So much so that she didn't notice her rhinoceros floor manager walking up to her until he cleared his breath to get her attention.

She snapped up to look at him upon hearing this, the large rhino snorting before he spoke.

"We're going to need you to stay for mandatory overtime tonight, we're behind on the quota for today and we need all hands on deck until we're below our minimum threshold."

And without a second glance, he was gone, stomping off to the next cubicle to give the exact same speech to the next poor soul.

She knew her worth. And it was time to act like it.

Money was necessary, but the level of her quality of life was dropping to levels she was no longer comfortable with.

Topaz now realized it needed to be a balance. a two way street.

She waited just a few more minutes before packing up her keyboard quietly, gathering her belongings and leaving naught a trace before making her way out to her car.

The engine roared to life, Topaz's smile broadening as her thoughts continued.

Obviously she wasn't perfect, there was no such thing as total balance...

Just more. Enough so that she could enjoy herself and continue to help the others in her life that she wanted to help, while living comfortably until the end of her days.

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