Almost cooked my frog in the pan!

Have you heard the `frog in the pan` story? The story goes.. when you boil water in a pan and the frog jumps in the pan, the frog will immediately jump out. Will certainly have a few burns, but it will survive. What happens if the frog jumps before the water starts boiling? The water is warm and the frog stays.. before realizing it, the frog gets cooked!

It has been about 3.5 years that I have joined London concrete grey army workforce. I moved to London from a sunny warm country where people wear smiles with ease and are not afraid to engage in a conversation with a stranger. Adapting to London`s work life was challenging, but in an exciting way.

Moving to London in my mid 20`s, I started fresh. I did not know London as a city, but I knew it was where I had to be. I did my master`s degree in International Business Management, got a part-time job as a waitress, built a small online business and applied for over 50 jobs as a trainee.

All of these different elements going on in my life energized me immensely. I applied the secrets of `The Secret` and tried to manifest the perfect role at the perfect company. Every day I studied the `perfect` company ins and outs like my life depended on it. When I was called for the interviews, I had to do several different tests, go through a painful number of made-up challenges and emotionless meetings. One day, as I am sitting at my desk, I received the call: `Joana, we are pleased to inform you that we are making you a conditional of...`.

I wasn`t listening anymore... In my head I can only hear a big fat scream. Just enough to say thank you and hang up the call, I laid on the floor as tears rolled through my eyes. I remembered sobbing.

A bit of a dramatic reaction perhaps. But it really did changed my life. And proved I could achieve good things in life when putting the effort. So I wanted it to work out. And it did.. for a short period of time.

I almost cooked my frog in the pan. 3.5 years were just enough time to realize something had to change. My inner light was blinking, loosing it`s strength at a rapid pace. I had just enough time to fetch my frog from the pan and send it on a mission to find a beautiful lake, with shiny pools of water and a fresh smell.

Somewhere where my frog truly belonged.