It was a busy Monday morning, and Mansi hurried out of her house, her mind already racing with tasks for the day ahead. She quickly locked the door, hopped into the auto-rickshaw, and set off for work. Halfway through the ride, she realized something—she had forgotten her lunchbox on the kitchen counter.
“Uff, not today!” Mansi muttered under her breath. Mondays were always hectic, and skipping lunch would only make things worse. She sighed and tried to push the thought aside, reminding herself she could always order something.
When she reached the office, the workload hit her instantly. Files were piling up on her desk, emails were buzzing in, and her phone kept ringing with messages from her boss. Mansi’s irritation simmered just beneath the surface.
At around 11 a.m., as she tried to focus on finishing an urgent report, her colleague Nanda walked over. “Hey Mansi, could you help me with this for a minute?”
Mansi forced a smile but inside, she felt a sharp pang of annoyance. “Sure, just give me five minutes,” she said through gritted teeth. Nanda left, but the frustration stayed. “Couldn’t she see I’m swamped?” Mansi thought. The forgotten lunch, the mounting workload, and now interruptions—it was all building up.
By noon, Mansi’s stomach growled in protest. She opened her phone to order food, but the delivery times were too long. That only added fuel to her already irritated mind. Great, now I’m going to be hungry all day. She tried to keep working, but her thoughts were scattered.
Then, as if the universe wanted to test her patience further, the office printer jammed just as she was printing an important document. Mansi groaned out loud this time. “Seriously? Not now!” She angrily pulled at the paper stuck inside, only making the situation worse.
Her coworkers glanced at her, sensing her growing frustration. Nanda approached again, cautiously. “Everything okay?”
“No, nothing’s okay!” Mansi snapped, her voice sharper than she intended. “I forgot my lunch, I’m behind on work, and now the printer’s acting up! Can’t I catch a break?”
Nanda looked taken aback but nodded quietly and walked away. Mansi felt a twinge of guilt but was too worked up to apologize.
By the time she reached home that evening, Mansi’s irritation had turned into a full-blown bad mood. Her husband, Rehan, greeted her with a smile. “Hey, how was your day?”
“Don’t even ask,” Mansi replied curtly. She walked straight into the living room, hoping to unwind by watching some TV. But just as she sat down, her phone buzzed with a notification. She opened it to find a message from her younger sister, Pratima.
“Di, I crashed the car today. I’m fine, but I’ll need your help with insurance stuff.”
Mansi’s irritation, which had been bubbling all day, suddenly flared into anger. “Unbelievable!” she shouted to herself. “Of all the days!”
Rehan, hearing the commotion, walked over. “What’s going on?”
“Pratima! She crashed the car today, and she’s asking me to deal with it! How can she be so careless?”
Rehan tried to calm her down. “Is she okay? That’s what matters, right?”
But Mansi wasn’t in the mood for calm. “Why do I always have to fix everything? First my day at work, now this! I’m so tired of being the one who has to handle every problem!”
Rehan stayed silent, letting her vent. He could see she wasn’t just upset about the car, but about everything that had built up over the day. He sat down next to her, waiting for the storm to pass.
Mansi paced back and forth, her mind racing from one irritation to another. The forgotten lunch, the broken printer, the endless work—everything felt like it was crashing down on her. And now this? It was too much.
Finally, exhausted from her own frustration, Mansi sat down beside Rehan, her anger fading into weariness. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I know it’s not Pratima’s fault. It’s just been one thing after another today, and I’m so tired.”
Rehan placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I know. But you don’t have to carry it all. Sometimes things happen, and they pile up, but you can choose how much you let them get to you.”
Mansi sighed, realizing the truth in his words. She looked down at her phone, re-reading Pratima’s message. Pratima was safe, and that was what really mattered. The car could be dealt with later. She had let small irritations build into something much bigger than they needed to be.
“You’re right,” Mansi said, her voice softer now. “I’ve been letting everything snowball. From the printer to the car, I just kept adding it all up.”
Rehan smiled gently. “We can handle things, one at a time. Let’s give Pratima a call, make sure she’s okay, and then deal with the rest later.”
Mansi nodded, feeling the tension in her body slowly melt away. The day had been long, but she realized that she didn’t have to carry its weight into the night. She could choose to let go, to breathe, and to handle things calmly.
As she dialled Pratima’s number, she understood—irritation,
like bacteria, could multiply if left unchecked. But with a pause and some
perspective, it could be stopped before it spiralled out of control.