Glass half-full

I have come to accept in recent weeks I am definitely a glass half-full person.

I’ve always liked to think of myself as a realist, attentively akin to the entrapments of modern society, but in reality there is no doubt I envisage the workings of the world through sepia-coloured spectacles.

The events of the last week or so are the perfect example of such a mentality.

Last Friday, embroiled in self pity, I sat my shorthand exam with one hand on the trigger of a shotgun the other on my pencil (not a metaphor) having given myself no chance of passing.

Inevitably the exam didn’t go well and I tore myself apart throughout the following week with notions of failure and having to endure yet more shorthand lessons until, of course, I learnt I passed yesterday.

Naturally given my pre-disposition to failure I checked my phone a million times, checked the website, asked a friend, phoned the NCTJ to check if there were any other Toby Meyjes’ who sat the exam and if not could they double check my paper to make sure they hadn’t mistakenly passed me.

But as it turned out I had fluked it somehow which is why I’m not going to let myself get too disappointed with how awfully my exams went last week.

I sat three, each a bigger tale of woe than the last. I won’t bore you with the nitty-gritty but the papers packed enough horror to produce the script for a small, low-budget Hollywood flick.

It’s probably easier to adopt a mentality of failure to sugar-coat myself in case the worst case scenario happens but I’ll try to remain positive even if it means taking some happiness inducing drug to ensure it.

Toby Meyjes