Last week, while I was on the train to work, my wife, who was also on her way to work, sent me a bunch of text messages saying stuff like "I don't want to go to work," "I want to go back home already," etc. She's been dealing with a lot of stuff lately. A bunch of her co-workers have been giving her a hard time. So her job hasn't been her favorite place.
On that day last week, as the text messages came one by one, I became furious - not at my wife, but by the situation, that she was feeling so bad that she was dreading just going to work everyday. So I went off. I texted her a lot, saying, "Forget those fools. You need to quit. There must be a better job for you somewhere." I didn't get any replies.
Eventually I realized I was wrong. I was telling my wife to quit. First of all, in this economy you can't just quit and get another job right away, especially one that is less stressful. But this is the most important thing here: if there's anything I learned growing up, it's this: never let anybody get to you, or they win and you lose. If my wife quit, those punks at her job would be the winner. I was telling her to lose. I later told my wife I was sorry about what I said, and that she can always talk to me about what's going on at work. Lord knows I've dealt with my share of bad co-workers.
Still, I feel ashamed to have told her to quit. I should have told her to fight on, to win.
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