The quiet congratulations

My classmate got selected for an dream internship. The whole group congratulated. I mentioned every word when I said I was happy for him. Later, I opened my own application folder and felt that familiar knot on my stomach.

There were drafts I haven't submitted and rejection mails I haven't deleted and one application still marked "Under Review" after so long that I stopped checking it. I wondered whether everyone else had a clearer plan.

The uncomfortable truth is that job can celebrate about someone and still be frightened about your own future. Those feelings don't cancel each other out. They can sit together even when you wish they wouldn't.

I closed the folder and finished the assignment waiting on my desk. It wasn't the breakthrough but all I could do that day.

Have you ever been proud of someone while quietly worrying about your own turn?