Time Loop

He found 150 new emails in his inbox. The writing for this could have been for any number of ideas that I have. But when I thought about teaching a lesson for a character I didn’t want to be a bad behavior that needed to be fixed but a good behavior that needed to be tamed.

Brandon was fresh out of college ready to make a name for himself. He has started a new business helping clients design marketing advertisements. So far things have been going well, and he had a small number of clients, enough to pay himself a decent wage. Then one day he got some Chinese food for dinner. When he read his fortune cookie is said “Time is the perfectionist worst enemy.” Brandon chuckled to himself because he knew how true that was. Deadlines always meant he had to settle for less than what he deemed perfect. Even when he gets rave reviews of his work, he still sees the tiny details that need fixed.

That take out dinner happened one year ago. He has been living the same week ever since.

The first morning before he knew the loop had started, he woke up to find the final instructions for a billboard ad due the following Tuesday. This was a new client and there would be lots of opportunities for bigger projects if he could impress them with this. He worked tirelessly all week and by Friday night he sent out a final draft for them to review on Monday. Brandon wanted to give himself a day for changes if they asked for any. Though he saw plenty of fixes he could make already. That weekend as much as he tried to relax, he kept finding himself back at his computer making subtle changes until it was perfect, though he believed it never was.  Monday morning, he woke to find an email that confused him.

The email was the final instructions for the same billboard for the same company. Then the date caught his eye. Did the email system have a glitch? Checking his phone and calendar showed the same date as his email. Somehow the previous week had restarted. Brandon never figured out how or why but every week he would work on the advertisement, send it for approval, second guess his work and start all over again. Every week for an entire year now.

Brandon was getting fed up with his life. Each week the ad was the best it possibly could be. He was always satisfied with it by the time he sent it. Yet he still fiddled with it on the weekend. He didn’t know how to get out of this time loop. Brandon had learned so much this past year by redoing the same project over and over.

One Thursday night he decides to go out to the same Chinese restaurant that he visited a year ago. After finishing his meal Brandon looks at his fortune cookie and crakes it open. Inside it reads “trust your intuition. The universe is guiding your life.” he is so tired of looking at a computer screen at the same thing that he just goes to bed.

On Friday morning he opens the program back up and works on the ad for another two hours. After lunch as always, he sends out the final version for review. There are still some small details he would like to change. This weekend, unlike the others, he decides he isn’t going to look at it. Brandon, for the first time in a long time, manages to enjoy his weekend.

Monday finds Brandon refreshed for the first time in a year. He opens his email to find 150 new emails. This shocks him and he checks the date for the first time in months. Brandon feels nothing but disbelief mixed with excitement. As he did a year ago, he checks the dates on every device and calendar he can find. They all confirm that time has finally moved forward.

Scrolling through the emails, the team of his client sings his praise for the advertisement and asks what else they could have him do. Other emails include potential new clients responding to his own marketing and follow-up emails planning out [projects for other existing clients.

Though Brandon never wants to relive something like that time loop again, he admits that he learned a lot. Not only in the programs that he uses but that it is okay to say something is finished and walk away satisfied. Brandon sets to work answering emails, setting up meetings and opening his in-progress projects. He is more than ready for the rest of his life to begin.