Ethan stared at the pile of papers on his desk, his heart sinking. It was only his third day at his new job, and things were already unraveling. His boss had asked him to finalize an important presentation, but the printer jammed halfway through, he accidentally spilled coffee on his notes, and to top it off, he had just found out the meeting was rescheduled… for ten minutes from now.

“This can’t be happening,” he muttered under his breath. The office felt like it was closing in on him, and for a moment, he considered just walking out. But instead, he took a deep breath, straightened his tie, and said to himself, “One step at a time.”

With no time to waste, Ethan grabbed a spare notepad and began rewriting the key points from memory. His handwriting was messy, but it would have to do. He ran to the printer, coaxing it back to life with a few quick fixes, and managed to salvage some of the slides. By the time he rushed into the conference room, his colleagues were already seated.

“Sorry I’m late,” Ethan said, setting up his materials. Despite his nerves, he smiled. “It’s been one of those mornings.”

The presentation wasn’t perfect, but Ethan kept his energy high, cracking a joke here and there to ease the tension. When the projector froze halfway through, he didn’t panic. Instead, he calmly walked over to the whiteboard and improvised. By the end of the meeting, the team was nodding and smiling, impressed by his ability to stay composed.

Afterward, as Ethan sat at his desk catching his breath, his coworker Maya approached him. “Hey,” she said, leaning against his cubicle wall. “That was amazing.”

“Amazing?” Ethan asked, raising an eyebrow. “That was a train wreck.”

“Maybe,” Maya admitted, “but the way you handled it? That was inspiring. Most people would’ve crumbled under the pressure, but you just kept going.”

Ethan blinked in surprise. “Really? It didn’t feel like that.”

Maya nodded. “Seriously. You didn’t let any of it get to you. It reminded me that a bad day doesn’t have to ruin everything.”

Ethan smiled, a warm feeling spreading through him. “Thanks, Maya. I guess I just figured there wasn’t much point in getting upset. Stuff happens, right? You just have to roll with it.”

Later that day, as Ethan tried to catch up on his workload, he overheard two other coworkers talking near the breakroom.

“Did you see Ethan during that presentation?” one of them said. “I don’t know how he stayed so calm. I would’ve completely lost it.”

“Same,” the other replied. “He’s new, but he’s already showing us how to handle tough days.”

Ethan pretended not to hear them, but a small grin crept onto his face. It hadn’t occurred to him that people were watching how he handled himself. He was just trying to get through the day. But now he realized that even when it felt like the sky was falling, how he responded mattered—not just for him, but for those around him.

When the day finally ended, Ethan packed up his things and paused for a moment at the door. He looked out at the bustling office, where people were typing, talking, and solving their own problems. “One step at a time,” he whispered to himself, smiling.

As he stepped into the cool evening air, Ethan felt lighter. The sky wasn’t falling anymore—it was just another day, and he’d pulled it back together.