First blog for 2016

First of all, I am sorry if I have been gone for a long while. I haven’t posted anything in this blog for few months. There were just a lot of things happened in my life and one of which is I am now living in Dubai, UAE. It has been a long-term plan of mine to experience living abroad and learning new culture. Now that I finally made such move, I have to say it’s not that easy at all. Things are really different here but it’s worth it.

Last year was all about taking bold decisions for me. I quit my job in Manila and leave everything behind. I went here with just one luggage of clothes and a fistful of hope and determination. At the age of 26, I told myself it’s now or never. I just have to do it because it’s what my heart was telling me to do. Yes, this time I followed what my heart desires. For me, it’s good sometimes to just go with your gut feeling and learn from your experience. Whether it turns good or bad, life is about taking chances. I just made one for myself and it’s worth it. No regrets or whatsoever.

To be honest, Dubai was not my first choice amongst places I want to see myself. It was just a practical choice for me to take. But if there’s one thing that fully convinced me to go here, that is I want to try the skydiving in Dubai – one on my bucket list! Maybe once I’m done with that, I can pack my things and head back home or jump over to other country. I wish it’s that easy but it’s not.

There’s one quote I like to live by: In life, never be afraid to embrace change. When something is taken away from you or things don’t work out as planned, don’t fret. It only means God has better plans for you. After all, He knows what’s best. So have a child-like faith while waiting for His plans to unfold. In the end, you’ll realize that what happened was a blessing in disguise.

It’s is true that you’ll never understand the life of an overseas worker unless you personally experience it. Trust me it takes an amount of courage, confidence and patience to survive in a nation thousand miles apart from home. When I say home, it means everyone and everything that can give you a sense of comfort and security. Told myself before that I am ready for this but I just realized it was just a precipitated emotion of wanting to move forward from something I don’t know exactly what. I just know I needed to go somewhere new. I wanted a new life that’s better than what I already have. My overly ambitious personality got me blinded. But I did this because it will make me complete one chapter of my story that I’ve always imagined in this so called book of life.

The first time I had a glimpse of Dubai from the window seat of the airplane, I told myself “This is it!” I don’t know exactly what to expect but I’m ready to whatever will come my way. Now I asked myself again, was I really ready for this kind of change? The answer is no.

Everything that I have planned prior to my arrival has changed. Despite the fact that there are a lot Filipinos around here, the sense of belongingness is still farfetched in some way. In my first three months of stay, the struggle was not about adaptability. It was the feeling of uncertainty that troubled me the most. In this country, it’s not about how competent your credentials nor how confidently beautiful you are. Here, you need “luck”. It is something that cannot be measured and prepared. I’ve met so many people here with outstanding background but end up with a job that’s below for their kind of calibre.  And there are also some people with no work experience at all but able to get a salary more than they deserve. You might say it’s unfair but that’s just how it is. Unbelievable but true.

But little do people know that I actually took marketing & events job here in Dubai despite my profession as a Certified Public Accountant. Some of you might question my decision but I seized the opportunity because I always thought that marketing is something I can be good at. I enjoyed the job and somehow I felt like it’s where I belong.  At that point, I can say I made another bold decision.

I’m sure there are so many people like me who want something else but took up another course in college. But only few who took the courage to take risk in chasing what they really want. Anyway, I’ve learned to accept that there is no such thing as dream job. Everything that we do, like it or not, requires effort and it always comes with problems and stress. For me, career is not about your job but it’s about how you handle situations at work to attain success.

I am happy with all my decisions in life. There might be some blunders along the way but at least I’ve grown from those experiences. It’s not really about where you start but how you finish it.

I will never forget 2015 because it thought me so much about life. I’ve learned so much about myself that I never thought of. I’m now ready to face 2016 with less expectation. This year, I just want to live life. That’s it. No matter what happens, as in come what may. :-)