Destination: Illumination

This will be a quick flight, but still — Seatbelts on Please

Thank you, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, for the encouragement to write a Bio for your readers. I admit I had some initial doubts since I also wrote for About Me-Stories and the idea of having two Bios as a new writer here wasn’t part of my plan. But I’ll write my Bio in a different way here.

Enjoy the ride!

Pre-boarding announcement:

Ladies and gentlemen, wonderful readers of this publication, and especially you, welcome to the quickest flight of your life. I’m here to take you on this brief journey so you’ll know me more and you’ll find out what’s in it for you if you follow me here in Medium and ILLUMINATION.

Boarding:

The night before Valentine’s Day 1989, a young Filipino couple decided to create another human out of their love for each other. Nine months after, a healthy baby girl was born and cried her heart out to wake everybody up at 09:30 in the evening at a local hospital on the island of Cebu, Philippines. Now you know my birthdate.

All aircraft doors closed. Aircraft goes to the runway to prepare for take-off:

I grew up in Cebu, an island in the Philippines. For the next 21 years, I called it home.

Born in a Catholic country, I was baptized as one. But now I consider myself Agnostic. I shared a short story of this journey during my first week here in Medium:

My life at the university involved studying Management Accountancy even though my heart wanted Psychology. But I chose out of necessity and ended up not working in the field because I was given an opportunity to work outside the country.

Take-off:

I left the country at 21 to become a flight attendant for more than 6 years. I considered it my dream job before because I got to visit countries I wouldn’t have been able to, and I had the chance to eat delicious local food. I got fat, and so did my bank account.

The first article I wrote for ILLUMINATION was related to this profession. You’ll find it here if you’re curious:

It was a topic close to my heart and to my surprise, it was my first and only article distributed by curators here in Medium. The only curated, for now, and I celebrate small achievements.

Climb/Ascent (after take-off but seatbelt sign is still On):

I left flying because it took its toll on me mentally, physically, and emotionally. Spain was the next destination because my partner is local. He’s a partner since he’s not a boyfriend but not yet a husband.

The luxury hotel industry was my next professional destination because I thought working in it made me feel closer to what I did before. Front Desk Agent for a luxury hotel chain became my next profession for another 18 months.

Yes, only 18 months. We learn from our mistakes. That’s the important part.

Physical exhaustion motivated me to look for an office job where I can use my transferable skills in Customer Service.

January 2020 — I thought I found a job that I imagined doing for the following years to come. I organized private transportation for private jet passengers. It was a challenging job which I enjoyed.

But Covid came to Spain in February 2020.

Cruise (this is the part where you can already remove your seatbelt and go to the lavatory):

From May to September, I had the chance to work for a start-up helping them in lead generation. Every day I learned something new and a different perspective of the business world was shown to me.

Losing a job is not on anyone’s wish list, but I distracted myself by learning proofreading and copyediting through an online course. The course was completed after one month. And the job hunting continued.

I discovered this platform because I got interviewed by a CEO. I researched about him and stumbled on his profile here in Medium. Yes, he knows I’m here.

Part of his interview included me sharing a written piece with him. ‘Anything creative’ he said. I was a reader, not a writer. But I needed the job so I whipped up a piece for two hours and sent him this:

I considered it the turning point. The week after that interview, I signed up on the platform and started writing. The next thing I know, it turned into something I look forward to doing every day for the rest of my life.

You see, I’m on the aspiring stage. I don’t aspire to be perfect but I want to learn and be good at it. I’m here because there’s a pool of talent to learn from and relate with.

Now, you’re here as I share my life with you through this platform and this publication.

I love reading about self-help topics, but writing about it would not be my case. Not for now because we never say never. This platform has tons of amazing writers who teach us tips that we could all use in our daily lives.

I love to share experiences in life as an introvert living in a country known to party until six in the morning. The lessons I learned throughout my professional journey are the ones I look forward to sharing with you.

Life lessons are important to me and I know you can learn from them too. We’re all humans. Our journeys are different but the lessons remain the same.

Descent:

My journey is not done yet but I have to land this flight so you can go and do the things you love.

Landing and Touchdown:

I hope it wasn’t a bumpy ride. I tried to make it as smooth as I could for you.

Landing announcement:

Ladies and gentlemen, wonderful readers of this publication, and especially you, thank you for giving me your time.

I know you’ll never get it back and I greatly appreciate you for doing that.

Oh, before you leave, I’d like to share with you my first article on Medium.

They say the first articles written are the ones where you cringe the most. But you can cringe, I don’t mind.

Like you, I’m here to read, write, relate, inspire, and be inspired.