29/08/2026
2022 vs 2026
What changed:
✅️ my age
✅️ my perception about career
✅️ how I set boundaries
✅️ how to be more productive
✅️ career stage (from T1 to T3)
What remained:
✅️ passion
✅️ great and proactive colleagues
✅️ the continuous growth
✅️ the respect to fellow teachers (and people in general
Many would always perceive that teaching in the Philippines, in general, is a tiring job that one just chooses out of convenience (kasi consistent ang sahod, may benefits - all pointing to stable income). As I perceive this, this kind of thinking is one of the many reasons why many leave the teaching profession or a particular school or Department. Well, no one should stop anyone to look for greener pastures. But for us who remained, still teaching despite the circumstances, for us teaching is more than that mere assumption that we chose this out of comfort. Instead, I think we stayed because we are given the opportunity to still grow, still be passionate, and still give a portion of our life to educate the young minds.
Personally, the quote below always remind me how to stay in this humble and noble profession:
"I shall pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."
-Stephen Grellet
We don't know what the future may hold. Maybe in the next years I wont be here anymore, or maybe still here. But one thing is for sure, I WOULD NEVER LOOK AT TEACHING AS A HINDRANCE IN ACHIEVING MY FULLEST POTENTIAL. Instead, the principles, values, and skills I acquired from it will still be used, as our mandate, "Once a teacher, always a life-long learner."
Now I finally understand what it meant when someone told me, "Bloom where you are planted." I always see it negatively as it sounds very limiting. But one thing I realized is, there is a God who can uproot you and replant you to a far greater garden.
Always trusting in His great plans ☝️
