Thursday, September 6, 2007

The Cycle of Change

Ever noticed how every so and so number of years some major event happens in your life and you are forced to go with the flow and ride the waves of change?

Well, in my life, change has come every 3 years. The last few days of intro- and retrospection have revealed to me the cycle of change that has governed most of my adult life.

Consider the following:

1989 was the year I first got a taste of politics. I ran for vice president of the high school student council and won. (The year after, I was elected president.) Around this time, one of my most beloved teachers in high school told me, “Glenn, sasabog ka,” referring to a future time when I would find myself lost, unable to decide what to make of my life.

1992 was the year I decided to shift from my original course of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology to a course that did not involve hardcore science. I couldn’t bear to see myself working in a laboratory for the rest of my life, and I knew had to make a change. I lost my DOST scholarship and found myself lost and alone for the first time in my life.

1995 was the year I began to grow tired of school. I started looking for work and found a suitable racket as staff writer for a small publications firm. This was the year of my initiation into the field of media and communication.

1998. After a year working as researcher first, then as writer in ABS-CBN, I found myself out of work and scrounging for money. I went back into politics, this time as broadcast writer for a presidential candidate, and I got my first taste of a 5-digit salary. When my candidate lost, I went broke. I got into a brawl later in the year because of politics and swore never to be involved in politics ever again. I went into insurance sales and fell into a 3-month depression. The year after, I went back to work in ABS-CBN.

In 2001, I had my first gay relationship. It was the ugliest and most emotionally abusive relationship I ever got myself into. I set up a PR and events company and lost a great deal of money in business. I also lost a lot of friends along the way. The year after, I went back to school and took a course which I loved, European Languages.

2004 was the year I left school again to work in media. I joined GMA Network as segment producer for Jessica Soho Reports. This marked the beginning of my restoration. I found renewed joy in working. I gained new friends and reconnected with those I lost. The next 3 years became the best 3 years of my professional life. I got promoted 3 times, ending up as Program Manager, in-charge of several shows for the third most popular channel in the Philippines today. I made a decision to stick to what I’m good at – communications.

Now, 3 years after, I am itching to find my place in the world, the bigger world. God has put on my plate one of the greatest opportunities of my life – the chance to work out of the country and communicate to a bigger, wider audience.

I do not know exactly what the next 3 years will bring or what they will be like. I do not know what will happen to me out there, but I am definitely excited to find out.

A new chapter is unfolding before me, and I am ready to face the challenges that come with it. Change has come full circle and has completed one more cycle in my life. Change is once more inevitable. But this time I am ready for it.

9 comments:

  1. wow! tracing back the past isn't that easy huh!
    may Singapore enrich ur life and may u find fulfillment in ur new-found job...Good Luck friend!

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  2. Thanks, Paige. I know I'll find enrichment and fulfillment there. And thanks for reading through the whole post. I'm trying to find pictures to go with each year to spruce up the entry. Be sure to check back later to see how I looked back then. Hahaha!

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  3. first gay relaionship in 2001? sino yun? hahahaha

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  4. Well, Prue, his name was Elias. And he is immortalized in the poem, Emancipation of Ra, in the poetry blog. Hehe....

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  5. Did I say Prue? I meant Piper. Sorry, alcohol tends to do that to me sometimes. Hehehe.

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  6. Wow! You really are putting yourself out there...in so many senses. I wish I was there for your more recent changes but we've made choices that didn't necessarily put us in the same area to watch over each other. I guess, all I can do is to just look forward to being there as long as I can for those changes that will come.

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  7. Letting go of past failures and your negative/defensive reactions to key interactions with others or to events which your Higher Self has orchestrated for your learning and resolution is an important facet of moving gracefully into the future as you reclaim self-mastery. Remember that everything in the past is “memory.” Change your memory or your interpretation of a past event and you can change all of your past into positive memories. Your past is what has made you who you are today, so glean only the best from your past and reinforce and claim that as part of the “future” you.

    Self-mastery and illumination. :)

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  8. @ piper > as always, you're a devil's advocate when it comes to leo's lovelife... hahaha...

    @ leo > just bought myself a notebook and i think what it sez on the cover somehow fits your cycle of three... it goes "yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery, today is a gift"... cliche... hehehe!

    looking for pictures? how about grabbing from our story in balitang k... ? hehehe! where you're on the bed... dada dada dada... it's my most memorable story with you... hahahaha!

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  9. @PRUE... hahaha! that's my most memorable story with you. it was great to work with you then. you were the best researcher i ever had to work with in bk. and i am so happy to see you where you are now. here's to more and more interaction with you in the future!

    @BETBLOG... very articulately put. i admire this illumined state of yours. it lends you greater credibility than most people put on you. my past is what made me who i am today. i will glean only the best from my past and reinforce and claim that as part of the “future” me. to self-mastery and illumination, brother!

    @CAM... and you will be, friend. you will be. i love you!

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The Chronicler's Creed

Where there's water and sun, where there are friends to see or new people to meet, where there's something new to learn, experience, or do, where there's life, there I will be.

LA POESÍA

Y fue a esa edad... Llegó la poesía
a buscarme. No sé, no sé de dónde
salió, de invierno o río.
No sé cómo ni cuándo,
no, no eran voces, no eran
palabras, ni silencio,
pero desde una calle me llamaba,
desde las ramas de la noche,
de pronto entre los otros,
entre fuegos violentos
o regresando solo,
allí estaba sin rostro
y me tocaba.

And it was at that age... Poetry arrived
in search of me. I do not know, I do not know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I do not know how or when,
no, they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.

- An excerpt from LA POESÍA (Poetry) by Pablo Neruda