DON'T SETTLE FOR LESS

Taking a glimpse into my present state of affair, I would say that I am in relative peace of personal rebooting. I'm living here in Butuan City's suburbia doing the "Where I Lived and What I Lived For" chapter of my being. This is a very simplified life very far to what I was seeing myself doing months ago in Surigao City. This personal rebooting is somewhat similar to Henry David Thoreau's Walden experiment, although in ways its being done makes it entirely different and more personal. Living alone, prepped up by the strike of career path, is not new anymore. I was born Stoic, so being alone would never become an issue.

What makes this journey so special and relatively peaceful is the thought that I have been motivated to pursue, in mad pursuit I shall say, professional mobility. I find the significance of continuing education as a necessity nowadays considering the onset of globalization, Digital Age and ASEAN integration. Teaching in this generation is running twice the risk of being labeled as ineffective teacher. This generation is very different. And it is accepted.

What motivates me much to initiate the call of action is Dr. Anthony Penaso, our university president. Our encounters are not that intimate, but I consider him as a great mentor. I just love listening to his inspiring talks and motivating speeches. "Dreams are valid. Keep holding on to it. Don't settle for less. Find ways to excel. After all, it's a competitive world." Words fell out from his mouth and it completely changed the way I see the world in an instant. Sometimes, it takes one person for us to see things in a different way. And that's the effect of his mentioning of the words "Don't settle for less." in one of his speeches. The way I see the world before becomes totally different the way I see it today. Through the entire speech, I could say that it was worth the undivided attention. It took time for me to sink in the idea but the ripple effect it has caused on me is relatively big.

For a sudden, I looked into the possibility of walking his talk, of making it real, for myself. It was part of a long-term plan derailed by financial incapacity and distance. And the idea of embracing another responsibility by embarking into a PhD journey is somewhat very challenging that made me realize how weak I was for not pursuing it earlier. But the afterthought brought me back again to the verse I keep to live by with, "There is time for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1)." And it has dawned on me that the rekindled interest was even more fueled in fire when Dr. Penaso, a person I look up to, replied something through our online chatting and I quote "I admire people who have strong motivation to excel." And that's it. It got me looking so crazy driven. 

Right here, right now, I feel the sanctity of this isolation as part of that personal rebooting. I have imagined myself being in the shoes of Henry David Thoreau in his personal experiment in Walden for 'living only the essential facts of life.'

Earning a PhD degree might, in some ways, contradict to the idea of simplicity, but the feeling of self-gratification after thinking that dreams are valid makes it essential. At the end of the day, life is all about creating yourself. And that's what makes it so special. With that thought, I have come to appreciate that, indeed, this is a pursuit of significance.