This week, one principle keeps running on my head, “Mabuti ng mapagalitan, kaysa walang matutunan”. When I was younger, I am so afraid of doing things especially those that is so out of my league. One of these is talking to strangers for fear of hearing mean words from them or putting myself in embarrassment. Growing up, I kept myself away from any circumstances that has an unknown end.
Of course, things change. There would always be a need to adjust and adapt. When I was in college, I was culture shocked, I felt so indifferent from my classmates. It was an all-knew society and never felt connected to many until we were in 4th year college. But even to that very last year, I still cannot say that I built a friendship that would last after college. One of the things I regret in life.
Working changed all that. Thanks to college, the new culture did not shocked me to the core. Thanks to OJTs, my introvert personality was somehow tweaked. Despite of these, there’s still so much to learn.
The call center industry helped me improve my social interaction. I do not know anyone on my first day of work. I do not have the slightest idea on how to befriend or even interact with them. Yeah, talk about lack of confidence. Thank God, my colleagues were friendly enough that the plan of eating dinner alone did not happen. Breathe! It was still awkward though, but I survived the first day. That has been a great relief. The culture, the new people and even the graveyard shift is an all-new world for me. It was back then that I realized, I am so ill-informed of the different systems of the society and there’s still so much to learn. Pre-elementary to High school, I was this introvert girl who was tagged “Grade conscious”. Come college, I learned how to talk but so afraid to get out of my cocoon for fear of uncertainties. Then, the real world came rolling in. Introversion alone won’t work here, someone should learn to come out of its shell.
Now, four years in the real world won’t teach you everything but piece by piece things can be learned. Every time I go back, I seriously can’t help but regret all those opportunities I missed. Opportunity to take on a challenge, privilege to do something great and build up connections to the people I met along the way. Yet, I guess, without those regrets one cannot realize what should be done the next time they would be there. Those were already “lost opportunities”. When something was lost, you cannot bring it back anymore but you can make new ones.
Doing the things that I was not used to, brings joy to my heart. I know things such as that looks like simple to others or they can say, crazy or naive. But for a person who was not used to getting out of the comfort zone, but chose to do it for the very first time in their entire existence, they acknowledge simple joys such as that as a fulfillment. On those instances, we love to do a pat on our back. It opens up a whole new world that we never imagined we can actually inhabit. These are the times where we accidentally discover the “love of our lives” that fuels our passion to live. Definitely, not a special someone, but the “love of our lives” that I am referring to are the hobbies, sports, arts or crafts that we never imagined we will be doing. These moments were like breaking the “Great Wall of China” or “Berlin Wall” in our system.
I regard doing risks as a “mortal sin” when I was younger, but today taking risks are my best days ever. For every new road or new experience that I take, a whole new level of learnings come pouring in. Not a drizzle nor a mist, but a rain of knowledge and overflowing wisdom. Who wouldn’t love to learn all that? It strengthens the foundation of life and widens our network of friendship and camaraderie.
There is still so much more to learn, many mines of knowledge to dig and ocean of wisdom to fish. If you are an introvert like I was, the question here is… How prepared are you to get a wound that might turn into a scar? That might actually look ugly, but someday you’ll realize that those scars are the loveliest part of your life. Those will remind you that you lived life with no regrets.
Yesterday, while I was in the hospital visiting my friend’s mom, I found myself looking back in the past and ask myself, “If I never opened myself up and never got out of my league, would I be able to comfort those people in need even by just your mere presence? Would I witness a daughter and a son keeping their brave faces for their sick mother? Would I get to know people who are so passionate in their ministry? Can I even get to this hospital and visit a friend?” It’s not just the hospital visits though but even those hobbies that I found out and now spices up living, travels that brought me to breathtaking God’s creations that I never imagined seeing, and connections to people and listen to their stories that are so worth knowing. If I never tried to step out, would I learn that I love to do what I thought I would never love doing? The world is so big, as I’ve quoted a while ago, there’s still so much more to learn. But, in order to learn, one thing must be done, LOVE THE NOT USUAL YOU.
