One of my mottos in life is “Learn what you want to study in order to be fulfilled and productive.” 

I’ve been known as a business minded, workaholic person. I am a Registered Nurse but have worked in various fields such as healthcare, insurance, mechanical, and even in IT in the Middle East for almost 7 years. I also worked as a part time virtual assistant, part time nanny, part time driver and a part time cleaner and wall painter. Super flexible right? Well, in my case, I can easily adapt to any work once I pursue to master the process of each field I am in. I am too committed to earn and learn. Did I find myself satisfied with all the job I took? Yes.

But then, when I had my son two years ago, I’ve been diagnosed to have toxic goiter wherein my weight dropped for a week, I had body tremors and body irritations. At this point, my work got totally affected, my responsibility as a mother and wife impacted and my confidence dropped. “How can I work with this kind of condition?”, “How can I support my son and family?” “Why is this happening to me?”, “I am too weak to get up from bed.”, “How will I pay my house rent and my bills if I can’t work?” “What should I do?” These questions have triggered my self -confidence to go down. I cannot even carry my 6-month old son. The crucial part is, I had allergic reaction with the only anti-thyroid medication available in the Middle East.

This is the final stage where we decided to go back home in Philippines to continue my medical treatment. I ended my contract with my last employer. I am thankful that he understood my health situation. When we got back in the Philippines, I came across Connected Women on Facebook.  I read what the company is all about and I got curious how they “connect women” in Philippines. So I decided to join the meetup in Baguio City where I met the gorgeous ladies of Connected Women Baguio and the speaker Ms. Liezl. This is the moment when I started to appreciate that if we connect with women from different walks of life and discover you have a common goal; they inspire you to think about balancing your life between hobby and work. The ladies I met influenced me that I don’t need to push myself too hard. It keeps me excited too because there’s a chance to work within the community of Connected Women members. They also encouraged me to have a group in Nueva Vizcaya to launch the first Connected Women meetup there. And I vow to do it one day when I am medically okay and established. I envision to share this to my fellow Filipino women especially to those first-time moms who struggle with this kind of conflict.

This is the reason why I pursued my freelancing career as a virtual assistant. I enrolled myself to various training courses as well as started building my community of women to join Connected Women. Besides, this is the reason why I stand up again and move for the better. Giving my true self to the world and to those around me. It is my turn to share Connected Women to others to motivate and uplift other women. Am I satisfied with where I am now? Indeed! I’m happy and fulfilled.

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