PRIVILEGED to have travelled for over a month in June – my birth month – in my cherished home province. You can call the trip many names, but I call it by a special name which I will keep for now. The best part aside from living in a beautiful sprawling home – casa de Calope-Galván – is expanding my circle of friends courtesy of my aunt and uncle whose fusion of friends – Filipinos and foreigners alike, has enriched both my gender lens and cultural lens. Thank God for the birth month as always. It has brought me surprises for years now.
Then of course, professional engagements can be had while you are on travel like a hosting gig in Bohol by month-end which is both pleasurable and eventful.
While on travel, I worked on the need of a client-friend based in Malaysia for his speaking engagement. That’s the beauty of professional freelance work. Your laptop is your office. Thus, heavy or not, my laptop must be carried together with my shoulder bag everywhere I go. It’s a ubiquitous object on my shoulder and nothing can separate it from me.
Then I received messages for a possible coffee table book project – whoa! I love coffee table books, speech requirements, and a hosting gig come September! The wonders of travel indeed!
Of course, there were also tricky events during the travel. Dynamics that ought to be thrown at the dust bin ages ago. But then again, it’s a choice. Everything is a choice in life. At fifty-six, I have seen the best and worst in people.
For now, let us just celebrate our victories, be excited about the future, and ponder whenever facing a fork in the road which I did often! Tell me about it! In fact, I am there right now. However, the lessons I have learned in life taught me that when at a crossroads, take time to contemplate, seek counsel, do not rush, and just obey God’s direction. It always produces best results. Others will never understand it – don’t fret, but your decision to follow God’s direction will be the best for you at that given time. It maybe a short duration like a half-year, a year, or two, but it’s still the best for you. “Tune out the chorus of criticisms”, according to the book ‘Maximize the Moment’, and forge ahead. Just be certain that you have assessed the facts and prayed about your decision. And when you do, there’s no turning back, until the next fork comes along.
There’s no permanent decision. Decisions change based on new realities. I see some people get stuck to a decision pattern even if it’s no longer healthy for them. I don’t know about you, but I have learned to be flexible over the years. If it doesn’t help anymore, rethink, seek the counsel of others, then proceed to the next helpful action.
So back to the trip, I decided to make one person a recipient of my letters, haha! I can’t help it writing is therapeutic for me. It’s a balm to my soul. As Teacher Jurene, my TESOL instructor advised me when I lost Papa in 2009, “Pray for relief”. And I did, hence, working in Iloilo in 2010-2011. We should allow our souls to find solace and consolation when troubled or in pain. But we should also be ready to listen to our soul’s prodding and the advice of others.
My crossroads has made me realize that since my freelance work is no longer confined by boundaries – I have served my Malaysia-based friend twice or thrice now, will return to my birth place for a hosting gig this month, and will serve my clients in my adoptive city, I can be traveling to Bohol and back to General Santos City via Davao City. I have the best of both worlds, so to speak! I just need to be open to possibilities, never say no – unless of course my health is affected, and march on!
Finally, I want to thank my countless old and new friends, my Calope, Lungay, Balagot, and Sales cousins, my uncles and aunts, my son, my daughter for making my birth month rock! Truly an answered prayer.
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Food for Thought
Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me. – Psalm 40:11
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Writer can be reached at belindabelsales@gmail.com. Twitter @ShilohRuthie./PN
