Phoenix

The symbol for my life right now is a phoenix. As legend says, a phoenix is a bird that returns from the ashes. After everything I’ve been through these past years, like the phoenix, I feel like today I am being reborn to something greater than myself before.

My days before were really far from what it is now. I used to go to UPLB before I transferred in UE. My stay in UP was THE BEST four years of my life so far – most prestigious school, middle-class family, good friends, boyfriend, nightlife. I had it all they say.

I was the type of person that wouldn’t make an effort to excel if I feel that I am inferior to the other members of the crowd, and UP was a lair of superiors for me. I started slacking off and 5.0s were eventually raining over me by the end of the semesters. I kept myself busy on the fun moments of the college years instead, at the back of my mind the “elitist notion” that a UP 5.0 was still a respectable mark compared to the 5.0 (or even 3.0) of other schools.

Everything changed come 2012. I got pregnant. The world stopped revolving. I was at my lowest. I was thinking for months on how I can ever redeem myself from this “disgrace” especially that I was about to lose my only pride back then, UP. My parents decided that I transfer to a school here in Manila. They chose UE. My ego was crushed into pieces, powdered if you may.

But after a few months, I think I’m starting to understand what God’s plan is. My then boyfriend and I got married, and eventually put up small businesses. I was performing better at school now too, fueled mostly by the pressure of proving to myself and to others that I am still UP caliber. Unlike before, my life today seems to have a definite direction, to success. I am more focused to my studies and how my performance at school could make my own family‘s life better in the future.

Like a phoenix, I will soon rise again from the ashes, stronger and better than before.