Holiday Emote

I was jolted last week with a text from Dr. L who offered me a research job at a university in Davao. Dr. L is the first person who trusted me to work for him after I graduated from college. I was a research assistant to him in 2001 and this pretty much started my career in this NGO until late 2005. Even if he resigned from that NGO in 2003 to work full time at the university he still got in touch with me. So I continued working for him on some researches. This time he wanted me to work on a policy research that'd be based in Davao. With a pretty attractive compensation ito ha. He was confirming if I was willing to go back to the city for a year.

For a moment there I was in a quandary over the offer. When I say moment, it should be about three seconds. After that I was dead sure that while the offer is a great opportunity, I can't move back to Davao for these reasons:

1. I've risked so much with moving to Manila early this year and I can't just throw that away. I'm sometimes overwhelmed with the sacrifices I made and continue to make. But I think this is the whole point of the risk. I've matured in countless ways and become more humble in the process. I know it's never going to be an easy ride for me within the next few months. I can't wait to see where this goes though and what a new me would emerge from this whole experience.
   
2. I like my new job already. It's not the UN or the ADB but I'm fine with it. I've been here four months and it's pretty far from what I use to do in Davao. Working in publications had been an interest to me for quite some time though. I'm thus taking this chance to learn more about it and indeed I've been exposed to lay-outing and some associated stuff. I'm also lucky over the relative independence and flexibility that I get from my supervisor so I can't complain.
3. I want to see how this career move would unfold. The downside of course with switching jobs is starting from being a somebody in my previous post in Davao to being a nobody in my current job. It's definitely humbling (and I understand now why some people simply sink into their comfort zones in their job). The challenge however is to eventually gain the confidence of my organization and hopefully I'd be given more demanding tasks in the near future.

I know sometimes I doubt if ever all my recent decisions have been wise. I've shaken things up in my otherwise uneventful life, perhaps I've shaken it too much. I'm making the most out of these experiences of course. There are costs to them (stress, uncertainty, poverty... the last being the most serious hahaha) but the opportunity to learn more and self-discovery is boundless.

My experience in Davao is amazingly divine. I've met the most dazzling people, the most fabulous and dear friends. I also learned about Mindanao and consequently fell in love with it. Of course, I proved a million things to my self about my self. I still continue to draw strength and determination from my Davao stint. Most of these I use in my current (mis)adventure. And boy, this is not my last stop yet.