Life After The Sandbox Days

The Sandbox for most of us means our play area, the place where we are comfortable, the place of our childhood, the school, the academe. I guess most of you enjoyed your childhood days in the sandbox. But for a girl like me, I was itching to get out of the sandbox. You might wonder why?

Well because in my earlier years in the sandbox I was a different kind of kid. In my childhood, I was always called “balyena”, “tabachoi”, “lumba-lumba”, “dabyana”, etc. Nature did its thing when I grew older and soon in Elementary I received other types of names – “ting-ting”, “olive oil” (the partner of popeye), the name branding never stopped from elementary to high school til’ college, where I got two new names – Rambo and Sleeping Beauty.

Rambo because I always carry a huge back pack that was ready for any happenings whether it was a flood, typhoon, or super summer heat; and I wore a black garterized headband. Sleeping beauty because I slept before class or during class, whether it’s a morning, before lunch, after lunch, afternoon or evening class schedules; it’s only during PE that I was awake. But my teachers still loved me, because I still learn the lessons in class and I get good grades and I don’t sleep during examinations.

Other than the name calling, I wanted to get out of the sandbox as soon as possible for these reasons:
Get a good paying job to buy the things that we need in our family, ‘cz we were not that well off.
Revenge is sweet, I wanted to prove to my classmates and batch mates that even though I was a late bloomer I can succeed in life.
Explore.

Thankfully after 14 years in the sandbox, I was out and I was very eager to venture into the world beyond the sandbox.

You might ask, what did I accomplish after my sandbox days?...

First, I was engaged in IT initially as a Junior Systems Programmer and then eventually became a Systems Administrator cum Programmer. After getting tired in the banking industry, venturing into teaching and taking up masteral studies was the next thing that came into my mind. Aside from that, sales and marketing were the other things that kept me busy as a free-lance model, Avon lady, free-lance web developer, tutor, an artist and an F7 sales agent. I guess my experience in the past prepared me for my current career which is into human resource.

During my adventures outside of the sandbox, this girl was able to do a few crazy things:
One of them was when I decided to join the Bb.Pilinas 2003 pageant and the Ms.Silka competition, unfortunately or fortunately I was disqualified because I was 26 years old already.
Gate crashed at an ABS-CBN morning TV show “Kris and Korina”, yes my face was broadcasted on national TV when the camera panned to zoom into the audience.
Other adventures I can’t recall all of them in one night, perhaps another day in another speech topic.

A lot more things happened after the crazy things in my life, a more serious part of my adult life occurred when I was 29 years old; I had to undergo the knife for a surgery. During the recuperation period, I decided that I would change my life further and make it richer.

Right now this is what I have become after the sandbox days…
accomplished my masteral studies in human resource management
an ovarian cyst survivor
advocate for endometriosis awareness
a health enthusiast
a mentor to my former students
a researcher
an IT girl
an HR practitioner
an artist at heart
a teacher
a student
a girl who still wants to travel the world
a person who wants to create passive income for her present and future family
an automatic saver
a simple investor
a good daughter and a good sister
a true friend
a friend and daughter of God
and now a member of toastmasters

My life has changed greatly it’s completely different compared to the life I had in the sandbox. Yes I am still young, but I realized that when you’re done with your stay in the sandbox, it’s now time to begin to add your sands of knowledge and wisdom to a greater sandbox - the sandbox of life.