I was 23 when I experienced my first international trip. That was in Singapore back in 2014. My intention of going to SG was not for leisure. I went there to find a job.

Being the youngest in the family, I was pampered & well taken care of by my mom and sisters. I have lived a comfortable life back in the Philippines, with a good job. However, I knew that I needed to break free from this cocoon & create my own path.

I saved about 1,500 Singaporean Dollars or 50,000 Philippine Pesos to support myself for 30 days in this quest.

While I was in SG, I applied for jobs online daily. I prepared my emails at night & send them in the morning so my email is the first thing that potential employers see in their inbox. To extend every $ of my pocket money, I ate cheap good food at hawkers. My budget per meal was about $6. This helped me save a lot.

It took me a 1.5 months to land a job & an exit to Malaysia for a visa run to ‘extend’ my stay in Singapore.

I first worked at a marketing company. Our director founded another company at that time, hence I joggled between 2 roles; 1 was marketing for toys & the 2nd was managing performance makeup for kids. I had to work long hours with only 1 day off per week.

I then moved to my 2nd employer which killed me. I wasn’t just working for 2 roles but 3! I was Client Services from 8-9am, Marketing from 9am-12pm, then worked in Business Development and Partnerships from 1 pm onwards.

What kept me going despite the exhaustion was my passion to learn more and improve my skills. However it backfired & caused me to lose so much self confidence. I finally realised how that job was not serving me & so I resigned the next day after that realization.

I learned to never compromise my happiness & well-being for a job that sees me as a dispensable piece.

The process was painful yet rewarding & transformational. I started understanding & loving myself better, & challenging the limitations imposed by the beliefs I was conditioned into.

Fast forward to 2020 & a few better jobs later, I’m still growing, still learning, still in Singapore, still living the lessons I’ve learned along this journey of creating a path that’s true to who I am.