Hello Steemit family! I’m a newbie. Maayong adlaw (Good Day!)

My name is Valerie Monique Roa. I am 25 years young and I live in the southern part of the Philippines that has a lot of beautiful beaches — Mindanao. I studied Psychology in one of the best universities in my city.

I grew up with my parents living in my grandparents’ house, as well as my aunts, uncles and cousins. Extended family is quite a common thing here in the Philippines. I’m an only child but I’ve never felt alone because I had a lot of my cousins that I actually played and grew up with. They’re still my bestfriends now. My dad passed away when I was 19. He had liver cirrhosis for being an alcoholic in a short time and died from a heart attack. My mom had a hard time coping up, and when she was finally able to know Christ, it helped her heal. It was not easy, losing almost both of my parents. Little did I know that it was one of God’s crazy good ways to help me figure my life out to make it better and make me better and stronger.

I was not able to graduate because of life’s surprise circumstances. So, that’s when I started working.. I was 22, was not sure what I’m doing or where I’m going, but God gave me an awesome experience of my first job, which was being a call center agent/scheduling department. I worked with workmates that later became very close friends, almost like a family.

It was my training ground that taught me a lot of experiences and lessons to be ready for my next interviews, jobs, bosses and workmates. It helped me in handling different kinds of people as well as handling myself to all kinds of situations.

I experienced managing a Family Karaoke Bar and wow! It was not easy. It was actually hard building your patience up and be nice to costumers. No matter how offensive or rude they get, you still need to be nice to them. I guess that’s God’s way of showing me how to understand people and be nice to all managers, staffs and waiters I encounter.

Then came teaching. I’ve been teaching english to Japanese people. It was a very nice experience. Can’t believe I’m actually interacting with people that only speak little english, very different from my culture and beliefs, different ages and, ofcourse.. they’re Japanese! I mean that’s quite hard to handle how you’re able to communicate, right? But it was good! They’re all very smart, focused and determined.

Those are a few of my work experiences that made me who I am right now and led me here in this new work — steemit.

Now, let me tell you about all of my hobbies and interests..

I love outdoor activities. I love being in the tropics, explore beaches and nature, explore small islands and unfamiliar cities. I’m into longboarding and surfing. I also love knowing and meeting new people with different cultures, different perceptions in life, living in different cities or countries.

I guess that’s one way of appreciating life and knowing that wherever we are and whatever we do, it’s not permanent. Keep traveling, keep exploring, keep being kind and never losing hope, chase you dreams especially the big ones. If we keep moving forward, we keep growing.

Always keep in mind that God is the reason for all of this. Thank you fellow steemians for reading this post. God bless us all! ☺️💕✨