They say you're lucky if you find a home aside from your home where you stay with your family. For me, home is the safest place to be. It's that one place I'd come running to every weekend because the moment I step in, an unworldly calm breeze gently brushes through my skin reminding me that "All is well, all is well!" Once inside, I forgot the world beyond our humble abode in the province, and all the people that matters are within reach.
About two years ago, I found the same tranquility in the company of people who built a safe and supportive space for people like me who dream of becoming better, bolder, and braver day after day. In the middle of the pandemic, I flinchingly enrolled myself in the club and in a program we call Pathways. Being a pandemic baby, I never had the chance to experience in-person meetings with my club and other clubs within our Area or Division. Although I was able to meet them last December 2021 for our Christmas Party and last April for our District Convention (Discon), a face-to-face meeting seemed impossible until recently when fellow officers in my club pushed for a hybrid meeting.
Before seeing them in person, I was able to narrate through my 5-7 minute speech a rather dramatic day when I break free from a 10-year relationship I once was in. They held their breaths when I took them on a photographic tour in Manila Bay as I steered their hearts with words filled with pain and solitude. And the very recent one was a speech about an unexpectedly traumatic experience during a trip to North Cebu which the evaluator labeled as "too much". They all listened to my speeches filled with both hate and love, tragedies and triumphs, and fear and hope. They all listened attentively and without judgment. I love speaking to a camera where people couldn't see what's going on on my end; they couldn't see all the last-minute preparations.
But the day I feared and at the same time, looked forward to came our first ever in-person meeting after more than two years. It was my first time attending an in-person meeting and my first time banging our club gavel as the head of the club. It's my first time seeing other members of the club who weren't able to attend in our Christmas Party and the Discon. Truly, the energy when people come together for a Toastmasters Meeting is astounding. The jitters might feel real and more intense this time but I'm starting to love it more than what I was used to. And yes, this is definitely my home away from home.
