February 1, 2018 8:30 PM (Philippine Time) was another night to remember. I was there not for fun, I was there for learnings.
It was a meeting attended by seven (7) other companions - Coaches @colettemaria, Sarah, Sieg @foxniner, @reyleedwalo, @joshruiz, @imayang, and @isaganicabrales.
The Plan
The meeting was agreed by attendees the week prior - January 25, 2018. That time @reyleedwalo was not yet with us but was already part of our group chat in another platform. The meeting was set to February 1, 5PM.
The Night Before the Meeting
I was so confident I will be able to attend the meeting at the agreed time. Here was my response in the group chat the night before the meeting.
Me: Will be there coach loobin
The Struggle
February 1, 2018 5:00 AM - I woke up too early than what I was accustomed to. I knew that if I stood up and went to the office this early, there was a high probability that I'm going to faint. I decided to sleep on it and woke up at 8:30 AM.
I have a regular day job and the consequence of coming to the office this late was that I had to be in the office for 9 hours (1 hour for lunch) before I am able to go out. I went in at 9:30 AM and got out at 6:30 PM.
The Decision Part 1
All throughout the day, I was struggling what I would say to the group and the reason I will not be able to come. The meeting was at 5PM, and I'm allowed to leave office at 6:30PM, that's already 1.5 hours late. Anxiety started to creep in. This was going through my head:
- I needed 30-minutes walk from our office to Greenbelt 1 (bus stop for Point-2-Point Bus)
- If I went out at 6:30 PM, I will arrive at the bus station at around 7PM
- 7PM is already rush-hour from Makati to Alabang and it will take me at least an hour to arrive
- I will arrive at the venue at around 8:30PM the earliest. That's already 3.5 hours from the agreed time, they would be finished by
With this running through my head, at around 3:44 PM I finally decided to inform the group that I will no longer be able to attend.
Me: Coaches, sorry di po ko mkkpunta mmya. Late npo kc ako nkpsok. 630pm p out ko
(Coaches, sorry I won't be able to come. I came to the office late. I can only go out at 630 PM.)
The Decision Part 2
Then Coach Sieg @foxniner asked where I was and I responded with my excuse:
Coach Sieg: Nasaan ka na? Ikaw pa naman ang important here
(Where are you? You're the one important here.)
Me: Sorry po coach. Paimportante po 😞 aga ko po ngising knina pero di po nkpsok.
(Sorry coach. Wanted to make myself feel important. I woke up too early, but was not able to come to office immediately.)
Me: I imagined din po n trafik npo by this time
(I imagined that there will already too much traffic by this time)
Me: And wala npo aabutan. So decided na po na wag n po tumuloy.
(And I will no longer have anything to catch. So I decided not to go.)
Coach Sieg: Meron pa po.
(There are still things you'll catch.)
So I decided to go.
The Travel
In respect to my followers and auto-upvoters (since it will only be pictures), I decided to post my travel blog to my other account @east.autovote.
| Time | Location | Proof |
|---|---|---|
| 7:56 PM | My P2P ticket |  |
| 8:02 PM | Inside the P2P Bus |  |
| 8:33 PM | My Arrival at Alabang Town Center (ATC) |  |
| 8:39 PM | Inside the ATC |  |
| 10:30 PM | Dinner After the Meeting |  |
The Lessons
First, most of the time, our fears get the better of us. They blur our minds and force us to make our decisions on the unknown. They thwart us from our potential.
Second is to not be too sure of ourselves. In the scenario above, I was too sure of myself that I will be at the meeting on the agreed time but was actually late. In a similar sense, we can apply this to the future. Let us not be too sure of what tomorrow will bring for we don't know we will still be part of it. Always trust in the One who gives us life.
Third and connected to the first: our estimates fail us. In my mind, my walk from our office to the bus station was 30 minutes. But in actual, it only took 15 minutes.
And lastly, if there's anything I learned from here is that it is our decision, not our condition that determine our future. Thanks be to God for a coach who will march and shout with passion until others may see and join him in his mission in touching other people's lives.
This is my entry to @dobartim's Steemit Ultimate Challenge 8 Weeks
Thank you @dobartim for initiating this contest about communication. The lesson applied in this post about communication is the importance of communicating with our superiors or leaders of where we are, what our status is so that they will know what to instruct us. If it weren't for the communication between me and coach Sieg @foxniner, I wouldn't have gone to the meeting and missed my chance of learning and spending time with them.
Thank you to @zirensparvg as well for sharing this contest to our group chat.