An Entrepreneur in the Making

"What are your dreams?"

Now you must confused as to why I had mentioned entrepreneur in my title when the photo depicts a stethoscope by Littmann.

I don't have an obsession for stethoscopes. Noting I'm a girl and Swarovski-coated stethoscopes aren't my thing, too. I have always been open from 1st grade until college that pursuing to be a doctor is my dream. Was my dream.
I'm nearing the age of 21 and it is only now that I have realized how dreams should be differentiated from ambition or occupation. The word 'passion' can be closely linked to dream. But personally, dream is something that drives you to have that burning desire. It is not a hope. It is not a wish. It is a keen, pulsating desire which transcends everything else. It is definite.

Desire is the starting point of all achievement.

Going back to my pursuit to becoming a doctor... It is now 2018 and I just made a brave and life-changing decision. The decision to discontinue that track I have started. Last March, 3 months prior to my graduation, I decided to drop out from my pre-medicine course, Medical Technology. It was abrupt. I was depressed, brokenhearted and exhausted from daily pressure. Being in my internship phase wasn't helping at all to claim back my mental wellness. Every night I was crying. And like the previous mornings where I had to wake up with sticky cheeks from last night's dried tears, I suddenly told myself, "I want to stop from all of this".

Now you might be asking, "isn't it unfair to kill your dream for a breakup?". No. In fact, everything- my internship, my breakup, my poor self-esteem, my school pressure- had made me realize that becoming a doctor isn't what I really wanted to be. I realized that I only chose it because it is a high-paying profession. Obstetrician-Gynecologist in the Philippines can make any physician wealthy... and that's what I planted in my mind. You see, a dream and an occupation can be related but they aren't completely similar. I remember this guy named Tibet, a 24-year-old lawyer who was courting me. One time in our conversation, I opened a topic and asked him, "was it your passion to be a lawyer." And he immediately replied no. He added, "my passion includes music. Lawyer is an occupation. I had to choose something. An occupation is like something you have to do for staying alive. " And so I got what he was implying. From then on I learned the difference between occupation and dream.

And now that I am officially a drop-out (Damn, it feels good to be a drop-out!), besides finishing my therapy with my psychiatrist, everyone told me I should keep myself busy. I had to take over our family business since March because my Mom was still recovering from her surgery on removal of her myomas. Mom said everything was a blessing in disguise. She had me to take over her shop, and I had her as my refuge. They keep telling me life isn't about graduating early from college. I remember about the big personalities who reached their success at an old age, such as J. K. Rowling, the richest book author in the world. Her book series on Harry Potter was her breakthrough after living an unhappy life being a jobless single parent who once experienced miscarriage and short-lived marriage. Also, it maybe a norm to finish college but there are no norms on the way to success. Let's take millionaire drop-outs as an example, like Bill Gates (billionaire), whom everyone knows as a consistent "world's richest man" listed by Forbes.

From now on, I want to talk about entrepreneurship. I never knew this was actually what I wanted. Ever since I was a kid, I would make projects and assignments for my classmates (emphasis on lazy classmates, there isn't such a stupid classmate) up until college where I would accept tutoring on our professional subjects. In our family house in Paratong, I would insist my nieces and sisters that we sell out fruits of Meriba, not knowing it is an imported graft that my uncle planted, but because I had observed that this plant isn't something that is local in our place.

I didn't know I've been exercising my skills as an entrepreneur since then. It was 2017 when I opened my Facebook Page that sells beauty products like face masks, foot salts and whitening soaps. I would market them from Ilocos Norte and as far as Baguio. I called the page "Ariode". I made it sound like a sophisticated English word but as a matter of fact the word was based from the Iloco term "aryud", which refers to person with meticulous taste on fashion and beauty. I don't know if it is an official Iloco word or just a colloquial term in my town. What's important is that it clicked and impressed people who have heard of the trivia I just made.

Aside from Ariode, because of my huge free time as a drop-out, I made several business proposals in one night. All drafted on scratch papers. One of it was made real-time which was my business on selling homemade matcha ice cream, mochi and onigiri. I called my shop UNNIgiri. I like how creative I was on that name as I am an "unni" (a Korean word for older sister) which suits my character. The recipes I used were all made by me.

Now you can conclude my dream is to become a businesswoman where I can apply my skills (marketing and managing) and passion (such as cooking). It is definite and keen, pulsating desire, like i had described.

My family still want me to finish my Bachelor's Degree. But let's see what future holds for me. Maybe I'd still opt to become a specialist like Ob-Gyne or Cardiologist someday as my "occupation". But it's more of building my own hospital is my dream. I had dreamed about it countless times ever since I was younger. Who cares if I didn't end up as a doctor. I remember one pathologist, Dr. Wi, whom I've worked with in the laboratory where I had my internship. He said that if you wanna become rich by becoming a doctor, just marry one which is a lot easier 😂.What he said was pure gold. More importantly, what he was trying to tell us (to love your profession as it is without thinking of the money you can receive) was something that reminded me to ponder more on my pursuit to become a doctor.

Ask me the question again and I am final with my answer, "To build my hospital, my restaurant and my established businesses!"

This is my entry to @mountainjewel 's contest: Share Your Dream Manifestation Magic. It was almost 12 midnight when I read about the contest. My antidepressants were already kicking in. But you know what! I could skip an hour or two from my 12-hour sleep just to compose and share about my dreams! This contest is an instrument for people to ponder out and vent it out to the world how big they can be as dreamers ❤