Following your heart's desires

An aspiring student writer at the University of San Carlos asked me if he could make his application at The Carolinian, the university’s official student publication, an excuse for not making it to his Economics class. He was an academically active student who had equally the same appetite for the craft of writing but whose class schedule seemed to challenge him from pursuing the latter.

Apparently, it turned out he had consulted some of his close classmates and friends earlier on the matter. And while others cheered for him in all glee to apply for the position, some still believed he did not have to compromise his studies.

My response to him, on the other hand, was plain and simple—follow the desires of your heart.

In a lot of instances in life, we are presented with situations that tend to bring us to a state of vacuum and then, confusion. And it’s not to say we are indecisive in the process but at some point or another, we just find ourselves standing still in front of and staring at one big jigsaw puzzle waiting for our action.

For the case of the student writer’s simple problem, a forthright trade off of his alternative to apply and be absent at class unexcused, and worse, fail the whole application in the end, may mean a whole lot of future remorse. But at the same time, he just can’t make the day slip away with all the unfinished business in his mind and being slowly killed by thought of all what ifs it could possibly hold. And yes, despite my relative youth, I know exactly how disturbing these what if thoughts could get to the nerve big time at times. 

Having studied Accountancy for the first three years in college and then shifting to Management Accounting in a come-back, for reasons only God, my family and close friends know (no, I did not fail the cut-off of any major subject; you may ask our dean Mr. Challoner Matero or chairman Atty. Christopher Malaya to vouch on this), I had to forego of my CPA dream, a dream so well set up during the earlier part of my youth but is now moving away from consummation.

Back at school, instead of giving full support to my co-curricular organization, I’m choosing to give my all to the student publication. And again, this decision did not come easy and priceless but I had no choice but to make the choice and so I did by choosing the road less taken.

Nonetheless, just this Wednesday, when I was honored to be invited in a lunch party thrown to celebrate The FREEMAN’s 93rd anniversary as Cebu’s oldest newspaper, I had the feeling some of my personal what ifs had been cleared out. That there’s always consolation waiting for those who take the road less taken. 

As I sat there on a table with my editor Ms. Q, along with a fellow youth columnist Annie, and seeing the scene of one big family in all jubilation celebrating its seven years away from being a centenarian institution, some feeling of bliss engulfed my heart. Well, there’s not really much I can say at this point because I’m probably the newest who came in the family and I’m certainly not in the position to say anything about the future either. But I was happy to be there, and be here in this writing world, and I guess, much of the reason for such happiness was attributable to the fact that I chose to follow my heart.

In the end, whatever decision we make, consequences will always be inevitable. As youth, it’s always good to be clear on what we really want to become for ourselves in the future. But if we should fail along the way, we must also be ready to set our sail to another direction and wherever that may be, if we only follow our heart, it will almost always likely lead us to the direction of happiness.