This post is brought to you by SMART Communications.
We have a new helper finally. So I can finally sleep in now, and I can cook happily now because the dishes and pans are all washed and clean now, and the floors aren't sticky anymore now, so basically I'm not so tired anymore now. Still, since she's new, I've had to teach her how to clean, how the machines in the house work, and many other minutiae like you can't vacuum until you've thoroughly swept the floor and looked through the cushions because there are definitely tiny Lego parts there and everywhere. Stuff like that. Adjustment period but if she proves to be masipag, masinop and mapagkakatiwalaan, I believe life would be much easier soon.
So anyway, one time, while we were chatting, our new helper observed, "Ma'am, ang yaman-yaman niyo siguro. Kasi parehas kayo ni sir na nasa bahay lang."
"Oy, hindi kami mayaman. At may trabaho kami," sagot ko. I always get alarmed when our household help speculate on our financial state. I've heard stories of helpers going through trash cans looking for shopping receipts, credit card slips and payslips, and then showing these off to their fellow kasambahays. Then I explained, "We're writers. Manunulat. Yung mga sinusulat namin ay mga libro, mga articles para sa magazine, sa website, sa blog."
"Trabaho po yun?"
"Oo naman! Basta may bayad, trabaho yun."
"Pero hindi mukhang trabaho yung trabaho niyo!"
And there, my dear friends, lies the secret of my charmed life.
Just a few years ago, I'd never have believed that I can do what I love, earn from it, and do it from home, too. So much of my life is so different from what I thought it would be, and far better than what my parents dreamed it to be, because of technology. With just a computer, a smart phone and an internet connection, I can work, I can play, I can entertain, I can learn, I can teach, I can keep in touch, I can go places. My life really changed when I chose to change it with technology.
I'm grateful that SMART helped change my life. The new gadgets I got (available with their gadget plans) like the iPad Mini and the iPhone 5 and iPhone 6 have made it easier for me to live a lifestyle that isn't parked behind a desk—even though I write for a living. I Uber everywhere and I work from everywhere because my iPhone and my SMART LTE connection allows me to reply to important emails and messages while stuck in traffic. That's also when I update my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook with sponsored posts. No time is wasted in traffic at all. Speaking of traffic, it hardly figures in my life because I work from home most of the time anyway. I can be a working woman and a mommy at the same time—Googling recipes for my blog sponsor Jolly canned food while teaching my son to cook is just one example.
Even though I love this work-at-home arrangement, I do have plans on going back to the corporate world, especially now that I have two boys in school—I'll have more time and I'll have a regular income. Through social media, I'm already sending out feelers, tapping and making connections, just in case! And just in case I do go back to working in an office, I can rely on calls and messages with my family to keep us connected throughout the day.
What a huge change this is from just a few years ago! And the world keeps changing. Sometimes I think my kids wouldn't need to go to school anymore because all the knowledge in the world is at their fingertips. I just need to guide them to love learning and to know what to search for. In fact, I know a lot of parents who homeschool their kids and every time I look at the traffic outside my window, I see why this is an option that gets more attractive each day.
Which now reminds me of our other helper. She and I also had that exact same "ano trabaho niyo?" conversation. When I explained to her the many things that technology has changed in my life and in the world, she was amazed. Then I handed her the iPad Mini that SMART gave me and said, "Eto, mag-enroll ka sa mga TESDA courses. Libre yun. May computer programs sila. Pwede ka rin mag-certificate courses sa mga colleges sa ibang bansa. Biruin mo, makakapag-aral ka sa colleges sa Singapore, sa US or sa UK pero nandito ka lang sa bahay!"
"Pwede po yun? Makakapagtapos ako ng college?"
"Oo and kung may bayad, pwede kitang tulungan. Pero marami ka nang mapag-aaralan na subjects at courses na libre lang. Game?"
And then she looked at me and said she'd love to do it. So I gave her the WiFi password and the links to online learning schools. However, she just ended up downloading apps for my kids to enjoy and watching funny Facebook videos that made her happy. Well, at least she's happy! And at least I know that when she's ready to change her life, she now knows it's possible. Oh, how her life would change!
