When life took a different direction

I wonder sometimes what life could have been like had I stayed in the Philippines instead of living in the United States with my family. My college classmates have already graduated, and my original plan was that I would graduate them. When things took a different turn, I decided to go with it, and I can't help but look back sometimes and think to myself where life would have taken me had I chosen not to leave the Philippines.

I can only leave to my thinking what would have happened to me if I didn't go. We could say that I could have finished college there, but would I really have done it without my parents nearby? The ages 0f 16-19 were tender ages, and those were the years that led up to the most important years of my life. Would I have made the wise decisions? I don't know. Maybe I would have, maybe not. I guess my mom was right in saying that it would have been better for me to go with them to the US, because who knows what influences would have affected while my entire family was gone.

In the back of my mind, I somewhat regret going to the US, but as I come to think of the many amazing experiences I have had in the US, I tell myself that I made the right decision.

For one, I became closer to my family. When you move to a new place with your family, they are really all that you've got until you make friends. When I was adapting to a change of lifestyle, my family was my refuge from the unfamiliar place we just moved into. It made me realize how important my family is and how much I love them, and I will never in a million years trade my wonderful relationship with my family for anything.

I feel as if I have gained a better perspective on life while living in America. I could not bring myself to explain it well, but let's just say that while I was in the Philippines, it was as if I felt limited and that as if a lot of things are way too impossible, but in the US, I felt so free and that as if there are a million way to do things I didn't imagine were possible. I guess the American individualism is getting to me. Whatever it is, I still could not fully comprehend the reason behind the new perspective that I had gained while living in the US.

There would have been a lot of experiences that I would never have had if I stayed in the Philippines. America just teems with the "fun things" and with a hectic college life in the Philippines, I would never have had time to do any of them. I remember vividly the first time that I went fishing, rifle shooting, canoeing, doing archery, etc. I may have not had any beginner's luck, but these are experiences that certainly made my life more exciting.

Speaking of exciting things, the most exciting thing that happened to me so far was going to BYU. I enjoy kind of living on my own, you know, doing the laundry, grocery shopping, cooking your meals, by yourself! It's definitely a great learning experience for me. There's also a lot of righteous influence around me that I just to keep getting better. Thinking back to my first semester of college in the Philippines, I realized that I would never have had that much good influence around me. My college friends were great, but everything else around was not my ideal environment. I also love how I was close to the Conference Center I am now so that I could just come every time there's a General Conference!! Like this weekend!!! :D

And of course, it was at BYU that I discovered how much I love dance, particularly folk dance :p Dance boosted my self-esteem and gave me something to look forward to. I also gained great friends in folk dance, and had other AWESOME experiences. Now I know how to clog and do the dances from other cultures, and have performed on stage many times now! I don't think I would trade that for anything else!

I'm glad that I wrote this because it made me realize how much better my life is than if I didn't live here. Sure, I would have graduated from college by now and some things could've been easier for me as well. But the other path that I took led me to so many amazing experiences, and it far outweighs the very little regret that I have!