moving on…

I have been in Bermuda for 6 months now.  It’s something I didn’t plan but just landed on my shoes and decided to grab at that very instant.  Actually, my decision making was not very easy.  I spent numerous sleepless nights thinking if I should take this rare opportunity or just continue on with my life the way I’ve always known it to be.  Apparently, after much deliberation, I decided to leave my comfort zone and live in an island in the middle of the Atlantic. 

What made me decide to just leave my life behind?  I’m not exactly sure what’s the most compelling reason but I’m pretty sure it’s not the new job waiting for me here.  Yeah, I’m back to being an auditor and now that I’m one, I just miss my old job with a pang.  But that’s another story.   Looking back, I did have a number of reasons why I accepted this assignment.  First, the money was really big.  Bermudian dollars are pegged to the USD so I’m very happy with the exchange rate.  Plus, there are no taxes so I get to see all my hardwork not just in my paycheck but in my bank account.  The money reason then branches out to a lot of things, the primary one is my family.  Now that I have the money, I get to help my family out a lot without pinching pennies for myself in the end.  Of course I get to save for my future too for whatever I decide to do after whether it’s my MBA or just maybe for pleasure.  Who knows. 

Second, Bermuda is very close to the US, just a 2 hour flight to NY, the city I love the most (so far, that is) and 6-7 hour flight to the West Coast where most of my family now lives.  That’s a lot shorter than the 16 or more hours of journey to the US from the Philippines. My family loves to get together and at least now I could be in every gathering they organize without worrying about taking long vacations to make the most out of my expensive flights from home and of course on who’s paying for my airfare because now, I can pay them myself with some extra for shopping

Evidently, my family is one of the major reasons I moved.  Yes, I love my family a lot and I love spending time with them so that’s a big chunk of the big reasons for the big move.  But the biggest reason for my move is myself.  I needed a drastic change in my life so I’d know who, what and where I really want to be.  I know people could know the answer to that without going anywhere but in my case, i need two steps (or maybe even more) further away from my comfort zone to see that.  When I was in NY, I realized there’s a whole different world out there that I need to see to understand better, if not fully, the world I live in and I can only do that by traveling or living in another country.  I knew then that I need to experience what’s outside the bubble I live in.  I had to pop that bubble and be adventurous while I am young and could still manage such a big change then maybe, just maybe, i’ll get closer to the answers I’ve been looking for and if I don’t, at least I could say I tried putting together the pieces of the puzzle called world.