Identity, Values and Strengths Exploration

My culture and my values

Filipinos are resilient and hard-working. We put great importance to family. We love food, we love to laugh and are optimistic even when things don’t go our way. My culture and upbringing has significantly impacted a lot of the decisions I’ve made and paths I’ve taken. I am highly motivated to be the best I can be because of my family, they have helped shaped who I am today.

Each day I try to live the best version of myself, and there are some things that just instinctively feels like the right thing to do. Some are as simple as bringing mail delivered to me by mistake to the correct mailbox, giving up my seat in the bus to someone else or as big as ensuring I carry out my work duties even when my manager’s not looking when working from home or even adopting a kitten instead of buying one. Whatever situation I face, generally I hope to emulate the values moulded by my culture, family and life experiences – helping others when we can and being mindful of our actions that they do not cause harm.

My Learning Journey

There are only 24 hours in a day and yet so much to do. For the first few weeks into the bootcamp, I will likely be full of energy, excitement and fear for what lies ahead. The workload might be manageable in the beginning but I sometimes doubt how long I can keep up juggling study and life itself. I am a homemaker first and foremost and being a student is secondary. I am very grateful that I am able to draw strength from my family. It’ll be tough but as long as we keep tabs on each other everything will be alright.

When I moved to New Zealand, I was able to get the same job for the same company I worked for in Singapore. I questioned a lot of the processes here and ended up comparing them with how we did things in Singapore. There was a bit of tension from some of my teammates, they viewed me as a rookie in search for trouble! I had to tone it down a notch, took my time to understand that processes are in place for a reason especially in different countries. One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned, don’t go with all guns blazing, take a step back and understand what’s going on. There is always a right time to improve and change some things later on if they are necessary at all.

One of my key strengths is being a deliverer. I take responsibility and work hard to make sure that whatever needs to be done is done. My family is what inspires me, they give me purpose and direction. Completing the bootcamp is a chance to a better career and better future for our family so I just need to keep my eye on the ball.