I saved 800k as a 24 year old and I’m sad.
I never thought I would get this far.
I came from poverty. The kind where I couldn’t always afford menstrual pads when I had my period, or a hot meal when I was hungry as a student.
My family never had the means to pay for my education. Growing up, I received ₱50 for baon until I was 17. My mother was deep in debt, while my father struggled with gambling and alcoholism.
When I was 18, I was diagnosed with IBD and needed medical treatment, but my family couldn’t afford it. I was in pain almost every day.
And then I became desperate.
I started working. I used whatever skills I had to make money, whether it was doing graphic design for a local print shop or writing essays for a quick buck. Somehow, by God’s grace, all the hustling started to work.
I was never the smartest student, but I knew that if I studied hard enough, I could give myself a way out of poverty. So I did.
I got a scholarship for university and eventually made it into the Big 4. I graduated with good grades while working and managing my health throughout college.
I had to pay for my own food and rent, while also sending money home to my family. Looking back, I honestly don’t know how I managed to do all of it.
Now, at 24, I find myself feeling sad.
Because I grieve for the younger version of me who had to suffer through things no child should have had to worry about simply because we were poor.
I know that looking forward is the only thing we can do. But sometimes, I still think about how hard it was to be hungry.
To eat spoiled food because there was nothing else left.
To miss class because I couldn’t afford the pamsahe.
To stretch ₱50 to cover lunch, school projects, and other expenses.
To constantly calculate what I could afford and what I had to go without.
Everything I have today is everything the younger me needed back then.
And maybe that’s why I feel both sad and grateful.
Sad for the younger me who had to endure so much.
But grateful that she kept going.
Because now, finally, I can live.
So if right now you’re in any way struggling financially, always know that there is still hope. And things really do get better :)