TESTIMONIAL: the world is now finally my playground

I can’t believe this is for real. I have all the doors in the world open to me! As I sit, 47 hours away from my flight to Brazil, I have finally realised that I can go anywhere and do anything any time! I thought that’s what university was going to do for me but I was terribly disappointed. My bachelor of arts, my 3+ languages, my government of Canada administration experience, foreign volunteer work, lawyer’s assistant and 5 years customer service haven’t been able to get me where I’ve wanted to be and my frustration and disillusionment have been the walls of my ever-shrinking my prison cell. Worst of all, the confidence that I had built over my university years was not as concrete as I had thought: as a matter of fact, it shattered as soon as the “real world” said “Hi”. In my story, this is where TESOL helped my life develop. Most people often say “changed” their life but one never knows whether change is good or bad, therefore I prefer to say TESOL helped “develop” or “evolve” what was already there.

It started in Montreal, one Wednesday November evening when I escaped from school, work and university to find an exit to my displeasure. However, the exit sign didn’t light up that Wednesday night, what did light up though were my hopes that I could find a humane shelter and understanding in ear and presence the other 16 people in my TESOL class that week. By Friday, I was living in two separate worlds: the world of TESOL, where there was a little more hope for humanity and the other world, where desperation and depression were balls and chains on the ankles of things positive, including my dreams. By Sunday, I had more confidence and belief in myself than I ever thought possible!

Furthermore, the unbreakable bonds that were made in that room during those 5 days have proven over time that no matter what walk of life you have come from, the age of your body, the scars in your soul, the language of your mother, the culture of your father, your economic status, there was something that bonded us all regardless of our personalities or ambitions: pain, suffering, understanding, compassion and hope…the last energy to have escaped from Pandora’s box. Jim, our TESOL professor, reminded us that despite the world being abundant in many ways, as well as lacking in others, there is still hope, and “we can” – regardless of what we’ve been through –abandon our balls and chains because we have the key.

For those of us in fear of investing in our own happiness, I understand but you shouldn’t be. I was because I would constantly think of others before I would think of myself. Ironically however, I can now say that I have been able to accomplish so much more and infect the world with so much more positive energy than when I put the needs of others above my own.

Lastly, happiness is a choice. Sometimes you choose to be happy or life will oblige you to choose to be happy, if not: you die, whether it be a tangible or intangible death, it happens because you’re not actually living. And really people: life was given to us for it to be lived, not suffered! So whether it’s TESOL that gets your “happiness”-ball rolling, or whether you use it as an escape, as stepping-stones, a life-line, an adventure or whether TESOL is just another planted seed that will blossom sweet fruits in time…you will realise just how great you are and how amazing your life can actually be.

Hola linda, que bello escribes :)

Let's keep in touch, cuentame como te va en Brazil WOW que la vas a pasar muy pero muy bien, sin duda alguna.

Divertete, muchos besos.

Marga