The Balls to Follow the Bliss

UP Oblation with Sablay by Phillip Kimpo Jr.

The UP Oblation wearing the sablay.

Amidst the flurry of literary contests and omnipresent work, I’m glad I was able to pin down this day — April 23 — as a day important enough to be written about.

It helped that the world dropped me not-so-subtle hints for the past weeks. Towards the end of March, the marching music emanating from the public elementary school a block away from our house was the first clue. The TV adverts with toga-wearing teens were the second. The sunflowers tirelessly waving hi (or f*ck-you, depending on your world view) and lining UP Diliman’s University Avenue were another. Just two days ago, the last hint beeped me into complete awareness — an SMS message from a dear UP friend and classmate, inviting me to his grad dinner.

Yes, you got it right — last year, April 23, 2006, I graduated from college, from childhood, and from a life guided in part by exam grades and semestral marks, all in one fell swoop. It was like emerging anew from the womb, where all men begin their lives enjoying warmth, comfort, and security in its confines. Yet, the womb is a place that confines.

So, how was my first year of being an out-of-school youth? (Oops, wrong wording.) To put it in three analogies:

The feeling a Catholic gets when he confesses his sins to a priest after ten years of self-confession (or worse, non-confession).
The feeling a child gets when he hits the “teen” years, which are nothing more than fancy kilometer signs down the road.
The feeling a man gets when he slips off the condom and does It without it for the first time after countless sensation-less nights.

The three analogies in three words:

I
am
happy.

Not perfectly happy; humans find all sorts of ways to destroy their own happiness, as is the case with me. The past year could’ve been better; still, I’m mightily pleased with it.

All because I chose to do what I wanted to do, to heck with the fact that almost all of my batch mates entered multinational companies, sported job titles that befit a UP Computer Science graduate, got assured of benefits a freelancer like me can only dream of, and even earned numerous trips abroad while I never left the house.

I chose to do what I wanted to do — write.

Now, I’m looking back at a year that produced my biggest volume of written works, refined my wordsmithing, and hammered out my perspective on what a Filipino writer should be (in a gist: go ahead, write fantasy, write flowery poetry, write fan fiction, but don’t forget to write Third World literature from time to time). It was my first year of taking lit submissions seriously, and I was rewarded with two print publications.

Did those make me the quintessential starving artist? (Un)fortunately, no. My young career as work-at-home freelance writer and “professional blogger” earns me a salary at par with my magna cum laude classmates in those globe-spanning companies. As my partner-in-crime Ia puts it, it’s unbelievable that jobs on the Net are dropping on our laps like crazy, so much so that we have to reject them more than we accept them. I also opened almost a dozen websites in the past year and might soon employ people to manage some of the sites, which means I’m a pseudo business owner.

Have I been lucky? Oh yes, I’ve been. But Lady Luck wouldn’t have smiled at me if I didn’t take the risk in the first place. When Eric Isaac, owner of the Philippines’ Photo Blog of the Year, invited Ia and I to lunch last Friday, he gave a reason much more logical than mere luck: “Because you followed your bliss.”

“Follow your bliss” is the famous, powerful, wonderful philosophy attributed to the writer Joseph Campbell, and it goes as such:

If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are — if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time. (Source)

My bliss is writing; I followed its call, and I was rewarded. How I wish I did so much sooner.

Back in my UP days, I used school, student org, and part-time work as excuses not to write, not to join contests, not to submit to publications. I had the “There would be much time later” mentality. I wanted to shift to Creative Writing, Journalism, or Comparative Literature, but did not, being as stubborn as Taureans ought to be. I was a student under three accomplished literary figures (Paolo Manalo, Luna Sicat-Cleto, Marby Villaceran) for three elective classes but became content with passively receiving lessons. Of course, those might’ve been signs of confidence, but I’d like to see them as procrastination…and cowardice.

The University was the perfect place to follow my bliss. I didn’t. I didn’t have the balls to do so. I followed the course curriculum, the student org constitution, the route of the UP Ikot jeepney, the flow of the river.

Now, I’m giving my muse the attention she deserves. My consolation is that I didn’t repeat my collegiate mistakes when I graduated last year. I’ve also proven that art and work can mix and mix well, which happens when both are founded upon one talent; in my case, writing.

To end this piece, I’ll share some unsolicited advice. If you’re still in school and have plenty of years to invest in, grab all the opportunities around you by the throat. If, like me a year ago, you have just squeezed yourself out of the womb, don’t rush headlong into a world already painted by others. There is another world which you can paint yourself. Start a business, design websites, form a band, draw comics, write. Follow your bliss. Don’t wait for the doctor to hold you upside down by the feet and slap your newborn butt. (Unless you’re sadomasochist, of course.)

I’m looking forward to 2008’s April 23. Hopefully, I would again be writing about the year that was — this coming year — in favorable terms.

28 comments so far. Subscribe to comments feed.

grab all the opportunities around you by the throat

that is my bliss. or something close to it. it isn’t a defined profession/career/racket. it’s something more of an encompassing adjective to describe the want and need to see more, do more.

that goes without saying it takes more than this track to do that.

“If it’s moving, it’s safe to say it is dangerous.” That’s pretty much it for my balls.

“If it involves the maximum pleasure for the least amount of effort, it’s good.” That’s it for my bliss. ^_^

Having been a Catholic believer before, I suppose it is as uplifting as a much-needed confession long overdue. Or hitting the teen years.

I have no idea what condoms or “sensations” are, though ^_^

ia, what then are the possible tracks you feel will lead you to your bliss? :P

mavi, i like your bliss. though i guess i exert too much effort because it gives me a skewed sense of ‘achievement’, haha!

hey, congratulations again! :)

My young career as work-at-home freelance writer and â€œprofessional bloggerâ€ earns me a salary at par with my magna cum laude classmates in those globe-spanning companies.

take that hp! you too png! hehehe! pero malay natin yun bliss nila diba? I know people who just want to make money, raise a family, and that’s it. I used to envy them sometimes.

To be honest I don’t know exactly what my ‘bliss’ is. But I sure am happy in P&G (take that Garro! hehehe)

Although I do like learning new skills and stuff. For example, I know I am not a good writer, but at least I am confident that I have the ~~basic~~ skill to write. Same goes for fencing, archery, swimming, working out, giving speech, etc. Does that count as a bliss? Hehe

Hmmm… condom? sensation? ;)

garro, true. many people hold corporate jobs as their bliss, and that is perfectly reasonable, too. each to his own. after all, many people who reach the zenith of corporate success manage to branch out and explore their other skills later in their lives, and as they say, better late than never :)

geo, i can’t say what your bliss is, but if i’m to hazard a guess, i think you enjoy learning new abilities and being successful with them, or at least, using them to piece together a wildly successful person and career (which i believe you’re really close to achieving).

being your friend of 5 years already, i know that once you put your heart into mastering something, you *will* master it. come on, how else can an outstanding academic student be an award-winning athlete as well, not to mention the guiding force of a student body? :P it’s called “oozing with talent”, geo. and i hope i’m not making your head balloon so much, mweheh.

(on a side note, now i’m regretting writing that condom analogy. haha.)

uh, i meant that the bliss is not a profession or a specific track. it’s what you make of it. for me, it’s the process of taking those tracks. get it?

oh my God, HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR HEAR.

Follow it before it’s goddamned too late, when you have to make plenty of sacrifices just to achieve it. Have the balls to pursue your bliss.

ANAK KA NG TATAY MO HP KA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I really would love to say that for 1 year now)

Wait a minute, I do not believe in God, do I? :)

got it, ia. :P

ardz, hinay hinay lang! hehe. it’s better late than never, and at least you just spent one year, right? somehow, your stay at an MNC also gave you a peek into how to run your own business…or at the very least, stoked the fire within you to get out of the prison ;)

grabe naman yan! at least aircon dun. :(

ia, my ‘home office’ is airconditioned, too :P though it can’t defeat the insanely warm temperatures these past days. bili na kasi ng aircon, hehe.

@corsarius - Now that’s the very reason why I love being your friend! hahaha But thanks, that really means a lot (although I can’t stop my head from bloating while reading that. Pheew!). And I also feel happy and proud that I am surrounded with talented and successful friends. =)

@ardee - who’s your manager? Haha

My daughter can surely relate with this. The previous week was kinda hellish for both of us as we sought her dad’s consent for her to enrol in a school she preferred to take up the course that her heart desired. Thankfully, her dad finally gave the go sign.

Congratulations, Corsarius! Your life is unfolding before you! Cheers!

@Geo: oof. haha. :D

@Geo, Kimpo, Ia: was gonna post another comment but it kept getting longer so just check it out here. hehe.

geo, i think “successful friend” doesn’t apply to me. yet. i think i’ve got too high a standard for ’success’. hehehe.

garro, alrighty then! *troops to tabulas*

rhodora, thank you very much! :) i just hope my being a slacker from time to time doesn’t derail me that much.

i’m glad to hear that the week ended in swell fashion for you and your daughter. it’s just one of the early chapters in her road to Bliss, but with determination and you by her side, i am sure she’ll reach her Bliss, soon. please extend my well-wishes to her. good luck to both of you! :D

great that you went for it right after college, philip! i did only when i turned 30, and that meant a steep pay cut, since writing would never pay the way my former corporate life did. but am i happy with my decision? never been happier! poorer but, yeah, more blissful. i can relate, like, totally. :) you’ve a great future ahead of you, man. never waver. :)

whatever makes you happy as long as you’re productive… money is not all that matters.

hey! just checking up on what’s been happening to you lately. so happy to see, or read, rather, that you are happy. stay happy ha. i’m saying this because staying happy is a choice you make… so always CHOOSE to be happy. =) anyway, i’m in a bit of a hurry. drop me an email when you can. kwento!kwento! ingat! >.

gibbs, thanks for the encouragement. it means a lot to me ;) and i’m glad to hear that you’ve also followed your bliss — heck, it shouldn’t have been a surprise, after all, we’re both in the Arts, hehe!

tita bing, thank you for the great advice :)

miniq, long time no hear/see ah! how’s life? how’s the young career? hope everything’s all right with you and your family :) i’ll email you soon!

(daan ka naman ulit, hahaha.)

[...] First, it doesnâ€™t help that May 10 is hemmed in by April 23, the day I decided to follow my bliss, and May 17, the day I took the first step to follow that bliss. Iâ€™ve already written about the (self-)fuss over April 23, so itâ€™s May 17â€™s turn to unabashedly bask in the spotlight. [...]

[...] I’m glad he ain’t as melancholic as he once was now that he’s doing what he has set out to do—with a passion that has sustained him all throughout. [...]

To find out what you love to do demands a great deal of intelligence; because, if you are afraid of not being able to earn a livelihood, or of not fitting into this rotten society, then you will never find. But,if you are not frightened, if you refuse to be pushed into the groove of tradition by your parents, by your teachers, by the superficial demands of society, then there is a possibility of discovering what it is you really love to do. So, to discover, there must be no fear of not surviving.
J. Krishnamurti

fredda, thank you very much for that gem of a quote. especially this line: “So, to discover, there must be no fear of not surviving.” more scaffolding to support the tower of thought that is Following One’s Bliss. :)

Well. It never ceases to surprise me when I find out I have somehow managed to drop a pebble that would create ripples in a student’s life. Okay, that sounds like glorifying myself, but still. Thanks. This reminds me why I got into teaching and writing in the first place.

hi ma’am, thanks a lot for the visit and the comment :) i was just under your class for one summer term, but the short course was enough to make a huge difference. back then, i didn’t fully appreciate the impact of the class. i knew that it would help me, but not that it would actually lay the foundation for my writing ‘career’ (i was still undecided as to what path i would take after college).

again, thank you ;)

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