I AM

What Do You Fear? I Say Snake

I remember our teacher in Personal Development once said that the first emotion we feel is fear, that’s why we cry the moment we are born.

And for me, fear has always been my first response whenever life feels uncertain.

What do we really fear?

Frogs?

Snakes?

Cockroaches?

Eating vegetables?

Or is there something deeper we’re trying not to hold?

For someone who didn’t grow up with generational wealth, someone whose only real privilege is education, the only way to escape poverty, the future is what scares me the most.

What if, after all the pain, struggles, and giving one hundred percent of my effort, I still end up with a life I never wanted?

Honestly, I don’t even have a fixed dream.

Engineer? Nah.

Accountant? Literally nah.

Actress? Big nah.

But one thing I know, I want to be financially stable.

I want to give my parents the life they never had.

And when I finally start winning in life, I hope my parents are still there to see it. To feel it. To say,

“She made it.”

“We made it.”

Death isn’t really scary for me. I know it will come eventually.

But to die without ever reaching the future I’ve been fighting for?

That’s what scares me.

I pray that when my time to succeed comes, God removes distractions, especially love, because I know I can’t afford to choose it over my dreams.

“Pag-ibig ay lason sa babaeng punong-puno ng pangarap.”

From a young kid full of hope and dreams, ambition has always been the priority. People who grew up with a golden spoon may never understand what it feels like to rely on education, not to impress others, but just to have a chance at winning in life.

So again—

“What do you fear?”

For me, it’s not snakes.

It’s the fear of not becoming who I’m meant to be…

and ending up as the person I am today.

But they wouldn’t understand.

So I just say—

“Snake.”