When I was in my third year in college, we were deployed at our partner-school to be a student

teacher. I feel the excitement to practice the theories and skills I learned. I remember that I always have
a smile on my face whenever I go to school which my co-STs always wondered why am I like that, maybe
because I love my job and I have a passion for it. But, everything has changed when I graduated and had
my first teaching job. I’ve been in the field for two years, at first, I still have that eagerness and passion
when I am still an ST and my mindset back then is that I can sustain that passion for a long time. Months
had passed, I feel a decline on my energy and passion and there was a time that I always question my
knowledge, my skills and myself. What’s on my mind since then is just to do my job as a teacher and to
help my family financially. With that mindset, I always feel drained and burned out whenever I go home.
And until now, I still have that questions with me.

One day, I was browsing the internet finding seminars that will help me grow in my field and try
to revive that passion within me, until I have watched a YouTube video regarding the free webinars and
courses online that will benefit teachers. There I have discovered about the SEAMEO Innotech’s MOOC
and I enrolled myself to their courses. One of the activities on that course is thinking about your
enablers of passion, and that made me realized that during my two-year journey as a teacher, I have
these enablers that I didn’t give attention before. These enablers are what I always taken for granted
and didn’t give enough appreciation – my family, goals and God.

Since my mindset before is to help my family financially, it really affects my passion because my
mind was set just to work harder and making myself a robot that will do the exact same thing everyday,
resulting burn-out; I always set goals for myself but not doing my best to fulfill it. It’s like making a meal
for lunch and making another meal for dinner without finishing the first prepared meal first; and since I
started my job, it feels like I lost my routine in putting God first and setting goal first over God.

These are my enablers that I always overlooked. It made me realized that even though I
continuously forgot them, they are always at my back supporting me and giving the strength I need. In
this trying time, I have this feeling that my passion in teaching is still burning in my heart and waiting for
something that will trigger the fire in my heart. And I believe that I already found these enablers that will
make my passion for teaching grow bigger again. My advice to the first timers in the field, don’t let that
fire in your heart extinguish. Whenever you feel tired and worthless, it’s okay to pause and still do your
best to mission as an educator.