September arrived to me with an unexpected surprise (and no, this isn't the type of surprise you've always been thinking!).  During the last week of August, I was asked by my former journalism professor, Ma'am Cez Villegas, and URS Angono Extension Unit head, Ma'am Annie Balbuena if I could serve as a lecturer/ resource speaker for the training for school paper advisers organized by the DepEd Sub-Office in my hometown. Knowing Ma'am Cez and Ma'am Annie, it was an opportunity that I simply couldn't say no to. 

Days before the event, I was getting cold feet, and having mixed emotions about the lecture. Despite my experience in campus journalism as a former campus paper editor, and serving as a keynote speaker during an event in my alma mater nine years ago, being a resource speaker at the school paper adviser's training seminar was something I see as an "unfamiliar territory". 

However, Ma'am Cez advised me that the lecture will serve more of a refresher training for the participants for upcoming competitions so I shouldn't be too worried. Another former editor, Batch even told me to stop stressing about it, and they were actually right. As candid as it is, at the end of my lecture, the teachers were laughing with me when I said I spent two sleepless nights worrying too much if the 24 slides will be covered within the allotted one hour. 

It turned out that I worried for nothing because I was able to discuss everything in just 35 minutes. I even prepared notes in case I get lost for words because I was sleep deprived a couple of days before the event, but in the end, I didn't get to use it. The whole lecture proper went smoothly, and the ice breaker activity that I did before the discussion made it a fun-filled session. The participants showed wit and knowledge when I went through the opinion column and editorial articles they submitted during the training's workshop part.

While accepting the role of lecturer was a nerve-wracking experience at first, I must admit that at the end of the day, it also left me with a sense of fulfillment. I conquered my fear of public speaking, and the presence of supportive mentors, colleagues and friends kept my anxiety at bay. In particular, my friend Diane, who kept her presence felt through our numerous exchange of messages on Instagram. Her words of encouragement (and the surprising gesture that only the two of us knew about!) and the advice that I will be teaching from experience and that everything will come out naturally, surprisingly was true.

Coming home after the training workshop, I came to realize, indeed, when God put you in it, He will surely help you through it. To train a new and younger batch of publication advisers was something I never planned or even dreamed of, but just like what Diane said, "they won't pick you if they don't believe you could do it." And when I think of it, maybe, this is also God's way of giving an answer during all those nights that I prayed to Him to help me find my place and purpose in this world.