I went out on Wednesday with my new friend Rachael, she moved here in Manila from Ireland of all places!! It feels a little weird because her parents are replacing the exact same job that my last best friend’s parents were in. I don’t want my old best friend (who moved away now) to feel like I’m now best friends with her replacement, but alas I think it should be fine. I took Rachael to the high street, it was her first time on the streets of Manila. We had a great time and bonded over books and takoyaki. I live an hour commute from her via the train, so I asked her parents to drop me off at the train station closest to where we were at the time. They dropped me off across the road from the station, it was 9:20 at night and the train closes at 10pm.

Great. Gotta get there fast I thought.

The problem was, the AH26 highway was in-between me and the steps going up to the train station. Well, quoting the famous words of We’re going on a bear hunt: “We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it, oh no, we’ve got to go through it!”

I must’ve stood there for 5 minutes, trying to cross the road when I realised I would have to book it across the road and hope for the best (yes not the best intuition I had but I was despereate). My phone was dead I wouldn’t be able to get home any other way if I missed this train. I prayed, like an idiot. Like who prays to cross the road, but I did. I finish and look across the road, inching slightly forward. That’s when I notice a light flashing in my direction from down the street, it’s a man holding his phone light up. I ignore it at first, then I hear him calling out to me. I decide to walk up to him despite stranger danger, and as I do, I see him frantically pointing at the staircase up the road. I would’ve crossed that road, it would’ve been really dangerous and nobody would’ve seen me at night, but this man cared enough to point me in the right direction. I frantically thanked him back and walked towards what I thought was the staircase and he stopped me again to pointed me to the right direction. In my state of panic and stress, I felt so much relief and gratitude that I did not need to, in fact, cross a literal highway to get to where I needed to be.

Coincidence, sheer luck, kindness of mankind? These are all words used to describe this sort of situation, and it makes sense. Or… you can be weird like me, who feels that there is someone out there who is watching over me. I don’t argue and debate about my religion with people, because I agree, it is based off of lies and unreliable sources. However, I feel in myself that there is someone, something, out there that plays a much bigger role in life than I realised. The times I was the lowest, is when I stopped believing, because surprisingly, believing that this life matters gives you hope. So I don’t care if you believe in 3 gods or 1, or even in Pastafarianism (one of my favs), but believe in something that gives life it’s purpose.

Put simply, start to slowly believe that your life matters.

Note: this was one of many disasters of getting home that night, which is why the whole thing was called getting lost lol.