BY KLAUS DÖRING
IT’S NEVER too late – never too late to start over, never too late to be happy. The time for action is now. It’s never too late to do something. It is never too late to correct our mistakes.
I know a lot of pensioner expatriates living in the Philippines for good. Many of them have a big problem – after staying here for only a couple of months, they get bored.
Having a vacation all day, all week, all month and all year long is really not an egg’s yellow. I must confess, I experienced the same in 1999 after moving to Davao City. At that time I just turned 46.
As you move through life, it is easy to look back and regret all the dreams and goals you haven’t achieved. But it is never too late to finally go after whatever is on your heart! Every day is a fresh start to create your own second chances!
I remember my last days in an international publishing house in Berlin. I packed up my things after signing my resignation letter. Of course, I hadn’’t reached my final pension age yet, but I got a lot of ideas on how to shape and organize my “new” life in the Philippines. I never forgot some office mates smiling at me: “We can’t cross such bridges before we come to them!” Of course guys, you have been right!
Anyway, age doesn’t matter – you can enjoy the second half of your life residing in the Philippines. As many of you know already: I stayed in many countries worldwide. I could have migrated to the US. I didn’t. I chose the Philippines. Most important thing is: Keep yourself busy.
Getting bored means also for some to start grumbling and complaining about everything and everybody in the Philippines. I always keep my distance from such negative people. We are not here to change this country and its people. Why? What for? Filipinos are also not planning to change our home countries.
I really don’t have more stress than I had in my home country before. Critics reproach and accuse me of living a life as an expatriate while wearing pink tinted glasses. Sorry, but my conscience is very clear.
I keep myself busy, too busy sometimes: Teaching, translating, writing, on the radio, and many more things; but I always find time for short vacations. It’s never too late. It’s your life! Take your chance and enjoy life in the Philippines. And, stay away from grumblers and grouses.
“It is never too late, no matter how old you get because anytime or at any point in your life you can always have a chance to make a difference. You can always make a change for the better no matter what background you derived from. You can always do your best and be all that you can be because you will always be uniquely you. It is why it is always wise to listen to your eternal heart, your eternal instincts, and what it has always strove for and/or to do because really anybody can make a difference not only in their own lives but in the lives of others. It is never too late to shine; never.” – George Eliot wrote this.
George Eliot is the pseudonym created in 1857 by the aspiring writer Marian Evans. In a letter to her publisher William Blackwood, Evans suggested that the name George Eliot should be assigned to her work in place of her own.
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Email: doringklaus@gmail.com or follow me in Facebook or LinkedIn or visit www.germanexpatinthephilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blog pot.com/PN
