Many of us may have experienced difficulties in life, I've known many who almost gave up for they don’t see any more reasons to go on but just yesterday I met one who has a different attitude against life, a different perspective –for her everything is a game, a beautiful experience, an experiment and just like what she said “in life even the saddest moment is interesting, we just need to look in another angle”

 17 years old from Tarlac City, Rogelalyn Teodoro or most commonly called roj by her friends; at first you’ll think that she’s just an ordinary grade conscious walking bookworm who only does was to read books and study all the time but as you get to know and talk to her you’ll be surprised that she’s not the typical boring girl that you thought she is, contradictory to what she looks like – she is actually a cheerful, funny girl who loves to read manga and watch anime with an action and adventure type themes, she doesn't study on her vacant times –she draw! Not the digestive system or such but an anime character!  And just like any other normal Filipina she loves to eat!

Having these traits, you probably would have thought that roj had a  wonderful childhood, well she does but she had experiences that not all ordinary teens had.

 Roj's family originated from Tarlac City, they were eight in the family consisting of her parents and her five siblings -she was the third child of her parents. 

 Roj grew on a well-off family, they owned five grocery stores along their area and a small peanut stand in a marketplace, She was five when their family business started to weaken and eventually sink. Because of this incident, they were forced to transfer to Paniqui, Tarlac where her aunt lives and let them sleep on the banquets. Her whole family stayed there for nights until her aunt give them money to start again. 

 Roj's parents used the money to start a new business in Paniqui and got lucky! Now their family owns a house,cars and they each have motorcycles. Many may be ashamed of this experience but roj being roj, she looks proud while saying it and she’d never took it as a NEGATIVE as I quote  “Optimistic. Yung experience na yun ay something new. Interesting. Always Positive.”

As a normal teen, we've had our own different encounters and to lighten the mood of our short interview I asked her to share some of her exciting experiences.

When she was in grade four, her family decided for a vacation going to Bacolod and whiles on board the sudden change of the weather made their ride bumpy and rough and that was her scariest experience so far. Roj won a singing contest when she was ten years old on a Fiesta in Bacolod and for her it was the silliest thing she’d ever done because it was her parent’s decision. 

 She hadn't done anything naughty yet because she was the type who doesn't break the rules though when she was in her fourth year in high school she felt that she disappointed her parents when she was assigned to be seated at the back of their class for having low grades. She doesn't have any sad experience because for her everything is positive, everything is interesting.The happiest memory for her was when they regained their contact to her older sister who was based in California, seeing her family happy makes her happy too.

In five years, Roj wasn't expecting too much change in her life yet but she picture herself as a part time professor in any university while taking her Masters in Business law, maybe to try her luck in the business world.


Life is hard! But you are not the only one. Encountering depressing incidents is a natural, do not sultry! The world is beautiful for us to see, it won’t be fatal for us to enjoy and explore the world. Over thinking things won’t help us resolve problems, thus brings wrinkles and fine lines. Let us use our down moments to lift us up and enjoy our lives as long we can!