The Circle We Built

There was a time when success felt like a distant dream… Something my friends and I spoke about with excitement over milk tea, pork adobo, and endless what-ifs. We would gather and share our visions of the future: a six-digit salary, careers that fulfilled us, lives that felt aligned, and versions of ourselves that had finally made it.

We practised interview answers as if they were spells that could summon our dream jobs. We hyped each other up before big opportunities, offered constructive feedback, dissected our strengths, and reminded each other that we were capable, even in moments of doubt.

There were frustrations and setbacks that made us question everything, but we held space for one another. We cursed our bosses while crying, grieved the losses together, celebrated the small wins as if they were monumental, and refused to let any of us stay stuck for too long.

Slowly, the things we had manifested started to unfold.

The emails that once felt out of reach arrived in our inboxes. The roles we used to dream about became part of our daily lives. We found ourselves becoming the versions of ourselves we had once only talked about.

But as we built the lives we had once dreamed of, something shifted.

We don’t see each other as often as we used to. The everyday chismis, the weekly breakfast club – once treasured routines – have slowly become a yearly get-together. Life has taken us in different directions, and while I’m endlessly proud of how far we’ve come, I can’t help but miss those days. The simplicity of dreaming together, of lifting each other up in real time, and of knowing that no matter what happened, we had each other to lean on.

Still, the bond remains.

No matter how much time passes, we’ll always have those moments. The years when we were still figuring things out, dreaming about where we wanted to be, and helping each other get there. We used to sit together and talk about the lives we hoped we’d have someday. Somehow, someday arrived. And while our lives may look different now, I’m grateful that we were there for each other while we were building them.