In this powerful and deeply personal episode on The More Than Your Age Podcast, host Erica Pasvar chats with Ellen Buchanan who shares her remarkable transformation from a high-achieving corporate professional to a full-time traveler, wellness advocate, and creative entrepreneur. Born in the Philippines, Ellen’s global journey spans multiple countries and career shifts—including years in the hospitality industry with Hilton and launching her own real estate staging business.
Ellen opens up about her emotional experience navigating the reality that motherhood wasn’t an option, embracing cultural expectations, and the healing role of therapy. She talks candidly about experiencing burnout, feeling stuck in her 40s and 50s, and how relocating to the Philippines with her husband sparked a fresh start and renewed purpose.
Today, Ellen is building a wellness sanctuary for locals and travelers, channeling her passion for health, slow living, and community. This episode is a must-listen for women navigating midlife reinvention, searching for deeper meaning, and ready to embrace a life of intentional adventure and authentic joy.
Whether you’re feeling stuck in your career, reevaluating motherhood, or simply craving a more meaningful life, Ellen’s story will inspire you to take the leap—no matter your age or circumstances.
Takeaways:
🌏 Global Living & Cultural Adaptation: Ellen’s international journey shows how relocating abroad can lead to powerful personal transformation.
🚪 Career Reinvention at Midlife: From corporate burnout to entrepreneurship, Ellen proves it’s never too late to start over professionally.
💡 Rediscovering Purpose Through Passion Projects: Launching a real estate staging business helped Ellen reignite her creativity and confidence.
🧘 Wellness & Minimalist Living: Ellen now prioritizes holistic wellness, mindfulness, and building a healing space for others.
👩❤️👨 Marriage, Support & Shared Dreams: Her husband’s support played a pivotal role in making their dream life abroad a reality.
🧠 Therapy as a Tool for Clarity: Therapy helped Ellen process the emotional weight of choosing her marriage when motherhood no longer became a reality.
🌱 Embracing Uncertainty: Ellen encourages women to embrace the unknown, take risks, and not let age or fear hold them back.
🔄 The Power of Pausing & Reflecting: Life transitions often require intentional rest, reflection, and realignment.
💬 Mentorship & Community Impact: Ellen’s story underscores the importance of guidance, connection, and giving back.
🧳 Intentional Travel: Ellen and her husband’s minimalist travel lifestyle demonstrates the joy of living simply and fully.
👉 Connect with Ellen:
👉 Connect with Erica:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Are you in a position where you're defined by your age and
that's limiting you to pursue a dream or goal you want to
accomplish? The More Than Your Age podcast
is about having conversations with women who fully live their
lives without being dictated or defined by their age.
This is a space to encourage women who fill blocks to pursue
(00:25):
a dream or goal based on their life circumstances.
Welcome to the More than your Age podcast.
I am your host Erica Pasbard. Let's start living life fully
and become more than your age. Welcome back to the More Than
(00:48):
Your Age podcast. It has been a minute since I've
recorded an intro for you, so ifyou are new, welcome.
So glad to have you here. If you've been around, thank you
so much for being a loyal listener.
And if you are semi new, yay. It brings me so much joy to have
you along as a listener. If you are hearing a noise in
the background, it is because mybaby is here with me and she's
(01:10):
awake and this was the time I could record.
So that's just how it is, but I wanted to ask you, please do a
huge favor. Would you please leave a five
star review for the podcast? And if you are listening to the
podcast on an app where you can write a review, you're writing
reviews. Your ratings are huge for me,
(01:32):
they're huge for the show. It somehow in the algorithm
world, it pushes the podcast outto people who may never hear of
it. So if you could do that, pause
the app, write a review, that would be huge.
And if you could share the podcast with a friend, think of
1 friend who you think would love to hear an encouraging
(01:54):
story and just say, hey, this isa podcast I love.
I would love to have you listen to it or share on social media.
Either way, anything that you doto help the podcast grow, I
would greatly appreciate it. I can't wait for you to listen
to this episode. I love this guest Ellen.
She is so sweet and it was cool how we connected over social
(02:16):
media and they heard hear the baby talk.
I'm not going to edit that out. This is how it is right now.
But Ellen is just a really cool woman and her story is super
fascinating. I love when we first chatted
beforehand, she was like, I lovethe podcast.
And she told me a little bit about her story.
And I said, wait a second, Ellen, I think I need to have
you on the podcast. And she was like, what?
(02:39):
No way. And her story fits right in.
So I can't wait for you to listen to Ellen's story.
Super cool story, great woman, and thanks for listening along.
Enjoy the show. Hello Ellen Buchanan, welcome to
the More Than Your Age podcast. Hi, thank you so much for having
me. I'm so happy to have you.
(03:01):
For the listeners, Ellen is coming all the way from the
Philippines. It is 6:30 in the morning, her
time, 4:30 PM my time. And we may hear some Roosters
crowing in the background. We already heard one before the
recording. Well, Ellen, I have enjoyed just
watching some of your adventuresfrom social media.
(03:22):
I love your current season in life and this life on pause as
you quote and just what you're embracing right now.
So for the listeners, you grew up in the Philippines and you
moved abroad at the age of 21. Why did you decide to move
abroad and leave your home country?
(03:42):
Hello everybody. Before anything else, yes, my
name is Ellen Buchanan and I am Canadian, but I was born and
raised in the Philippines. It's it's basically economics.
You know how it is like it's part of our culture that when in
the Philippines as a child, mostduring the year, during my time,
(04:07):
it has changed now and it's, it's you go to school.
It's you know, the progression is you go to school, you finish
your degree and then as as part of the final family dynamics,
you will, if you can find employment or, or adventure
somewhere else. And for me, it's, it's partly,
(04:30):
it's partly of that a mindset. And also I'm very adventurous by
heart. So at the young age, it's funny.
I'll tell you a story. At nine years old, I envision
myself that I will be living in a Western world.
They'll be married to a Caucasian, Caucasian and I'll be
(04:51):
part of the one with the one of the biggest company in the
world, which is it happened. So at nine years old, I saw
myself. So yeah.
And growing up in our in, in thePhilippines, I always loved the
idea of exploring like the Western countries for some
(05:11):
reason. And I, I'm exposed to, you know,
English music, English movies and I love to read books.
So at young age I have that thatmight of adventure and exploring
and, and through books. You can't do that as a child.
(05:33):
Like I, I was born in a very modest family.
I have three sisters, actually two sisters.
And then now we have 2. We're very close, but my mom and
my dad kind of like got separated when we were young.
So at the young age I have a responsibility of looking after
my, my younger sister because myeldest sister during that time,
(05:57):
she got married early. So she kind of like got
separated. So our family dynamics, I don't
know if you're familiar with the, you know, the Asian
culture, they're we're very close knit family.
So it's normal to help each other in a way that like what if
you're a older sibling? You look after the young ones
and, and at the same time you, you look after yourself.
(06:20):
So at the young age, I was giventhat responsibility of, you
know, being a breadwinner, as wecall it.
And, and that's one of the reasons why, you know what I'll,
I'll explore at the same time toenhance myself and at the same
time to help my family. So that's the reason why at the,
at the age of 21, after graduating from university, I
(06:45):
went to Dubai. That's my first job outside of
the Philippines. But I have been, I've been
working within the Philippines during the university days.
But you know, it's not like, youknow, you're away from home, you
have no parents, You're, you're on your own.
Basically your decision. You're, you're, you're on your
own. So it was such, such an mind
opening experience for me and I learned a lot, you know,
(07:09):
embracing different culture. Dubai is different.
And during the time it was the 90s, it's not a Dubai that we
know today. And it's, it's still
predominantly very conservative.There's it's not as modern and
and progressive like today. So we've seen we've seen the the
(07:30):
city grow like that. So it was such an eye opening
experience for me to learn coming from, you know, a
different culture and engage andemerge in that that community
and and society. So I've definitely learned a lot
and it's a start. It's a start of what me having
an itchy feed and explore more. Yeah, well, and it's so
(07:53):
interesting too how you said that at 9 you kind of had this
idea of of, of where you would live and where you would work
and being who you would be married to.
And, you know, then that is giving you this edge to travel.
And so you do travel. You go to Dubai when you, you
know, told your family I'm leaving and I'm going to a
(08:14):
different country. How was their response towards
that? But you know, you're 21 and my,
my family is kind of like reallywhat, why?
And I said, well, to explore andI always been a very adventurous
and as probably my cousins and my aunts are or my mother would
(08:37):
say, like I'm kind of like a rebel at that point.
And it's just like, let's do this.
Otherwise, like I don't really get stuck here.
And it's in our culture, it kindof like it's, it's a norm, but
still as parents and like my ceilings, like they feel sad
because you basically cut off your history and you start all
(08:58):
over again. Whether you move to the next
town or the next city, you're kind of you're leaving behind
your, your friends, your, your, your, your, your family.
And so it it's it's, it's a nerve wracking and my family
feel the same way because it's safety.
(09:18):
I'm a woman. You know how it is.
You don't know you don't know what's what's going on out
there. And it's our brain that usually
like constantly in, you know, anxiety mode when you don't,
especially for parents, obviously.
And I'm sure a lot of parents listening, they feel the same
way when their child's leaving the nest and moving on unless
they want to kick them out and say, go ahead, explore, it's
(09:43):
your time to go. But as parents, I'm sure you
have kids, right? And it will be one of those
moments in your life probably that when they said to you, hey,
mom, I'm I'm moving out. Sayonara, see you later.
And it's the anxiety of as a parent and siblings that they
(10:05):
constantly worry. But you know what it's you just
have to do it and and pray that everything is going to be OK and
then that I'll make a good decision.
Yeah. Did you, when you when you moved
to Dubai, did you already have ajob there or did you go there?
Oh, you did OK. I do.
(10:25):
It's a, it's a yeah, it's already a contract.
I was a manager at the young age.
I was a manager for. Actually, it's McDonald's USA
linked to McDonald's Emirates. You know, during that time,
McDonald's is expanding around the world and we are the few
people that get hired to start the operations in, in, in UAE.
And it was such a blast. Like, you know, you're young,
(10:47):
you're, you have this huge responsibility.
At the same time, you're, you, you want to experience life.
And there are some, you know, there are some instances like
you like close to restaurants with your team at like 5.
Let's say actually around 2:00 AM you go party because in
Dubai, women to get into clubs or to any night, nightlife
(11:10):
establishment, they're free the women, but then the men have to
pay in a way that, you know, they cover, like the cover
charges. Basically, women can just go in
and enjoy. And my, my girlfriends, my, my
team usually and mostly women, all we want to do is just burn
off the energy and dance and we don't drink.
I don't actually drink during the time.
(11:32):
And like for me, alcohol, it's like who, who, who drink this?
It's disgusting. But you know, that's, that's our
workout and we go home and we shower, change to a new uniform
and then go back to work and open the restaurants.
Like, you know, things like thatwhen you're young, the things
that you do, I'm telling you amazing.
(11:53):
And I was like, no, wait, I'll be in bed at 8:30.
That's so funny. OK so you worked in Dubai for
about 3 years and then you travelled and lived in Thailand
and Malaysia as well? And am I missing any other place
before moving to Canada? I live in Mauritius as well.
So back story about that is so when after my contract in Dubai,
(12:15):
I went home and said this is thetime like, you know, you sit
back and say, OK, what's my nextmove?
So I finished my contract and during the time really I'm
thinking is I will, I want to emigrate to any speaking
countries. Sorry, English speaking
countries like us is obviously the first because we have a very
(12:35):
strong first choice, because we have a strong connection with
the Philippines. So US is the first UK,
Australia. It's in, in kind of like my, my
mind. And then a friend of mine who
are you was close with. I met in Dubai.
They immigrated to Canada and we're kind of like, you know,
when you're one day you're like,kind of like scrolling your
(12:55):
e-mail and seeing like who wherethe people that you used to hang
out with. And, and he sent me an e-mail
with his wife is a a good friendof mine as well.
And he said, what are you doing?What are you up to?
I said like, oh, I, I actually kind of like started working for
an American company. It was based in Mandela during
the time. Great team.
(13:15):
I mean, learned a lot from them too.
And I said, like, well, I'm working.
I'm just like, you know, flying or planning to, to figure out
what's my next move. And he said, why don't you visit
Canada? It's like Canada, it's cold
there. It's like coming the summer.
So I did visited and I said, Oh,can I can do this.
(13:37):
So it's just summer time. So I said like, I can do this.
And then when I get back, so when I got back to the
Philippines, so I, I think I wasthere for two weeks and then
when I get back, I said I will apply for immigration.
So I put in my paper just hopinglike like a spaghetti stick to
the wall. I said like hoping and during
the time I think there was the late 90s, so you know, when the
(14:00):
government has like new, new government came in and there's a
lot of changes and everything and they need new people coming
into the country. And I got lucky.
I, my application got through. And then during the time at the
same time, this is like happening when you were young,
like all the things happening inyour life.
At the same time, I met a gentleman that we kind of like
(14:23):
decided like, you know what, let's travel together.
And he's British and he's such an amazing guy.
He taught me a lot about everything at the young age.
He's kind of like become a mentor at the same time, he's my
partner during the time. So he said, why don't you hold
off and you know, whatever you're doing in terms of career
(14:43):
and everything and travel with me.
So like, OK, I have a little bitof savings that I, you know, and
then we, we bought a sailing yacht.
Oh. Yes, we did.
And so his work during the time I didn't realize that you can
actually work like contracts fordifferent companies and
everything. That's what he does.
(15:04):
He actually he did. He worked for an an American
company, IMG, which is based in New York and but he's connected
to the office in Singapore. What they do is they build golf
courses and plan it. So he's one of the project
(15:24):
managers. So he moved to a different
places so and, and he said, OK, why don't we buy a sailing yet?
And then we're going to go to Malaysia.
That's our home base basically. So we have our boat in Malaysia
and then every time he has a project, I'm part of his team.
So part of his contract. So he'll, I'll go with him and
we, we do projects from different places, at two
(15:47):
different places. And then I was, so we did
project in Thailand, we did project in Mauritius and then we
were in Dubai again, we were in Abu Dhabi and then we were in
the Philippines at one point. And so during the time we had an
opportunity to travel as well. And he's the one actually, he
taught me to like do it, do travel, explore even more.
(16:09):
So it adds on to that, to that curiosity that I have as a young
child to really explore what's what's like, you know, it's such
a big world out there, you know,growing up in in an island that,
you know, when we look at our surrounding, it's just you feel
like we're so tiny in this amazing world and like we're
just, you know, a dot. But, and as a child and plus,
(16:31):
you know, I read a lot of books and like, I want to experience
that I wanted. And it's, so it pushes more of
that desire to really experiencewhat's out there and what's the
possibility. And, you know, I met a lot of
amazing people, like from different backgrounds.
And it's, it's, it taught me a lot.
(16:51):
Travelling really taught me a lot.
Yeah, and like you said too, when you get to travel, you meet
so many different people and youlearn about different cultures
and backgrounds and it it reallydoes open up.
Whatever your small world is, it, it opens up to this, this
whole other yeah, life that you have.
No idea. Yeah, exactly.
(17:12):
It's and the possibilities, right.
And the possibilities like, like, yeah, how many times we've
like, I'm sure when you travel, it's like how many times we we
told ourselves it's like, oh, I can, I can move here, right?
Yeah, Yeah, I can move here. Second day in your travel, it's
like, yeah, I can move here. Yeah, sometimes they do.
(17:33):
Yeah, it's true. It's true.
That's how you how you explore and find out.
Absolutely. So, OK, so you had that really
neat opportunity with the gentleman who bought the yacht
or the sailboat and travelled todifferent countries and helped
with the golf courses. And then eventually you did move
to Canada and you kind of were going to flash forward a little
(17:56):
bit and you worked in corporate world.
So you did all your travelling, got that that bug in you and you
landed in Toronto and you worked17 years for Hilton corporate.
How would you, after a lot of time there, how would you
describe your overall satisfaction with your work and
(18:17):
not necessarily the company, butjust necessarily like your work
working in corporate and being kind of in the the same place?
I love my work. You know what, Hilton is an
amazing company. I can tell you that right now.
I miss it actually every single day.
But you know, you time to move on, time to move on and working
(18:38):
in corporate, especially in the Western world, because in the
Asian culture is completely different in a way during my
time. But when you move to Western
world, that's more, you know howit is.
North America is like rigid likeyou do this, it's really quick.
It's a race basically, and you have to be on top of your game
(18:59):
because it's a, it's a, it's a challenge.
You have to be present. You have to be, you have to do
this. So I am like, I'm very hard
working. I, I don't count times in a way,
I dedicated my, my life, my, my even my personal time to to a
(19:20):
company that any company they work with.
I love my job. I love the people that I work
with with Hilton, I think it's the one of the best work or job
that I had in my life. And I wouldn't change that for
the world like I, I would. I learned so much of being part
of this amazing company. But at one point, you know, when
(19:44):
you're 14 years, oh, sorry, 17 years is, is a long time.
I work in a property, which is all that you know that, that
the, the adventure and all the, the actions, we call it, all the
actions is happening at property.
But when you move to corporate, it's completely different
mindset, different environment. You just, you know, in front of
your computer you deal with people, but very non
(20:06):
personalized because it's e-mail, phone calls, conference
call. Webinars and stuff like that.
If you're in property, it's completely different ball game
because you're you, you're you're in the thick of the
action you're I was a promised staff in the beginning.
Actually, my first job was to belike my corporate life.
I when I moved to Canada. I have during let's play back or
(20:33):
go back to I don't want to be inrestaurants anymore.
So like how my mind works usually is if I want to achieve
something, I plan how to move from A to B.
That's how usually how I motivate myself.
So let's say, for example, when I finished my contract with
McDonald's, I said like, you know what, I don't want to do
(20:55):
this on my next work. What can I do to improve myself
that I can go into a different industry?
So that's my, my first thought. So what I did while I was
travelling and everything, I wasfunny enough, you know, the, the
online correspondence school andthe online courses, It's, it's,
(21:16):
it was happening then. So I did that and my school was
in, in, in, in England. So I, you know, I, I took, I
took a hotel in the hotel hospital, sorry, hospitality
course. So because I said my plan is I
want to move from restaurant to hotel industry, which is
(21:36):
completely different, you know, industry somewhat related in
terms of customer service and everything.
You have to be there, you have to be present.
But I said I need an advantage, I need to make sure that I know
the operations, how it works. So I, I, I was, I went to
school, I went back to school. So I took it for two years
during the time that I was travelling and working other
like in the projects for IMG. And then I was lucky enough when
(22:01):
I moved to Canada, I already planned my moves.
I said I have all my resumes ready to go.
I have all the people that I need to contact to because as
soon as I get there, I hit the ground running because you know,
I'm new there. I'm a newly immigrant, newly
landed. Like I have to make this, I have
to make this work and fast. And it was, I think it was
(22:22):
September. So, you know, the weather
started to change and it's like,Oh dear, here comes winter.
I did not. You're based in Texas, right?
You're in Dallas. Yes, I'm in.
Yeah. And so Dallas is, so it's warm
if you're Toronto. Yeah, because I always go to
Dallas when I was with Hilton, that's one of our regional
(22:44):
office. So we're always, yeah, I'm
always in Dallas. Like we're our one of our
biggest corporate office there is in Addison and we have a few
big buildings there. And yeah, I love Dallas, I love
that area. Yeah.
And so doing that, I was able toget into the industry.
(23:04):
And it's amazing how along, likealong the way, you will meet
people that will give you an opportunity and open the door
for you, even if if they're strangers, you know, So this,
this gentleman, he is actually the, the reason why he probably
hired me is because I trained and did my Co-op in Malaysia,
(23:28):
the resort that we were staying where my boat is basically I
was, I was a guest there. I asked the, the, the team at
the resort, can I do my trainingin this resort?
And so, you know, because like Isaid, I always, I always plan if
I want to move to from A to BI need to make an effort.
(23:49):
I need to make sure that I have advantages, right.
So while I was off from work doing the, the golf course
construction, we, I was off for like, I think six months because
we're waiting for the next project.
I said to myself, OK, you know what?
I'm almost finished school. I need my Co-op.
It's a requirements to do a Co-op.
I approached the resort. I said, what if, is it possible
(24:12):
if I could do my go up here in Malaysia because it's, it's,
it's good for my resume, you know, and so I did.
And so this gentleman who hired me when I'm, when I landed in
Canada, he's actually a Malaysian.
He's from Malaysia, but moved toCanada and he was my first boss
that give me an opportunity in the hospital on hotel industry
(24:33):
that he, he, he doesn't even know my, my, my ability.
But he saw, I guess he saw the potential.
And sure enough, it was the bestyears of my life until now, the
gay we're we're still friends and he's still kind of like my
mentor. And it's asking me when I
decided to move from Canada to go back to what are you doing?
(24:55):
Why? I said like, well, it's time,
it's time to change. And that's how I started.
And like I said, those people that open the door for you, all
you have to do is grab it, do itand, and be good at it and
enjoy, enjoy the ride. And yeah, that's how, that's how
I started my my career in the hospitality after, you know,
(25:18):
working from a different industry and move on.
So, but that's great. I love to the the fact that you
had experience in Malaysia and then your first job was a
gentleman from Malaysia and then, you know, just flash
forward, you had this great career with this wonderful
company and, and you, you know, at at a point you turned 50 and.
(25:42):
You you shared. Yeah, we're flashing forward a
lot. So you shared with me that you
had lost your drive and your motivation.
So what happened there and and what did that look like for you?
I did. You know what?
I never thought that it because I'm a very positive person.
I'm always looking for somethingto, to do to, if I have a
(26:07):
curiosity that like I'm, I'm curious about something, I will
research it and study it. And I because I really want to
see what's happening there and especially those like, it's like
my interest in my interest. So during the time I think it's
more on it adds to my like what's happening in my personal
life. I got married all those years.
(26:29):
So like, you know, I got married.
I met my amazing husband. He's Canadian and amazing in
laws. My my his family is just the
love of my life. So all of them because I married
the whole family and they're great.
Oh, Kathy, you're like, you know, Kathy.
Yeah, she's my sister-in-law. And they're just like, I love
them to that. And so during the time we were
(26:53):
trying to have a baby and it's not happening.
So we did all the things that wewe need to do to make sure that
we're healthy, we're able to conceive, and it still didn't
happen. And during the time suddenly,
because, you know, you're, you're, you're getting older,
you're kind of like as a woman, we have a deadline.
(27:13):
We have like you know, by eitherthey admit it or not, because it
it's it it and you wanted to have a natural way of doing
things. If it's possible, if not, you
know, it could be a help. There's there would be a help
for you to achieve to perceive. And so to make story short, it
didn't happen. And then my husband decided like
(27:36):
I don't want to have kids anymore because I guess he's
getting older. He's way older than me.
He's, I believe, nine years or 11, I can't remember now.
We've been together for so long.So he said, well, I don't want
to have kids anymore. It's like, oh, OK, so you
decided that for me. OK, So I then I had this
(27:58):
struggle of accepting the fact that I'm not going to be a
mother. And so it was it, it triggers a
lot of of, I guess emotions justto if, if he can, if he can
understand that, like now, what am I going to do with my life
now? Where am I going to be?
Because as a woman, I'm sure youcan understand it's, it's, it's
(28:23):
the essence of being a woman is to be a mother.
It's just, it's a natural progression of, of our lives.
Like as a woman, like you, you get married, you have kids and
you become parents and then you become grandparents until like,
you know, it's it, that's how, how, how usually it works,
right? And plus we will have a
(28:46):
beautiful children because my husband is an amazing, amazing
and loving and I must say handsome, handsome person.
So I was like, man, I missed outon that.
So those are the things that I need to accept that, OK, this is
not happening. So, you know, some people would
say, OK, how is it? How are you going to deal with
(29:09):
that? Because it's a major decision,
right? Are you going to stay and then
look for, for someone that can give you a child or, you know,
so it's, it's a, it's, it's, it's a roadblock.
So I, I decided, OK, you know what?
Here's what I'm going to do. Like I said, I'm, I'm curious
and I want to be, I want to exhaust all the possible ways of
(29:32):
dealing with, with the challenges or the challenge or
an issue in front of me. So I said, I cannot ask his
friends. I cannot ask my friends because
they will, they will take sides,right?
What I did is I reach out to a therapist because they're
neutral. They will tell me exactly what
it is that there's no attachment.
(29:53):
There's no, there's no sides, right?
And and she asked me, OK, how doyou see yourself?
Do you want to do you see yourself about not having
children, but you're happy with your husband?
How is it? Does it, how does it, how does
it weigh in you about this decision?
(30:13):
And also what's the guarantee that after you say you separated
and because you're looking for something else, because you're
you really wanted to have a child, what's the guarantee that
the next person will give you what you really want?
It makes sense, right? So and I said, yeah, you know
what? So it makes made me think, is
it, is it really that important?And then what other things that
(30:37):
you can do together that I wouldsay at least you, you, you won't
feel that you're missed out on things.
And sure enough, we, we started traveling, we do things
together. And one of the things that we
started doing is I, instead of aphysical baby, I launched a, a,
(31:03):
a business. It's like my baby become my
baby. And it's, I built a staging
company, a real estate staging company in Canada and had it for
10 years until like I sold everything and moved here.
So it's become, this has become our passion and he is my partner
with this one. So we become even, you know,
(31:25):
we're bonded doing this and we learn a lot.
There's a lot of fighting. Obviously something is different
from mine in terms of design andeverything, but I'm the one
running it and he's my muscle guy.
So those are those are the things that kind of happened
between while I'm working with Hilton.
(31:45):
So my company was a part time gig.
And so in between that while I'mworking in corporate, that's
become my, my hobby business. And at the same time, I'm still
working 9:00 to 5:00. And then I do my staging after
office or on weekends. And trust me, it's still able to
(32:08):
make it work. And it was it, it, it took away
from the loneliness of having a child.
It's like this is going to be your child and you have to let
it grow. And we did.
And so the feeling of the thought of like you, you, I
might regret having children, iteventually fade out eventually.
(32:34):
Like I accepted the fact like, you know what, it's not that all
bad. You know, maybe this is not for
me. This is like, and I go back to
growing up having an early responsibility and looking after
my my nieces and my younger sister.
I think probably God will tell God is telling me, you know
(32:54):
what, Ellen, you did your part being a mother.
Even if they're not your biological children, you raise
them, you send them to school and you become like a parent to
them. This is your way of being a
mother. And so let it go and be happy
with your life. That's basically that's how I
that's how I look at it. And in the end, it's we, we
(33:18):
accepted the fact that like, youknow, if it's not going to
happen, don't push it because itcould be a different outcome if
you did, you know. And so during the time I'm, I'm
still in corporate and on my, I would say around 12 years, 13
years at Hilton, I keep, I want to move to a different
(33:39):
departments because, you know, that's, that's growth.
You want to experience somethingdifferent.
I, I, there's either I either misses an opportunity or not.
And I feel like, OK, hang on, hang on a second.
What's happening here? Why?
I know I'm qualified to move to a different department and to do
other things, but I'm not getting it.
(34:02):
And so I got stuck in it, but I got promoted to within, within
my team, but I want to do something else.
I and I think that they, they, it's, I feel like this is like,
you know how it is sometimes you, you take it personally,
right? But, and you know, our emotional
intelligence sometimes when in terms to work, in terms of work,
(34:23):
it's like, wait, you have to really look for it because if
you spend that much time working, you feel like it's
personal, even if it's not, you know what I mean?
Maybe it's not for you. Maybe that's the reason why it's
not. It's not you're not getting a
job is because you need more, you need to do this or you need
to be more aggressive, right? So I was getting to the point
(34:46):
that's why I'm looking is because I'm I'm heading a
plateau section of my career, right?
And so I said, OK, I need to figure this one out.
And then here comes menopause 50.
It's like, is this really what Iwant to do for the rest of my
(35:07):
life? Do work in corporate?
What if what other things that Ican do out there that aside
from, you know, my mini businessand everything that could give
me even more motivation. And because I'm very driven.
I like I have other friends is like I'm, I'm so ambitious, but
(35:30):
I don't think ambitious is a badword.
It depends on how you do it, right?
I, I like to achieve things thatgives me satisfaction and gives
me self worth, right? As a woman, I mean anybody, even
men, I think I have that and I'mlooking for that.
I'm looking for that. But if you look at it in a, in a
(35:54):
bigger picture, people say like,what are you still looking for?
You're you're lucky, you're you're working, you're doing
this, you're doing that. And but I think it's more on I
want to do something different. That's really, really makes me
happy, which is something different that I'm doing it
right now. And so, and I hate that that
plateau of I lost motivation andI'm, I'm very driven.
(36:17):
Like even with work, we did a lot of, I did a lot of project
for Hilton that so satisfying. And so, you know, it, it added
value to the team and, and to the company.
And, but I said, I, I, I can't, I, I lost drive.
I lost that, that motivation of,of, of working.
(36:40):
And I, I, I quit. And they were like, what, what
happened? I quit my job one day.
I was like, I, I can't do this anymore.
And so I said to my husband, what if I quit my job and let's,
(37:00):
let's move on. Let's let's move to the
Philippines because we have properties here that we can
start a new life and and we don't have to shovel the snow.
That's one thing. And then he it's hard to it's
not, I would say it's hard to convince him.
I said give it a shot because henever lives in a different
(37:23):
country. I have.
And so to convince, to convince your partner to do things and to
really do what I did before, like cut off your history.
But it's different environment now than before, because now we
have the technology to see our friends and family every day.
(37:44):
If you wanted to right before, during my time, you send a voice
tape and it will get there for three, like for three months.
And your letter will take that. It will take three months to
reach you or to reach your friends or, but now it's
completely different. So those are the the factors
that when I was presenting my idea to him, like what if we
(38:05):
moved there? And what if like, you know,
let's try something different. And plus, I said, we're still
young. There's nothing grounding us
here. We have no kids and we can and
then we can, we can do whatever we want basically, right?
We have the freedom to do it. Why not do it now while we're
physically able to do it? And plus, he's a lot older than
(38:28):
me. So during the time it's about
his retirement stage is hitting,it's about to hit.
And so he said, you know what, let's do it.
And he did, and we did, and. You did it every day.
We. Did it?
Yeah. You packed?
You packed everything you say. OK, He's retired.
We already have a couple properties in the Philippines.
(38:50):
Anyways, when has how long had you had these properties?
Well, it was part of them as inheritance from my grandparents
and everything. And that's one thing that we, I
wanted to do because my mother is, she's getting old and we're,
since I've been away since I wasa young person.
I think it's time for me to kindof like reconnect with her in a
(39:11):
way, like physically present because, you know, they're
getting old. And it's, it's, I don't know, I
feel like if I don't do this now, I will miss out on a lot of
things. And I know mother can be
annoying. You know, our mothers can be
annoying sometimes. OK, I can only take one weekend.
But at the end of the day, it's,it's, it's part of our culture,
(39:35):
my culture that we know we look after the elders and they work
hard for for us when we're kids.And now I think it's about to
like it's time to give back. Yeah.
And that's, that's yeah, that's one thing that I have in mind.
So it all kind of like line up all the all the things that I'm
longing for and I'm looking for and the plans and the goals that
(39:58):
we had at the time. And that plus my husband's
retiring and, you know, he's getting old too.
And I, I don't want him honestlyto constantly shoveling snow
because it's tough in Toronto. And it's like right now, I heard
like this few last few weeks, it's like.
Every weekend there's a snowstorm, and apparently it
reaches Texas. Yeah, you sure did.
(40:20):
Yeah. And it's like, it's a challenge.
Yeah. OK.
So you, you the 2 of you just moved there recently and before
we were talking you, you know, you shared that you just moved
into your new home. Previously when we had just been
communicating before you were building the home.
So now you're there and you're working on your new business.
(40:41):
What have been some of the challenges that you have been
experiencing that you didn't expect while you're while you've
been there? Surprisingly, the cultural, the,
the, the, the culture, because I've been away for so long.
And when you get back to this, like you, you thought you grew
up with this like what? So the weather, what is the
(41:01):
weather? How they do things.
And it's, it's funny because I, my, my, my public social media,
that's my niche is like relocation, relocating to a new
place. And I have like lined up of
content that I will discuss. And it's one of those like how
to, how to like bring your cats from Canada to, because it's a
(41:26):
lot, you know, it's a process. And then how to convert your
driver's international driver's license to the local drivers.
So it's how they do things here.We have to remember, this is an
island. I'm so used to, you know how it
is at home like this, right? It's fast, it's quite efficient.
And so I have to wrap around my brain again to the the way they
(41:48):
do things here. It's slower and I need to adjust
my mindset. It's all about mindset, right?
I need to adjust my mindset of like, listen, you've been away
for so long. This is a different ball game.
You need to like, kind of like just just enjoy the process.
Do not rush things because I'm like that too.
I like go, go, go, go. Even the time we have this
(42:11):
saying in the Philippines, it's a Filipino time, I don't know if
you've heard about it, that if you invited someone to a party,
if they're Filipino, if the calltime is 7:00, they'll be there
at 9:00. And I can't do that.
Yeah. Honestly, it's like, no, no,
it's like, so it's still in me. It's still in me that, you know,
that proficiency and that time management and that I like I
(42:33):
have, I cannot be late. And so you will get frustrated
if you're here and you move to the island life island time
'cause they take this thing slow.
They kind of like, what do you mean you don't have this?
It's like, you know, it's even you ask about certain things and
they don't have it. You feel like what why there's
(42:53):
Amazon or just like there's something going on.
It's uncle, you know, like commercial goods out there.
But at the end of the day, it's and that's one thing that I kind
of like have to go back to is like, OK, you need to stop and
just smile the roses and just look back and step back and just
(43:14):
let it play out. The, the good thing about here
is because I'm married to, we call it the foreigner, a white
person. So when we, when we came back,
they know that if you, if you'redealing with a foreigner, they
expect of course, because at home they're so used to doing
(43:36):
things faster. And so they tend to be on their
toes. And it's like, OK, let's serve
this or give service to, to the gentleman or us like, because
they know that we need to, to be, they need to be on top their
toes because they, they will saysomething.
But, and I, I, that's one thing that I also need to adjust is
(43:59):
they're very sensitive people. You know, you have to be very
nice because otherwise it's it, it, it gives aggravation And it,
it's nice to be nice rather than, you know, be aggressive
and impose what, what you believe in on, especially if
you're in, in, in a different country that you're not used to.
(44:20):
So. Yeah, yeah, I've been to culture
definitely is. You know, it is interesting
because you said you grew up in it, but so much time had gone,
has gone by and and even like, Ieven think it for me, if I had
moved from where I grew up and it came back however many years
later, it would It's yeah, it's a big it's a big culture shift,
especially moving to a differentcountry that's.
Vastly different, yeah. Oh, absolutely.
(44:42):
So, OK, so something I want to share is that what you shared
with me? Is that you feel like your life
is on pause right now. And then you question is that
even allowed? But you feel like all bets are
off when you, when you lost something inside of you, you
know, like what we were talking about.
And I want to know too, like where are you at with that
today? Now that you've been there a
(45:04):
little while and you're kind of getting more acclimated to
things, kind of where is your thoughts with that?
I've, you know, feel like I, my life is on pause.
Yeah, you know what now it's starting to unpause it like
it's, it's, I'm getting the gearof it now because now I'm, it's,
it's, it's I would say your podcast, this conversation, it
(45:25):
gives me even now more motivation of doing things
really because it it it, it brought back so much memories on
how we I was doing things and I was like, you know what?
I, I, I don't think I'm, you know, I'm now I'm not losing it
anymore. You know what I found it.
(45:47):
I found again, I found the driveand like, and I love this, this
kind of conversation with other women across, you know, around
the world because and listening to your podcast, honestly, I
have to tell you, Erica, I love the different stories that you
featured in your podcast becauseI was like, how can I even do
that? It's amazing the different age
(46:09):
and they start all over again. So I said like, I'm not alone.
That's why when I when I was listening to and it's a lot of a
lot of episode, I start from thebeginning, but it's OK, I can do
this. I can do this episode for
episode. And then every now and then,
I'll jump up to your 30 things that you do, 30 things you want
(46:29):
to do or something. Yeah, I listened to that.
And then one of them is when youwent to, I think you crashed a
wedding or something. I was like laughing my head off.
It's like, this is amazing. So those are the things that I
was listening every now and then.
Then I'll go back to the podcast, but it gives me
actually an inspiration that it's OK to pause.
(46:49):
But then you, I, I get it again.And so now I've set up Now I'm,
I'm in the point of now that, you know, my office is kind of
like set up now. I'm not like lifting my computer
every night construction site kind of situation.
So I started to like settle things down.
The desk is settling in. And then I met new people here
(47:11):
that I can collaborate with. And these, these are like local
Filipinos that also live from abroad and came home and they
are doing their business. And then amazing people like
very, they're most, most of themare married to expats as well,
but they are driven and they're amazing and they're, they're,
(47:32):
they're, they're, they're such an inspiration basically.
So we found a core, core group of people that most of them are
from retired as well. So, and, and it helps for me to
like, you know what it's, it's, I got it again.
So I have it back. I got my, my, my mojo back.
(47:55):
And so now I have to now start I'm, I'm in the process of
building and opening a new business and it's more on the
personal Wellness. I have a Wellness studio when I
was in Canada and I want to do it here as well.
And because of the surrounding, we live in a, in a countryside
near the mountain. We're in the footed mountain.
(48:16):
So there's a lot of people from the city that goes and come here
during weekends just to get, getaway from the city, right.
And, and so I have this a lot ofideas about how can I make this
a business. And so I'm collaborating with a
lot of local businesses so that we can do together.
So I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm back, I'm,I'm there, my mojo is back.
(48:40):
And thanks to you, really, because it's give us so much, so
much inspiration that it's OK topause a little bit and look at
the bigger picture. And then really, really do
restart and do over do the do you know do over?
Well, Ellen, thank you for telling me that because that's
so encouraging for me that the, that the women's stories that
(49:02):
you've listened to have helped you and helped you get your mojo
back. You know, cuz sometimes you
think like, I don't know if somebody, you know, if our
people, yeah, like who is it helping anybody?
And until somebody says something and.
Trust me. So I just thank you for saying
that, Ellen. I really, really appreciate it
and I love. So it's been really cool to see
(49:24):
to just with like the travel stuff.
I think when we first connected your just even your your
Instagram page of of what you'redoing has really exploded.
You're traveling. Yeah, it's like, whoa, go Ellen,
get a girl. I was like.
Yeah. Yeah.
So she you're doing great with that.
I want to hear a little. So tell whatever you can share
(49:45):
about the the well business thatyour new business there and then
with your travel, your travel page, like kind of what if you
don't have long term ideas yet, but just like midterm ideas.
I want to hear about that and like where you're going with it.
And then we'll have to probably Fast forward and then I'll ask
you my last question too. So OK.
Well, like I said, it's it's also it's in my interest, like I
(50:07):
love, you know, health and Wellness.
So I'm planning to like a build a like almost like I would say
it's a sanctuary. I, I would like, I like that
word sanctuary, 'cause I feel like that's, that's your, you
know, your me, me time kind of place that I could, I could
(50:29):
offer to local or people that visiting 'cause we have a lot of
friends from North America. That's, you know, visiting.
I have actually one right now. I have a guest, a friend of mine
has been here with us. But, and just to share the
surrounding area, our area here because I love this place and
this and the whole Philippines basically.
There's so many things to do here and those are the things
(50:51):
that I'm thinking of. So I'm, I'm in the process of
like, you know, obviously creating a business plan and
doing it properly. And so I'm lining up my ducks in
a row so that when I would do it, it's I, I, I can do it
properly. At the same time, I can
incorporate my social media to those things that I, I, I do
here like changing, you know, remember the, the relocating
(51:16):
niche. And like, right now, it's like
how to hire, how to hire a contractor.
So I'm going to my Instagram is exploding.
So I'm going to move that. I'm going to focus more on my
YouTube because in the long form, you can do more,
obviously, because you can really help people in terms of
this is how how what you can expect if you move to this place
(51:38):
from, you know, from the Westernworld, from North America, These
are the things that can really help you or you know, I'm sure
I'm hoping that it will. Like you said, you don't know if
you're creating content that youput out there is like, do they
really watch? But it, it will, I think it's
because there's a lot of people that young and old that they,
they, they, they move, they try different places.
(52:00):
And I think because of social media, Philippines now is it
exploded for some reason. There's so many people here from
the Western world that lives here now and enjoying everything
that this country has to offer. And I'm so proud of that.
But sometimes there's a good, bad and bad side of that, you
know what I mean? Because it gets so overpopulated
(52:22):
in a way, and then it's so, so saturated.
But you know, and especially with travel blogs and, and
travel and like, you know, thosesolo travellers when they come
to the Philippines, they, they explore and they love it and
then stay here good and bad because it's obviously drive the
economy and everything. But we just have to embrace
(52:44):
everything. Yeah, that's awesome.
Well, I'm excited to see kind ofwhat happens with that, Ellen.
So you, you know, you had this travel bug from a super young
age and you got to explore living and working in a bunch of
different countries, landed in Toronto for a very long time at
your husband and life did not pan out exactly as what you
(53:06):
would hope for. And so you use that to pivot and
to say, OK, I'm going to be committed with my husband and
now I start this new business. Is this baby of a business or,
you know, like a baby, this business of of staging for
different homes. And you get burned out with
working in the corporate world, just all of a sudden quit.
(53:28):
And then your husband retires and you say we're moving across
the world, we're going to the Philippines.
While we can. One weekend.
Oh my goodness, one weekend. And how old?
How old are you now, Ellen? I am.
Wait, hang on, I'm 52. 52 Okay, so 52 has starting this whole
(53:48):
new life. I'll be 52 in October, so I
still have a little bit of feeling.
OK. You will be 52 in October.
OK, so 51 now. So at 51, just, I had this pause
and things just felt like a burnout and then that's being
ignited. It's new, it's fresh now.
And so I'd love to hear you helpencourage one woman who feels
(54:11):
blocked or limited to pursue a dream or a goal based on either
her specific age or a life circumstance.
What would you say to her? I would say for any woman in,
you know, listening out there, it's OK to feel that way.
It's OK to pause and assess the situation.
(54:31):
It's OK because we, you know, we, we get tired, especially as
a woman, there's so much expectations and so much
responsibilities for a woman. Like if you're a mother, if
you're a career person, it's OK to feel that your life is just,
it's stuck. It's OK to feel stuck sometimes.
And then this is an opportunity,I, I would say uses an
(54:54):
opportunity to step back really and focus on what you really
wanted to do. Because among the chaos around
you, when you do stop and look at the bigger picture, you will
see really what, what, what you really want to do and what's
important to you. And I know it's hard to make a
(55:14):
decision sometimes like that because there's so many factors.
If you have kids, you have, you know, you can't, you can't just
move like like we did. But at the same time, when you
stop and it's OK to feel that, that you know, you feel like
sometimes your life is not goinganywhere, that's OK.
Give a rest, like put your mind at ease and then open it again
(55:39):
and see the bigger picture and really focus on what you really
want to do and go for it. Just go for it.
Just try because if you don't, regrets will come in and you
don't want that, but just try. Try it.
It's you'll never know. I always say like you know what,
what, what, what's to lose? Go for it.
(55:59):
Go for it and try. You'll never know.
It will be something it will be.It could be a start of something
wonderful. Yes, I love that Ellen, thank
you so much. Please share where people can
find your YouTube and your travels on socials and all the
socials. Oh, thank you.
Well, me my page name is headingout to in Instagram.
(56:22):
You can find me also on YouTube with the same same channel name
heading out and I hope you guys will take a look at it and I'll
be posting more of the long formin this coming days.
So I hope you guys will connect and I hope we we see each other
again and enjoy. Thank you.
(56:43):
Yes, thank you. Well, Ellen, I just enjoyed our
chat. So you have a wonderful day
since you're just getting started and I'm closing out the
day, but thank you so much for joining me today on the More
Than Your Age podcast. Thank you, Erica.
It's such a pleasure. It is.
Bye. If you were encouraged by
today's episode, like and subscribe to this podcast, leave
(57:07):
a review and share this episode with a friend.
You can find me on all of the socials at More Than Your Age.
Keep striving for your goals, live fully, and we'll catch you
next time on the More Than Your Age podcast.
Are you in a position where you're defined by your age and
that's limiting you to pursue a dream or goal you want to
accomplish? The More Than Your Age podcast
is about having conversations with women who fully live their
lives without being dictated or defined by their age.
This is a space to encourage women who fill blocks to pursue
(00:25):
a dream or goal based on their life circumstances.
Welcome to the More than your Age podcast.
I am your host Erica Pasbard. Let's start living life fully
and become more than your age. Welcome back to the More Than
(00:48):
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And if you are semi new, yay. It brings me so much joy to have
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So that's just how it is, but I wanted to ask you, please do a
huge favor. Would you please leave a five
star review for the podcast? And if you are listening to the
podcast on an app where you can write a review, you're writing
reviews. Your ratings are huge for me,
(01:32):
they're huge for the show. It somehow in the algorithm
world, it pushes the podcast outto people who may never hear of
it. So if you could do that, pause
the app, write a review, that would be huge.
And if you could share the podcast with a friend, think of
1 friend who you think would love to hear an encouraging
(01:54):
story and just say, hey, this isa podcast I love.
I would love to have you listen to it or share on social media.
Either way, anything that you doto help the podcast grow, I
would greatly appreciate it. I can't wait for you to listen
to this episode. I love this guest Ellen.
She is so sweet and it was cool how we connected over social
(02:16):
media and they heard hear the baby talk.
I'm not going to edit that out. This is how it is right now.
But Ellen is just a really cool woman and her story is super
fascinating. I love when we first chatted
beforehand, she was like, I lovethe podcast.
And she told me a little bit about her story.
And I said, wait a second, Ellen, I think I need to have
you on the podcast. And she was like, what?
(02:39):
No way. And her story fits right in.
So I can't wait for you to listen to Ellen's story.
Super cool story, great woman, and thanks for listening along.
Enjoy the show. Hello Ellen Buchanan, welcome to
the More Than Your Age podcast. Hi, thank you so much for having
me. I'm so happy to have you.
(03:01):
For the listeners, Ellen is coming all the way from the
Philippines. It is 6:30 in the morning, her
time, 4:30 PM my time. And we may hear some Roosters
crowing in the background. We already heard one before the
recording. Well, Ellen, I have enjoyed just
watching some of your adventuresfrom social media.
(03:22):
I love your current season in life and this life on pause as
you quote and just what you're embracing right now.
So for the listeners, you grew up in the Philippines and you
moved abroad at the age of 21. Why did you decide to move
abroad and leave your home country?
(03:42):
Hello everybody. Before anything else, yes, my
name is Ellen Buchanan and I am Canadian, but I was born and
raised in the Philippines. It's it's basically economics.
You know how it is like it's part of our culture that when in
the Philippines as a child, mostduring the year, during my time,
(04:07):
it has changed now and it's, it's you go to school.
It's you know, the progression is you go to school, you finish
your degree and then as as part of the final family dynamics,
you will, if you can find employment or, or adventure
somewhere else. And for me, it's, it's partly,
(04:30):
it's partly of that a mindset. And also I'm very adventurous by
heart. So at the young age, it's funny.
I'll tell you a story. At nine years old, I envision
myself that I will be living in a Western world.
They'll be married to a Caucasian, Caucasian and I'll be
(04:51):
part of the one with the one of the biggest company in the
world, which is it happened. So at nine years old, I saw
myself. So yeah.
And growing up in our in, in thePhilippines, I always loved the
idea of exploring like the Western countries for some
(05:11):
reason. And I, I'm exposed to, you know,
English music, English movies and I love to read books.
So at young age I have that thatmight of adventure and exploring
and, and through books. You can't do that as a child.
(05:33):
Like I, I was born in a very modest family.
I have three sisters, actually two sisters.
And then now we have 2. We're very close, but my mom and
my dad kind of like got separated when we were young.
So at the young age I have a responsibility of looking after
my, my younger sister because myeldest sister during that time,
(05:57):
she got married early. So she kind of like got
separated. So our family dynamics, I don't
know if you're familiar with the, you know, the Asian
culture, they're we're very close knit family.
So it's normal to help each other in a way that like what if
you're a older sibling? You look after the young ones
and, and at the same time you, you look after yourself.
(06:20):
So at the young age, I was giventhat responsibility of, you
know, being a breadwinner, as wecall it.
And, and that's one of the reasons why, you know what I'll,
I'll explore at the same time toenhance myself and at the same
time to help my family. So that's the reason why at the,
at the age of 21, after graduating from university, I
(06:45):
went to Dubai. That's my first job outside of
the Philippines. But I have been, I've been
working within the Philippines during the university days.
But you know, it's not like, youknow, you're away from home, you
have no parents, You're, you're on your own.
Basically your decision. You're, you're, you're on your
own. So it was such, such an mind
opening experience for me and I learned a lot, you know,
(07:09):
embracing different culture. Dubai is different.
And during the time it was the 90s, it's not a Dubai that we
know today. And it's, it's still
predominantly very conservative.There's it's not as modern and
and progressive like today. So we've seen we've seen the the
(07:30):
city grow like that. So it was such an eye opening
experience for me to learn coming from, you know, a
different culture and engage andemerge in that that community
and and society. So I've definitely learned a lot
and it's a start. It's a start of what me having
an itchy feed and explore more. Yeah, well, and it's so
(07:53):
interesting too how you said that at 9 you kind of had this
idea of of, of where you would live and where you would work
and being who you would be married to.
And, you know, then that is giving you this edge to travel.
And so you do travel. You go to Dubai when you, you
know, told your family I'm leaving and I'm going to a
(08:14):
different country. How was their response towards
that? But you know, you're 21 and my,
my family is kind of like reallywhat, why?
And I said, well, to explore andI always been a very adventurous
and as probably my cousins and my aunts are or my mother would
(08:37):
say, like I'm kind of like a rebel at that point.
And it's just like, let's do this.
Otherwise, like I don't really get stuck here.
And it's in our culture, it kindof like it's, it's a norm, but
still as parents and like my ceilings, like they feel sad
because you basically cut off your history and you start all
(08:58):
over again. Whether you move to the next
town or the next city, you're kind of you're leaving behind
your, your friends, your, your, your, your, your family.
And so it it's it's, it's a nerve wracking and my family
feel the same way because it's safety.
(09:18):
I'm a woman. You know how it is.
You don't know you don't know what's what's going on out
there. And it's our brain that usually
like constantly in, you know, anxiety mode when you don't,
especially for parents, obviously.
And I'm sure a lot of parents listening, they feel the same
way when their child's leaving the nest and moving on unless
they want to kick them out and say, go ahead, explore, it's
(09:43):
your time to go. But as parents, I'm sure you
have kids, right? And it will be one of those
moments in your life probably that when they said to you, hey,
mom, I'm I'm moving out. Sayonara, see you later.
And it's the anxiety of as a parent and siblings that they
(10:05):
constantly worry. But you know what it's you just
have to do it and and pray that everything is going to be OK and
then that I'll make a good decision.
Yeah. Did you, when you when you moved
to Dubai, did you already have ajob there or did you go there?
Oh, you did OK. I do.
(10:25):
It's a, it's a yeah, it's already a contract.
I was a manager at the young age.
I was a manager for. Actually, it's McDonald's USA
linked to McDonald's Emirates. You know, during that time,
McDonald's is expanding around the world and we are the few
people that get hired to start the operations in, in, in UAE.
And it was such a blast. Like, you know, you're young,
(10:47):
you're, you have this huge responsibility.
At the same time, you're, you, you want to experience life.
And there are some, you know, there are some instances like
you like close to restaurants with your team at like 5.
Let's say actually around 2:00 AM you go party because in
Dubai, women to get into clubs or to any night, nightlife
(11:10):
establishment, they're free the women, but then the men have to
pay in a way that, you know, they cover, like the cover
charges. Basically, women can just go in
and enjoy. And my, my girlfriends, my, my
team usually and mostly women, all we want to do is just burn
off the energy and dance and we don't drink.
I don't actually drink during the time.
(11:32):
And like for me, alcohol, it's like who, who, who drink this?
It's disgusting. But you know, that's, that's our
workout and we go home and we shower, change to a new uniform
and then go back to work and open the restaurants.
Like, you know, things like thatwhen you're young, the things
that you do, I'm telling you amazing.
(11:53):
And I was like, no, wait, I'll be in bed at 8:30.
That's so funny. OK so you worked in Dubai for
about 3 years and then you travelled and lived in Thailand
and Malaysia as well? And am I missing any other place
before moving to Canada? I live in Mauritius as well.
So back story about that is so when after my contract in Dubai,
(12:15):
I went home and said this is thetime like, you know, you sit
back and say, OK, what's my nextmove?
So I finished my contract and during the time really I'm
thinking is I will, I want to emigrate to any speaking
countries. Sorry, English speaking
countries like us is obviously the first because we have a very
(12:35):
strong first choice, because we have a strong connection with
the Philippines. So US is the first UK,
Australia. It's in, in kind of like my, my
mind. And then a friend of mine who
are you was close with. I met in Dubai.
They immigrated to Canada and we're kind of like, you know,
when you're one day you're like,kind of like scrolling your
(12:55):
e-mail and seeing like who wherethe people that you used to hang
out with. And, and he sent me an e-mail
with his wife is a a good friendof mine as well.
And he said, what are you doing?What are you up to?
I said like, oh, I, I actually kind of like started working for
an American company. It was based in Mandela during
the time. Great team.
(13:15):
I mean, learned a lot from them too.
And I said, like, well, I'm working.
I'm just like, you know, flying or planning to, to figure out
what's my next move. And he said, why don't you visit
Canada? It's like Canada, it's cold
there. It's like coming the summer.
So I did visited and I said, Oh,can I can do this.
(13:37):
So it's just summer time. So I said like, I can do this.
And then when I get back, so when I got back to the
Philippines, so I, I think I wasthere for two weeks and then
when I get back, I said I will apply for immigration.
So I put in my paper just hopinglike like a spaghetti stick to
the wall. I said like hoping and during
the time I think there was the late 90s, so you know, when the
(14:00):
government has like new, new government came in and there's a
lot of changes and everything and they need new people coming
into the country. And I got lucky.
I, my application got through. And then during the time at the
same time, this is like happening when you were young,
like all the things happening inyour life.
At the same time, I met a gentleman that we kind of like
(14:23):
decided like, you know what, let's travel together.
And he's British and he's such an amazing guy.
He taught me a lot about everything at the young age.
He's kind of like become a mentor at the same time, he's my
partner during the time. So he said, why don't you hold
off and you know, whatever you're doing in terms of career
(14:43):
and everything and travel with me.
So like, OK, I have a little bitof savings that I, you know, and
then we, we bought a sailing yacht.
Oh. Yes, we did.
And so his work during the time I didn't realize that you can
actually work like contracts fordifferent companies and
everything. That's what he does.
(15:04):
He actually he did. He worked for an an American
company, IMG, which is based in New York and but he's connected
to the office in Singapore. What they do is they build golf
courses and plan it. So he's one of the project
(15:24):
managers. So he moved to a different
places so and, and he said, OK, why don't we buy a sailing yet?
And then we're going to go to Malaysia.
That's our home base basically. So we have our boat in Malaysia
and then every time he has a project, I'm part of his team.
So part of his contract. So he'll, I'll go with him and
we, we do projects from different places, at two
(15:47):
different places. And then I was, so we did
project in Thailand, we did project in Mauritius and then we
were in Dubai again, we were in Abu Dhabi and then we were in
the Philippines at one point. And so during the time we had an
opportunity to travel as well. And he's the one actually, he
taught me to like do it, do travel, explore even more.
(16:09):
So it adds on to that, to that curiosity that I have as a young
child to really explore what's what's like, you know, it's such
a big world out there, you know,growing up in in an island that,
you know, when we look at our surrounding, it's just you feel
like we're so tiny in this amazing world and like we're
just, you know, a dot. But, and as a child and plus,
(16:31):
you know, I read a lot of books and like, I want to experience
that I wanted. And it's, so it pushes more of
that desire to really experiencewhat's out there and what's the
possibility. And, you know, I met a lot of
amazing people, like from different backgrounds.
And it's, it's, it taught me a lot.
(16:51):
Travelling really taught me a lot.
Yeah, and like you said too, when you get to travel, you meet
so many different people and youlearn about different cultures
and backgrounds and it it reallydoes open up.
Whatever your small world is, it, it opens up to this, this
whole other yeah, life that you have.
No idea. Yeah, exactly.
(17:12):
It's and the possibilities, right.
And the possibilities like, like, yeah, how many times we've
like, I'm sure when you travel, it's like how many times we we
told ourselves it's like, oh, I can, I can move here, right?
Yeah, Yeah, I can move here. Second day in your travel, it's
like, yeah, I can move here. Yeah, sometimes they do.
(17:33):
Yeah, it's true. It's true.
That's how you how you explore and find out.
Absolutely. So, OK, so you had that really
neat opportunity with the gentleman who bought the yacht
or the sailboat and travelled todifferent countries and helped
with the golf courses. And then eventually you did move
to Canada and you kind of were going to flash forward a little
(17:56):
bit and you worked in corporate world.
So you did all your travelling, got that that bug in you and you
landed in Toronto and you worked17 years for Hilton corporate.
How would you, after a lot of time there, how would you
describe your overall satisfaction with your work and
(18:17):
not necessarily the company, butjust necessarily like your work
working in corporate and being kind of in the the same place?
I love my work. You know what, Hilton is an
amazing company. I can tell you that right now.
I miss it actually every single day.
But you know, you time to move on, time to move on and working
(18:38):
in corporate, especially in the Western world, because in the
Asian culture is completely different in a way during my
time. But when you move to Western
world, that's more, you know howit is.
North America is like rigid likeyou do this, it's really quick.
It's a race basically, and you have to be on top of your game
(18:59):
because it's a, it's a, it's a challenge.
You have to be present. You have to be, you have to do
this. So I am like, I'm very hard
working. I, I don't count times in a way,
I dedicated my, my life, my, my even my personal time to to a
(19:20):
company that any company they work with.
I love my job. I love the people that I work
with with Hilton, I think it's the one of the best work or job
that I had in my life. And I wouldn't change that for
the world like I, I would. I learned so much of being part
of this amazing company. But at one point, you know, when
(19:44):
you're 14 years, oh, sorry, 17 years is, is a long time.
I work in a property, which is all that you know that, that
the, the adventure and all the, the actions, we call it, all the
actions is happening at property.
But when you move to corporate, it's completely different
mindset, different environment. You just, you know, in front of
your computer you deal with people, but very non
(20:06):
personalized because it's e-mail, phone calls, conference
call. Webinars and stuff like that.
If you're in property, it's completely different ball game
because you're you, you're you're in the thick of the
action you're I was a promised staff in the beginning.
Actually, my first job was to belike my corporate life.
I when I moved to Canada. I have during let's play back or
(20:33):
go back to I don't want to be inrestaurants anymore.
So like how my mind works usually is if I want to achieve
something, I plan how to move from A to B.
That's how usually how I motivate myself.
So let's say, for example, when I finished my contract with
McDonald's, I said like, you know what, I don't want to do
(20:55):
this on my next work. What can I do to improve myself
that I can go into a different industry?
So that's my, my first thought. So what I did while I was
travelling and everything, I wasfunny enough, you know, the, the
online correspondence school andthe online courses, It's, it's,
(21:16):
it was happening then. So I did that and my school was
in, in, in, in England. So I, you know, I, I took, I
took a hotel in the hotel hospital, sorry, hospitality
course. So because I said my plan is I
want to move from restaurant to hotel industry, which is
(21:36):
completely different, you know, industry somewhat related in
terms of customer service and everything.
You have to be there, you have to be present.
But I said I need an advantage, I need to make sure that I know
the operations, how it works. So I, I, I was, I went to
school, I went back to school. So I took it for two years
during the time that I was travelling and working other
like in the projects for IMG. And then I was lucky enough when
(22:01):
I moved to Canada, I already planned my moves.
I said I have all my resumes ready to go.
I have all the people that I need to contact to because as
soon as I get there, I hit the ground running because you know,
I'm new there. I'm a newly immigrant, newly
landed. Like I have to make this, I have
to make this work and fast. And it was, I think it was
(22:22):
September. So, you know, the weather
started to change and it's like,Oh dear, here comes winter.
I did not. You're based in Texas, right?
You're in Dallas. Yes, I'm in.
Yeah. And so Dallas is, so it's warm
if you're Toronto. Yeah, because I always go to
Dallas when I was with Hilton, that's one of our regional
(22:44):
office. So we're always, yeah, I'm
always in Dallas. Like we're our one of our
biggest corporate office there is in Addison and we have a few
big buildings there. And yeah, I love Dallas, I love
that area. Yeah.
And so doing that, I was able toget into the industry.
(23:04):
And it's amazing how along, likealong the way, you will meet
people that will give you an opportunity and open the door
for you, even if if they're strangers, you know, So this,
this gentleman, he is actually the, the reason why he probably
hired me is because I trained and did my Co-op in Malaysia,
(23:28):
the resort that we were staying where my boat is basically I
was, I was a guest there. I asked the, the, the team at
the resort, can I do my trainingin this resort?
And so, you know, because like Isaid, I always, I always plan if
I want to move to from A to BI need to make an effort.
(23:49):
I need to make sure that I have advantages, right.
So while I was off from work doing the, the golf course
construction, we, I was off for like, I think six months because
we're waiting for the next project.
I said to myself, OK, you know what?
I'm almost finished school. I need my Co-op.
It's a requirements to do a Co-op.
I approached the resort. I said, what if, is it possible
(24:12):
if I could do my go up here in Malaysia because it's, it's,
it's good for my resume, you know, and so I did.
And so this gentleman who hired me when I'm, when I landed in
Canada, he's actually a Malaysian.
He's from Malaysia, but moved toCanada and he was my first boss
that give me an opportunity in the hospital on hotel industry
(24:33):
that he, he, he doesn't even know my, my, my ability.
But he saw, I guess he saw the potential.
And sure enough, it was the bestyears of my life until now, the
gay we're we're still friends and he's still kind of like my
mentor. And it's asking me when I
decided to move from Canada to go back to what are you doing?
(24:55):
Why? I said like, well, it's time,
it's time to change. And that's how I started.
And like I said, those people that open the door for you, all
you have to do is grab it, do itand, and be good at it and
enjoy, enjoy the ride. And yeah, that's how, that's how
I started my my career in the hospitality after, you know,
(25:18):
working from a different industry and move on.
So, but that's great. I love to the the fact that you
had experience in Malaysia and then your first job was a
gentleman from Malaysia and then, you know, just flash
forward, you had this great career with this wonderful
company and, and you, you know, at at a point you turned 50 and.
(25:42):
You you shared. Yeah, we're flashing forward a
lot. So you shared with me that you
had lost your drive and your motivation.
So what happened there and and what did that look like for you?
I did. You know what?
I never thought that it because I'm a very positive person.
I'm always looking for somethingto, to do to, if I have a
(26:07):
curiosity that like I'm, I'm curious about something, I will
research it and study it. And I because I really want to
see what's happening there and especially those like, it's like
my interest in my interest. So during the time I think it's
more on it adds to my like what's happening in my personal
life. I got married all those years.
(26:29):
So like, you know, I got married.
I met my amazing husband. He's Canadian and amazing in
laws. My my his family is just the
love of my life. So all of them because I married
the whole family and they're great.
Oh, Kathy, you're like, you know, Kathy.
Yeah, she's my sister-in-law. And they're just like, I love
them to that. And so during the time we were
(26:53):
trying to have a baby and it's not happening.
So we did all the things that wewe need to do to make sure that
we're healthy, we're able to conceive, and it still didn't
happen. And during the time suddenly,
because, you know, you're, you're, you're getting older,
you're kind of like as a woman, we have a deadline.
(27:13):
We have like you know, by eitherthey admit it or not, because it
it's it it and you wanted to have a natural way of doing
things. If it's possible, if not, you
know, it could be a help. There's there would be a help
for you to achieve to perceive. And so to make story short, it
didn't happen. And then my husband decided like
(27:36):
I don't want to have kids anymore because I guess he's
getting older. He's way older than me.
He's, I believe, nine years or 11, I can't remember now.
We've been together for so long.So he said, well, I don't want
to have kids anymore. It's like, oh, OK, so you
decided that for me. OK, So I then I had this
(27:58):
struggle of accepting the fact that I'm not going to be a
mother. And so it was it, it triggers a
lot of of, I guess emotions justto if, if he can, if he can
understand that, like now, what am I going to do with my life
now? Where am I going to be?
Because as a woman, I'm sure youcan understand it's, it's, it's
(28:23):
the essence of being a woman is to be a mother.
It's just, it's a natural progression of, of our lives.
Like as a woman, like you, you get married, you have kids and
you become parents and then you become grandparents until like,
you know, it's it, that's how, how, how usually it works,
right? And plus we will have a
(28:46):
beautiful children because my husband is an amazing, amazing
and loving and I must say handsome, handsome person.
So I was like, man, I missed outon that.
So those are the things that I need to accept that, OK, this is
not happening. So, you know, some people would
say, OK, how is it? How are you going to deal with
(29:09):
that? Because it's a major decision,
right? Are you going to stay and then
look for, for someone that can give you a child or, you know,
so it's, it's a, it's, it's, it's a roadblock.
So I, I decided, OK, you know what?
Here's what I'm going to do. Like I said, I'm, I'm curious
and I want to be, I want to exhaust all the possible ways of
(29:32):
dealing with, with the challenges or the challenge or
an issue in front of me. So I said, I cannot ask his
friends. I cannot ask my friends because
they will, they will take sides,right?
What I did is I reach out to a therapist because they're
neutral. They will tell me exactly what
it is that there's no attachment.
(29:53):
There's no, there's no sides, right?
And and she asked me, OK, how doyou see yourself?
Do you want to do you see yourself about not having
children, but you're happy with your husband?
How is it? Does it, how does it, how does
it weigh in you about this decision?
(30:13):
And also what's the guarantee that after you say you separated
and because you're looking for something else, because you're
you really wanted to have a child, what's the guarantee that
the next person will give you what you really want?
It makes sense, right? So and I said, yeah, you know
what? So it makes made me think, is
it, is it really that important?And then what other things that
(30:37):
you can do together that I wouldsay at least you, you, you won't
feel that you're missed out on things.
And sure enough, we, we started traveling, we do things
together. And one of the things that we
started doing is I, instead of aphysical baby, I launched a, a,
(31:03):
a business. It's like my baby become my
baby. And it's, I built a staging
company, a real estate staging company in Canada and had it for
10 years until like I sold everything and moved here.
So it's become, this has become our passion and he is my partner
with this one. So we become even, you know,
(31:25):
we're bonded doing this and we learn a lot.
There's a lot of fighting. Obviously something is different
from mine in terms of design andeverything, but I'm the one
running it and he's my muscle guy.
So those are those are the things that kind of happened
between while I'm working with Hilton.
(31:45):
So my company was a part time gig.
And so in between that while I'mworking in corporate, that's
become my, my hobby business. And at the same time, I'm still
working 9:00 to 5:00. And then I do my staging after
office or on weekends. And trust me, it's still able to
(32:08):
make it work. And it was it, it, it took away
from the loneliness of having a child.
It's like this is going to be your child and you have to let
it grow. And we did.
And so the feeling of the thought of like you, you, I
might regret having children, iteventually fade out eventually.
(32:34):
Like I accepted the fact like, you know what, it's not that all
bad. You know, maybe this is not for
me. This is like, and I go back to
growing up having an early responsibility and looking after
my my nieces and my younger sister.
I think probably God will tell God is telling me, you know
(32:54):
what, Ellen, you did your part being a mother.
Even if they're not your biological children, you raise
them, you send them to school and you become like a parent to
them. This is your way of being a
mother. And so let it go and be happy
with your life. That's basically that's how I
that's how I look at it. And in the end, it's we, we
(33:18):
accepted the fact that like, youknow, if it's not going to
happen, don't push it because itcould be a different outcome if
you did, you know. And so during the time I'm, I'm
still in corporate and on my, I would say around 12 years, 13
years at Hilton, I keep, I want to move to a different
(33:39):
departments because, you know, that's, that's growth.
You want to experience somethingdifferent.
I, I, there's either I either misses an opportunity or not.
And I feel like, OK, hang on, hang on a second.
What's happening here? Why?
I know I'm qualified to move to a different department and to do
other things, but I'm not getting it.
(34:02):
And so I got stuck in it, but I got promoted to within, within
my team, but I want to do something else.
I and I think that they, they, it's, I feel like this is like,
you know how it is sometimes you, you take it personally,
right? But, and you know, our emotional
intelligence sometimes when in terms to work, in terms of work,
(34:23):
it's like, wait, you have to really look for it because if
you spend that much time working, you feel like it's
personal, even if it's not, you know what I mean?
Maybe it's not for you. Maybe that's the reason why it's
not. It's not you're not getting a
job is because you need more, you need to do this or you need
to be more aggressive, right? So I was getting to the point
(34:46):
that's why I'm looking is because I'm I'm heading a
plateau section of my career, right?
And so I said, OK, I need to figure this one out.
And then here comes menopause 50.
It's like, is this really what Iwant to do for the rest of my
(35:07):
life? Do work in corporate?
What if what other things that Ican do out there that aside
from, you know, my mini businessand everything that could give
me even more motivation. And because I'm very driven.
I like I have other friends is like I'm, I'm so ambitious, but
(35:30):
I don't think ambitious is a badword.
It depends on how you do it, right?
I, I like to achieve things thatgives me satisfaction and gives
me self worth, right? As a woman, I mean anybody, even
men, I think I have that and I'mlooking for that.
I'm looking for that. But if you look at it in a, in a
(35:54):
bigger picture, people say like,what are you still looking for?
You're you're lucky, you're you're working, you're doing
this, you're doing that. And but I think it's more on I
want to do something different. That's really, really makes me
happy, which is something different that I'm doing it
right now. And so, and I hate that that
plateau of I lost motivation andI'm, I'm very driven.
(36:17):
Like even with work, we did a lot of, I did a lot of project
for Hilton that so satisfying. And so, you know, it, it added
value to the team and, and to the company.
And, but I said, I, I, I can't, I, I lost drive.
I lost that, that motivation of,of, of working.
(36:40):
And I, I, I quit. And they were like, what, what
happened? I quit my job one day.
I was like, I, I can't do this anymore.
And so I said to my husband, what if I quit my job and let's,
(37:00):
let's move on. Let's let's move to the
Philippines because we have properties here that we can
start a new life and and we don't have to shovel the snow.
That's one thing. And then he it's hard to it's
not, I would say it's hard to convince him.
I said give it a shot because henever lives in a different
(37:23):
country. I have.
And so to convince, to convince your partner to do things and to
really do what I did before, like cut off your history.
But it's different environment now than before, because now we
have the technology to see our friends and family every day.
(37:44):
If you wanted to right before, during my time, you send a voice
tape and it will get there for three, like for three months.
And your letter will take that. It will take three months to
reach you or to reach your friends or, but now it's
completely different. So those are the the factors
that when I was presenting my idea to him, like what if we
(38:05):
moved there? And what if like, you know,
let's try something different. And plus, I said, we're still
young. There's nothing grounding us
here. We have no kids and we can and
then we can, we can do whatever we want basically, right?
We have the freedom to do it. Why not do it now while we're
physically able to do it? And plus, he's a lot older than
(38:28):
me. So during the time it's about
his retirement stage is hitting,it's about to hit.
And so he said, you know what, let's do it.
And he did, and we did, and. You did it every day.
We. Did it?
Yeah. You packed?
You packed everything you say. OK, He's retired.
We already have a couple properties in the Philippines.
(38:50):
Anyways, when has how long had you had these properties?
Well, it was part of them as inheritance from my grandparents
and everything. And that's one thing that we, I
wanted to do because my mother is, she's getting old and we're,
since I've been away since I wasa young person.
I think it's time for me to kindof like reconnect with her in a
(39:11):
way, like physically present because, you know, they're
getting old. And it's, it's, I don't know, I
feel like if I don't do this now, I will miss out on a lot of
things. And I know mother can be
annoying. You know, our mothers can be
annoying sometimes. OK, I can only take one weekend.
But at the end of the day, it's,it's, it's part of our culture,
(39:35):
my culture that we know we look after the elders and they work
hard for for us when we're kids.And now I think it's about to
like it's time to give back. Yeah.
And that's, that's yeah, that's one thing that I have in mind.
So it all kind of like line up all the all the things that I'm
longing for and I'm looking for and the plans and the goals that
(39:58):
we had at the time. And that plus my husband's
retiring and, you know, he's getting old too.
And I, I don't want him honestlyto constantly shoveling snow
because it's tough in Toronto. And it's like right now, I heard
like this few last few weeks, it's like.
Every weekend there's a snowstorm, and apparently it
reaches Texas. Yeah, you sure did.
(40:20):
Yeah. And it's like, it's a challenge.
Yeah. OK.
So you, you the 2 of you just moved there recently and before
we were talking you, you know, you shared that you just moved
into your new home. Previously when we had just been
communicating before you were building the home.
So now you're there and you're working on your new business.
(40:41):
What have been some of the challenges that you have been
experiencing that you didn't expect while you're while you've
been there? Surprisingly, the cultural, the,
the, the, the culture, because I've been away for so long.
And when you get back to this, like you, you thought you grew
up with this like what? So the weather, what is the
(41:01):
weather? How they do things.
And it's, it's funny because I, my, my, my public social media,
that's my niche is like relocation, relocating to a new
place. And I have like lined up of
content that I will discuss. And it's one of those like how
to, how to like bring your cats from Canada to, because it's a
(41:26):
lot, you know, it's a process. And then how to convert your
driver's international driver's license to the local drivers.
So it's how they do things here.We have to remember, this is an
island. I'm so used to, you know how it
is at home like this, right? It's fast, it's quite efficient.
And so I have to wrap around my brain again to the the way they
(41:48):
do things here. It's slower and I need to adjust
my mindset. It's all about mindset, right?
I need to adjust my mindset of like, listen, you've been away
for so long. This is a different ball game.
You need to like, kind of like just just enjoy the process.
Do not rush things because I'm like that too.
I like go, go, go, go. Even the time we have this
(42:11):
saying in the Philippines, it's a Filipino time, I don't know if
you've heard about it, that if you invited someone to a party,
if they're Filipino, if the calltime is 7:00, they'll be there
at 9:00. And I can't do that.
Yeah. Honestly, it's like, no, no,
it's like, so it's still in me. It's still in me that, you know,
that proficiency and that time management and that I like I
(42:33):
have, I cannot be late. And so you will get frustrated
if you're here and you move to the island life island time
'cause they take this thing slow.
They kind of like, what do you mean you don't have this?
It's like, you know, it's even you ask about certain things and
they don't have it. You feel like what why there's
(42:53):
Amazon or just like there's something going on.
It's uncle, you know, like commercial goods out there.
But at the end of the day, it's and that's one thing that I kind
of like have to go back to is like, OK, you need to stop and
just smile the roses and just look back and step back and just
(43:14):
let it play out. The, the good thing about here
is because I'm married to, we call it the foreigner, a white
person. So when we, when we came back,
they know that if you, if you'redealing with a foreigner, they
expect of course, because at home they're so used to doing
(43:36):
things faster. And so they tend to be on their
toes. And it's like, OK, let's serve
this or give service to, to the gentleman or us like, because
they know that we need to, to be, they need to be on top their
toes because they, they will saysomething.
But, and I, I, that's one thing that I also need to adjust is
(43:59):
they're very sensitive people. You know, you have to be very
nice because otherwise it's it, it, it gives aggravation And it,
it's nice to be nice rather than, you know, be aggressive
and impose what, what you believe in on, especially if
you're in, in, in a different country that you're not used to.
(44:20):
So. Yeah, yeah, I've been to culture
definitely is. You know, it is interesting
because you said you grew up in it, but so much time had gone,
has gone by and and even like, Ieven think it for me, if I had
moved from where I grew up and it came back however many years
later, it would It's yeah, it's a big it's a big culture shift,
especially moving to a differentcountry that's.
Vastly different, yeah. Oh, absolutely.
(44:42):
So, OK, so something I want to share is that what you shared
with me? Is that you feel like your life
is on pause right now. And then you question is that
even allowed? But you feel like all bets are
off when you, when you lost something inside of you, you
know, like what we were talking about.
And I want to know too, like where are you at with that
today? Now that you've been there a
(45:04):
little while and you're kind of getting more acclimated to
things, kind of where is your thoughts with that?
I've, you know, feel like I, my life is on pause.
Yeah, you know what now it's starting to unpause it like
it's, it's, I'm getting the gearof it now because now I'm, it's,
it's, it's I would say your podcast, this conversation, it
(45:25):
gives me even now more motivation of doing things
really because it it it, it brought back so much memories on
how we I was doing things and I was like, you know what?
I, I, I don't think I'm, you know, I'm now I'm not losing it
anymore. You know what I found it.
(45:47):
I found again, I found the driveand like, and I love this, this
kind of conversation with other women across, you know, around
the world because and listening to your podcast, honestly, I
have to tell you, Erica, I love the different stories that you
featured in your podcast becauseI was like, how can I even do
that? It's amazing the different age
(46:09):
and they start all over again. So I said like, I'm not alone.
That's why when I when I was listening to and it's a lot of a
lot of episode, I start from thebeginning, but it's OK, I can do
this. I can do this episode for
episode. And then every now and then,
I'll jump up to your 30 things that you do, 30 things you want
(46:29):
to do or something. Yeah, I listened to that.
And then one of them is when youwent to, I think you crashed a
wedding or something. I was like laughing my head off.
It's like, this is amazing. So those are the things that I
was listening every now and then.
Then I'll go back to the podcast, but it gives me
actually an inspiration that it's OK to pause.
(46:49):
But then you, I, I get it again.And so now I've set up Now I'm,
I'm in the point of now that, you know, my office is kind of
like set up now. I'm not like lifting my computer
every night construction site kind of situation.
So I started to like settle things down.
The desk is settling in. And then I met new people here
(47:11):
that I can collaborate with. And these, these are like local
Filipinos that also live from abroad and came home and they
are doing their business. And then amazing people like
very, they're most, most of themare married to expats as well,
but they are driven and they're amazing and they're, they're,
(47:32):
they're, they're, they're such an inspiration basically.
So we found a core, core group of people that most of them are
from retired as well. So, and, and it helps for me to
like, you know what it's, it's, I got it again.
So I have it back. I got my, my, my mojo back.
(47:55):
And so now I have to now start I'm, I'm in the process of
building and opening a new business and it's more on the
personal Wellness. I have a Wellness studio when I
was in Canada and I want to do it here as well.
And because of the surrounding, we live in a, in a countryside
near the mountain. We're in the footed mountain.
(48:16):
So there's a lot of people from the city that goes and come here
during weekends just to get, getaway from the city, right.
And, and so I have this a lot ofideas about how can I make this
a business. And so I'm collaborating with a
lot of local businesses so that we can do together.
So I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm back, I'm,I'm there, my mojo is back.
(48:40):
And thanks to you, really, because it's give us so much, so
much inspiration that it's OK topause a little bit and look at
the bigger picture. And then really, really do
restart and do over do the do you know do over?
Well, Ellen, thank you for telling me that because that's
so encouraging for me that the, that the women's stories that
(49:02):
you've listened to have helped you and helped you get your mojo
back. You know, cuz sometimes you
think like, I don't know if somebody, you know, if our
people, yeah, like who is it helping anybody?
And until somebody says something and.
Trust me. So I just thank you for saying
that, Ellen. I really, really appreciate it
and I love. So it's been really cool to see
(49:24):
to just with like the travel stuff.
I think when we first connected your just even your your
Instagram page of of what you'redoing has really exploded.
You're traveling. Yeah, it's like, whoa, go Ellen,
get a girl. I was like.
Yeah. Yeah.
So she you're doing great with that.
I want to hear a little. So tell whatever you can share
(49:45):
about the the well business thatyour new business there and then
with your travel, your travel page, like kind of what if you
don't have long term ideas yet, but just like midterm ideas.
I want to hear about that and like where you're going with it.
And then we'll have to probably Fast forward and then I'll ask
you my last question too. So OK.
Well, like I said, it's it's also it's in my interest, like I
(50:07):
love, you know, health and Wellness.
So I'm planning to like a build a like almost like I would say
it's a sanctuary. I, I would like, I like that
word sanctuary, 'cause I feel like that's, that's your, you
know, your me, me time kind of place that I could, I could
(50:29):
offer to local or people that visiting 'cause we have a lot of
friends from North America. That's, you know, visiting.
I have actually one right now. I have a guest, a friend of mine
has been here with us. But, and just to share the
surrounding area, our area here because I love this place and
this and the whole Philippines basically.
There's so many things to do here and those are the things
(50:51):
that I'm thinking of. So I'm, I'm in the process of
like, you know, obviously creating a business plan and
doing it properly. And so I'm lining up my ducks in
a row so that when I would do it, it's I, I, I can do it
properly. At the same time, I can
incorporate my social media to those things that I, I, I do
here like changing, you know, remember the, the relocating
(51:16):
niche. And like, right now, it's like
how to hire, how to hire a contractor.
So I'm going to my Instagram is exploding.
So I'm going to move that. I'm going to focus more on my
YouTube because in the long form, you can do more,
obviously, because you can really help people in terms of
this is how how what you can expect if you move to this place
(51:38):
from, you know, from the Westernworld, from North America, These
are the things that can really help you or you know, I'm sure
I'm hoping that it will. Like you said, you don't know if
you're creating content that youput out there is like, do they
really watch? But it, it will, I think it's
because there's a lot of people that young and old that they,
they, they, they move, they try different places.
(52:00):
And I think because of social media, Philippines now is it
exploded for some reason. There's so many people here from
the Western world that lives here now and enjoying everything
that this country has to offer. And I'm so proud of that.
But sometimes there's a good, bad and bad side of that, you
know what I mean? Because it gets so overpopulated
(52:22):
in a way, and then it's so, so saturated.
But you know, and especially with travel blogs and, and
travel and like, you know, thosesolo travellers when they come
to the Philippines, they, they explore and they love it and
then stay here good and bad because it's obviously drive the
economy and everything. But we just have to embrace
(52:44):
everything. Yeah, that's awesome.
Well, I'm excited to see kind ofwhat happens with that, Ellen.
So you, you know, you had this travel bug from a super young
age and you got to explore living and working in a bunch of
different countries, landed in Toronto for a very long time at
your husband and life did not pan out exactly as what you
(53:06):
would hope for. And so you use that to pivot and
to say, OK, I'm going to be committed with my husband and
now I start this new business. Is this baby of a business or,
you know, like a baby, this business of of staging for
different homes. And you get burned out with
working in the corporate world, just all of a sudden quit.
(53:28):
And then your husband retires and you say we're moving across
the world, we're going to the Philippines.
While we can. One weekend.
Oh my goodness, one weekend. And how old?
How old are you now, Ellen? I am.
Wait, hang on, I'm 52. 52 Okay, so 52 has starting this whole
(53:48):
new life. I'll be 52 in October, so I
still have a little bit of feeling.
OK. You will be 52 in October.
OK, so 51 now. So at 51, just, I had this pause
and things just felt like a burnout and then that's being
ignited. It's new, it's fresh now.
And so I'd love to hear you helpencourage one woman who feels
(54:11):
blocked or limited to pursue a dream or a goal based on either
her specific age or a life circumstance.
What would you say to her? I would say for any woman in,
you know, listening out there, it's OK to feel that way.
It's OK to pause and assess the situation.
(54:31):
It's OK because we, you know, we, we get tired, especially as
a woman, there's so much expectations and so much
responsibilities for a woman. Like if you're a mother, if
you're a career person, it's OK to feel that your life is just,
it's stuck. It's OK to feel stuck sometimes.
And then this is an opportunity,I, I would say uses an
(54:54):
opportunity to step back really and focus on what you really
wanted to do. Because among the chaos around
you, when you do stop and look at the bigger picture, you will
see really what, what, what you really want to do and what's
important to you. And I know it's hard to make a
(55:14):
decision sometimes like that because there's so many factors.
If you have kids, you have, you know, you can't, you can't just
move like like we did. But at the same time, when you
stop and it's OK to feel that, that you know, you feel like
sometimes your life is not goinganywhere, that's OK.
Give a rest, like put your mind at ease and then open it again
(55:39):
and see the bigger picture and really focus on what you really
want to do and go for it. Just go for it.
Just try because if you don't, regrets will come in and you
don't want that, but just try. Try it.
It's you'll never know. I always say like you know what,
what, what, what's to lose? Go for it.
(55:59):
Go for it and try. You'll never know.
It will be something it will be.It could be a start of something
wonderful. Yes, I love that Ellen, thank
you so much. Please share where people can
find your YouTube and your travels on socials and all the
socials. Oh, thank you.
Well, me my page name is headingout to in Instagram.
(56:22):
You can find me also on YouTube with the same same channel name
heading out and I hope you guys will take a look at it and I'll
be posting more of the long formin this coming days.
So I hope you guys will connect and I hope we we see each other
again and enjoy. Thank you.
(56:43):
Yes, thank you. Well, Ellen, I just enjoyed our
chat. So you have a wonderful day
since you're just getting started and I'm closing out the
day, but thank you so much for joining me today on the More
Than Your Age podcast. Thank you, Erica.
It's such a pleasure. It is.
Bye. If you were encouraged by
today's episode, like and subscribe to this podcast, leave
(57:07):
a review and share this episode with a friend.
You can find me on all of the socials at More Than Your Age.
Keep striving for your goals, live fully, and we'll catch you
next time on the More Than Your Age podcast.
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