PCOS in the Workplace: The Day My Pain Found a Purpose
If you had met me a year ago, you wouldn’t have thought I would be speaking in front of an audience about women’s health. Not because I didn’t care. But because at that time, I was still trying to understand my own. On April 10, something unexpected happened. It was supposed to be just another day, until I realized it wasn’t. It marked exactly one year since I wrote my very first blog for PCOS Millennials. One year since the morning I found myself sitting quietly, overwhelmed, crying without fully understanding why. One year since I felt like my own body had become something unfamiliar. And on that same day, I was given the opportunity to become a guest speaker for an event organized by the Department of Science and Technology. I paused when I realized the timing. Because out of all the days it could have happened, it happened on my anniversary. The same date that once held confusion, fear, and quiet pain had now become a moment of purpose. A year ago, I was asking questions I couldn’t answer. “Bakit parang may mali sa akin?” “Bakit hindi ko maintindihan ang nangyayari sa katawan ko?” “Normal pa ba ito?” There were no clear explanations back then. No easy answers. Just a feeling that something wasn’t right, and the weight of not knowing what to do next. And yet, there I was—one year later standing in front of professionals, leaders, and employees, speaking about something that once made me feel so lost: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. It didn’t feel like just another speaking engagement. It felt like a full-circle moment. The same experience that once broke me in silence had slowly become the reason I could speak with clarity. And maybe, just maybe, help someone else understand what they’re going through.