** Intro **

As you may know… I am a Filipino man myself. And let me tell you something right now…

OUR TRANSPORTATION IS ACTUALLY TERRIBLE.

Like genuinely awful. Horrendous. Spiritually exhausting. I’m convinced commuting in the Philippines is less of a transportation system and more of a daily social experiment to see how much suffering a human being can tolerate before mentally leaving their body.

And the crazy part? EVERY Filipino says this.

You ask literally anybody: “Hey bro how’s traffic?”

And they’ll look at you like you just reopened an old wound.

Ever since I was a little stress-free kid with absolutely ZERO responsibilities, all I ever heard from adults was: “Traffic sucks.” “Our transportation sucks.” “The commute is horrible.”

And now fast forward several years later…

THEY ARE STILL SAYING THE EXACT SAME THING.

Same complaints. Same suffering. Same people slowly aging inside jeepneys.

Like at some point you start wondering if traffic in the Philippines is just a permanent law of nature. Right beside gravity and death.

And growing up, I never fully understood it because as a kid you’re just existing. You don’t care. You sit in the car, look outside, maybe eat crackers or something. Life is beautiful.

But once YOU become the commuter?

Oh. OH THAT’S when the character development starts.

Suddenly you understand why adults sounded defeated all the time.

Because there is NOTHING more humbling than waking up early just to spend 2 hours moving 3 kilometers. That’s not transportation anymore. That’s a hostage situation.

** I hate myself and this **

This is literally mental torture at this point.

And it’s EVEN WORSE right now because it’s summer in the Philippines.

BRO IT IS SO HOT OUTSIDE.

I’m not even exaggerating when I say I genuinely feel like a piece of chicken slowly rotating inside a convenience store oven. Like every commute feels like I’m being professionally cooked alive. Sweat everywhere. The air feels thick. The UV rays are personally targeting me specifically for existing.

And then you step into a crowded jeepney or train?

OH MY GOD.

Now you got 40 people sharing one molecule of oxygen while the heat outside is trying to turn Metro Manila into the surface of the sun.

And after all these years… NOTHING changes.

That’s the part that slowly destroys your spirit.

Because eventually you stop getting angry and just become tired. Like genuinely tired on a spiritual level. You start losing hope because the people in charge somehow do absolutely NOTHING. Or if they do something, it somehow makes everything feel exactly the same.

Traffic is like a permanent virus in this country.

A generational curse.

You grow up hearing about it. You experience it yourself. And then one day you realize your future kids are probably gonna hear the exact same complaints.

That is HORRIFYING.

Sometimes I get home after commuting and I just sit there staring at the wall with that thousand-yard stare like I just came back from war.

Because commuting here genuinely feels like a survival game.

And it’s not even JUST the transportation itself. It’s the commuters too.

Now obviously I understand WHY people are irritated. Everybody’s exhausted. Everybody’s sweaty. Everybody wants to go home. I get it.

BUT SOME PEOPLE ACT LIKE THEY’RE SHOCKED THAT IT’S CROWDED.

Like bro… YOU entered the crowded vehicle. YOU saw the crowd. YOU are PART OF the crowd.

So why are you acting surprised when another human being exists 2 centimeters away from you?

I’ve seen people elbowing each other. Pushing each other. Getting aggressive over literal inches of space that DO NOT EXIST.

I even got elbowed in my right arm once for absolutely no reason.

And the worst part is nobody even reacts anymore because this behavior is so normalized. Everybody just accepts the daily suffering like: “Yep. This is life now.”

WHICH IS INSANE WHEN YOU ACTUALLY THINK ABOUT IT.

It’s a living hell on earth if you ask me. It’s a pay to win system and I’m broke as fuck

** Reflections **

Back then when I first got a job, I was actually excited.

Like genuinely excited.

I was sitting there thinking: “Oh yeah… this is it. New chapter. New life. I’m ready for new challenges. I’m about to become a functioning adult.”

BRO I THOUGHT I WAS THE MAIN CHARACTER.

Fast forward 3 years later?

Now I’m sitting inside public transportation at 7AM fighting for my life while accidentally inhaling the scent of a random stranger’s armpit that has clearly gone through several character arcs already.

And in that exact moment all I can think is: “Man… I was NOT ready for this.”

Nobody tells you that a huge part of adulthood in the Philippines is just slowly losing your sanity during commutes.

You leave the house already exhausted somehow. Then you enter a packed vehicle where everybody is sweating like they’re trapped inside a microwave. Now your face is 3 inches away from somebody’s shoulder. Another guy’s backpack is violating your ribs. And there’s ALWAYS one dude watching TikToks at maximum volume like he’s hosting a public viewing event.

THIS is the challenge? THIS is the “grind”?

Because if so, I would like to unsubscribe immediately.

And the craziest part is eventually your standards collapse completely.

Back then I used to dream about career growth and success.

Now my biggest daily goal is: “Please let me get home without smelling somebody else’s body odor for 2 straight hours.”

That’s it. That’s the dream now.