Cover Thelma San Juan then and now (Photo: Thelma San Juan)
Thelma San Juan then and now (Photo: Thelma San Juan)
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In a letter to her younger self, Thelma San Juan—journalist and founding editor of TheDiarist.ph—reflects on the lessons that shaped her career and life—on the wisdom of knowing what to hold onto, what to share, and what to leave behind
This story is part of the Letter to My Younger Self feature for Tatler’s March 2025 issue.
Dear younger self,
Like. Share. Delete.
That’s what I would have told my younger self to do, if only the apps existed in those days. Mark your moments as Like, Share, or Delete. Life could be that simple. You cherish and share people. You let go those you need to let go.
Travel light—because you are just passing through.
Moments come and go. People—even those you can’t seem to live without and have incredible fun with—come and go.
Like:
- Give back. Pay back. Look back. I cherish friends and colleagues who look back, know how to give back, yet move on with a grateful heart.
- Tennis. If only I started to play it at five years old…. Tennis’ life’s lessons: Move, then move on. Commit to a shot. Timing is everything. Know your opponent.
- Hard work lasts. Hype doesn’t.
- Work hard. Do marketing just as hard.
- Medicine or writing/journalism? Journalism. Coming out of my dark room studio where I was processing portraits, I was scolded by my lolo: “Are we sending you to college to be a photographer in Luneta? Told you to enroll in Medicine!”
- A happy memory…. The soul remembers.
Above A young Thelma San Juan (Photo: Thelma San Juan)
Above Thelma San Juan now (Photo: Thelma San Juan)
A young Thelma San Juan (Photo: Thelma San Juan)
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Share:
What I know now, but didn’t years ago…
- No such thing as free lunch.
- One marries not only for love, but for lifestyle. Famous designer/artist Budji, my good friend, loves to say this.
- Choose your battles. Cherish your victories. Cherish more your defeats because they recur.
- If someone says they can’t live without you, chances are, in truth, they can.
- Parenting could be overrated. A parent must learn to make herself expendable.
- You work, not really for a business firm, but for the character of one who leads the business.
- Know your grammar—and your profit/loss statement along with it. My lesson in publishing.
Above Thelma San Juan then (Photo: Thelma San Juan)
Thelma San Juan then (Photo: Thelma San Juan)
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Delete: Or what to let go of:
- Users
- Clutter. In your house. In your space. In your mind. In your heart.
- Sooner or later, you delete a name from your contact list. That’s life. That’s death.
Always,
Thelma
