Updated 2025

|| Double Shifts, Single Flame ||

Hi Kim,

Thank you for your time. I’m doing very good. How are you doing? Winnipeg is very nice place specially this summer season. I am from Philippines. I came here in Winnipeg last September 04, with my husband and two children as an immigrant. Winnipeg is our first stop, I worked before in Qatar as a Registered Nurse, but I left my family in the Philippines so I decided to apply as Manitoba Nominee through the sponsorship of my brother.

Here is my Benchmark Score: Listening – 5, Speaking – 6, Reading – 6, Writing – 6

I never tried IELTS or Celban Examination before. This is my first time, that’s why I’m very nervous because I heard a lot of comments about the exam. There are times that I want to give up because I’m not sure if I can do it. At present, I have double job so it’s hard for me to study but I’m really trying my best. I just want to ask you some tips on how to study like how many hours a day and how many months I need to study before the date of exam. I would be very grateful if you could help me with my journey. I really appreciate your questions about myself and spending time with me.

Sincerely, L

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Dear L,

There’s a quiet kind of bravery in your letter. The kind that speaks not in big declarations, but in the steady heartbeat of someone who keeps going: despite the doubt, despite the double shifts, despite the dreams that feel far away.

I want to hold space for you here. Not with answers alone, but with attunement. Let’s move through your message together, one spiral at a time.

🜄 Return to Self

Sometimes the most courageous thing is to admit you’re tired.

You left behind one life to begin another. You brought your children, your husband, and the hopes of your whole family with you to a new place. And now, between two jobs and a thousand responsibilities, you carry the pressure to “make it” in a system that often feels unclear, unforgiving, and unfamiliar.

It makes sense that you’re tired.
It makes sense that you feel unsure.
And it makes deep sense that your nervous system whispers, maybe I should give up.

But I see something stronger in you than that whisper.

Even now, when part of you is afraid you can’t do it; you wrote. You reached out. You asked for support. This is the beginning of returning to your own heart, where the dream first lived.

🜁 Fog to Clarity

When everything feels too much, come back to what’s true.

You asked: How long should I study? How many hours a day?

These are good questions, and they deserve kind answers.

The truth is:
⟡ The more time you can give, the faster the path.
⟡ The less time you have, the more patient you’ll need to be.
⟡ And every moment you do study, even ten minutes, still counts.

Your Benchmark scores are a beginning, not a sentence. They show that you’re capable… and that there’s room for growth. That’s all. Not failure. Just information.

There’s a study plan made for people like you: people with full lives, limited hours, and a dream still intact. You are not alone.

🜃 Rooted in Enoughness

You are not behind; you are becoming.

The story you carry (of Qatar, of immigration, of reunion with your family) is already evidence of your resilience. You are not someone who gives up. You are someone who adapts.

Let’s hold that truth in your body.
Let’s name that even now – even in doubt – you are enough.

You are not failing because you feel tired.
You are not falling behind because the process is slow.
You are simply in the middle of becoming.

Even nurses need care.
Even caregivers need to be held.
So if no one has told you today: you’re doing more than fine. You’re doing beautifully.

🜂 Rekindling the Inner Fire

The fire has not gone out; it just needs tending.

The dream didn’t leave you. It just got quiet under the noise of survival.

And now you’re remembering.

Why did you become a nurse in the first place? What do you love about that part of you? Let that memory warm your spirit again. Let it remind you why this journey matters. Not because of the exam. Not because of external success. But because it’s your calling; and, it’s waiting to rise again.

Let the fire come back gently. Not as pressure, but as promise.

🜀 Standing at Zenith

Where your story, your struggle, and your soul all meet.

This is not just about test preparation. This is about learning how to hold your wholeness in a system that often demands fragments. This is about becoming a nurse in Canada – yes – but also remaining yourself in the process.

You are not required to be perfect.
You are only invited to be present.

So we walk together now… from fog to clarity, from survival to strength, from exhaustion to integration. You have not lost your way. You are standing at the center of your own spiral.

And I am here, walking beside you.

In reverence and solidarity,
~ Kim

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|| AMAZING!!! I passed the CELBAN!!! || Mastering Your Psychology ||

Enouragement

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