YOUR true north is finding yourself as the hero of your own life story. Here is how it goes. Love yourself first. How can you give something you don’t feel? Then love those closest to you. When there is practice and experience from loving your family, then you are ready to give love to your community. Then go bigger and love your country. Let that love become service.
Self-love begins with accepting the whole of who you are — the strengths and weaknesses, the victories and mistakes, the parts you celebrate and the parts you are still learning to understand. To love yourself is to forgive your imperfections rather than fight them, because they are part of what makes you uniquely you. When you know your own worth, you no longer need the noise of the world to tell you who you are. You can stand firmly in yourself, and from that place, give generously to others.
That is how love naturally expands: from within to the people closest to us, to the communities we belong to, and eventually to the country we share. It is not a forced progression. It is a natural one, like the widening circles created when a stone touches water. The center matters because everything radiates from it.
I learned that early. Being a middle child, I learned to love and serve my older siblings. They were my first outer circle. Later, I had the privilege of helping my father in the province. There, I saw service up close — not as an idea, but as a way of being present for people, understanding their needs and doing what I could to help. It nurtured me and gave me the happiness of public service.
That early experience grew into a life of service. I was fortunate to serve as undersecretary of energy, board trustee of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, special fintech consultant of CEZA, highly technical consultant of DICT, director IV in cybersecurity, and finally, deputy executive director V of the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center.
Each chapter added something to me: experience, knowledge, relationships, perspective and a deeper understanding of responsibility. The roles changed, but the purpose remained. My desire to serve did not disappear with changing circumstances. It matured. What began with instinct and youthful enthusiasm became more focused, discerning and intentional. That is also why finding your true north requires knowing yourself well enough to resist being carried away by everything around you. We live in an age of relentless trends, instant opinions, endless commentary and constant digital noise. Much of it is designed to capture attention, not deepen understanding. There is courage in stepping back from the clanging crowd and choosing what is truly worth your attention. Not every trend needs to become your direction. Not every opinion needs to become your belief. Not every loud voice deserves a place in your mind.
To know yourself is to develop that inner filter. You can appreciate what is new without becoming captive to it. You can listen without being swept along. You can engage without losing your center.
This is where being the hero of your own story becomes real. It is not about being the most important person in the room. It is about owning your choices. I decide what deserves my energy, what aligns with my values, where my experience can be useful and how I can turn what I have been given into something meaningful for others.
Today, that calling continues in different forms. I serve as a board trustee of the Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Association Philippines and co-chairman of HKSWAN, its women’s special interest group. As a Magsaysay, I am also active in the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation, continuing a family legacy of service.
These experiences have taught me that a life worth living is not built around titles. It is built around alignment: who you are, what you love, what you value and what you choose to give. When those things come together, service becomes more than a role. It becomes a way of life.
And perhaps that is the greatest privilege of all — to know yourself, to love yourself, to love the people around you and to let that love become useful in the world.
Love yourself. Love those closest to you. Love your community. Love your country. Let that love become service. I am the hero of my story. And the story is still being written. There is still much to experience, learn, create, love and give.
That is a life worth living.
Mary Rose Lourdes Enciso Magsaysay, MPA CISO CEH, is a public servant, cybersecurity professional and educator.
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