A New Habit

Yet again, another long weekend made an occurrence in the month of November. These long weekends really soothes me in every way possible, and I always make the most out of the seconds I receive so regardless of how unproductive I become, it’s in those wee moments that I get to achieve serenity at its best. 

And usually, it is through those times that I get the habit of thinking. Not the usual over-thinking dilemma that I have yet to resolve, but that sort of thinking where you just reflect on how you were able to go to wherever you are now. Since I’ve spent a significant amount of time lingering into the past, I want to take this opportunity to write about the lessons I have learned over the years. Hopefully, I’ll be able to reflect on this post come the next 5th of November and make a new list of lessons learned.

1) Always have an emotional outlet. Always.

Writing has always helped me regain myself back into reality. I’m the type of person who stores emotions but we often lose control of our capabilities to contain once those compiled emotions starts to leak out the silo. Which is why it is imperative that you always have an outlet that you run to whenever the world just seems so blur to look at. Whether it be writing on your blog, communicating to your friends over alcohol, or discharging it via music — make sure that these avenues remain accessible within reach so that you’d always know when to move forward.

2) Write to express, not to impress.

Like I always say, I am not a stellar writer nor am I a grammar junkie, but I still write nonetheless. It was never about how I write that mattered to me, it was always about the feeling I get whenever my complex thoughts are put into comprehending words. 

I do envy people who writes extremely well but if there’s one thing I learned from writing in this blog for the past years, its that you know you’ve become a better writer the moment you write about the things that really do matter.

3) Take a break from the technological world

As humans, socializing is part of our need to survive. But due to the rapid technological progress, the socializing process has been replaced by a mere application, that offers the same outcome, usually abused due to its convenience.

We do appreciate all these innovations but it doesn’t hurt to stop jabbing your keyboard and to actually say what you want to say personally and genuinely.

Veer away from your addiction to social media platforms and start living the photos you view and like in Facebook or in Tumblr. The people out there is just as interesting as the people you meet in the digital world.

Make it personal. 

4) Attend parties and events. Participate.

For this year alone, I’ve attended several parties that really made a huge blow in my perception towards parties. Having that strict of a lifestyle — which means going home before 12am — caused me to mostly shun away certain invitations and given that the real party starts at 12am, I guess I’ve never legitimately participated in one.

But this year was different. 

For the first time in my 21st year of existence, I was able to literally dance the night away with just the right amount of alcohol to invigorate my introverted self. That epic moment left me paralyzed for a week or two as I kept myself hanging by the threads of euphoria. 

So you see, try everything at least once. If you never try, you’ll never really know so go have a great party!

5) Be sensitive and never take things for granted

We all have a number of people in our mind that we can consider as the pillars of our personal stature, and we do show them their importance by showing them various ways of affection. Once reciprocated, our gleam illuminates further and our stronghold becomes fortified. 

But have we ever thought about the people that have endlessly showed their contribution but have been neglected by the sides? Remember, the way we are right now is not only because of the people who nurtured us, but it is also because of the people who remains to stay by our side and never failing to guide us the way. 

Let us show appreciation.

6) Understand people for their indifferences

Not all people operate the same way as ourselves. I’m sure that we all have encounter perfect opposite version of ourselves: listening to music that we dislike, not having the same outlook towards travel, indifferences on opinions, and the list goes on and on, but is this enough reason to isolate ourselves from these kinds of people? In Psychology, they always say that we flock with people of the same feather but I believe that we need doses of different companies to broaden the scope of our worldview. 

The only way we could understand the grand scheme of things is through learning from people’s experiences. Therefore, we should never settle in creating relationship with those of similarities but also open our doors fully to uniquely different individuals. 

7) Give time for yourself

This is one thing that should never be crossed out in the list of things to do. We can’t always be super humans no matter how much we believe that we can. We git exhausted too and we have to accept that fact. Give yourself a well deserved rest.

8) Create snapshot of memories

Always bring a camera whenever necessary. No matter how small a gathering is or how “unphotogenic” you look, make sure that you have the proper equipment to capture those candid moments. A day just seems to be more amusing with a camera ready at hand, and I’m sure every avid photography fan would say that there is nothing compared to that feeling when you capture that exact photo you envision it to be.

Make those moments memorable.

9) Don’t sulk yourself in negativity

This doesn’t help you in any way. I can attest to this strongly. Not worth investing your time in. I don’t even want to write about this topic. 

Piece of advise though, always look on the bright side of things whenever everything seems to be crumbling down. Difficult, yes, but very much possible.

10) Your educational attainment do not always dictate what career you are going to have

We don’t always have to abide or limit ourselves to the educational degree that we enroll ourselves in. I know that your college degree should be the foundation of your future career but we all enter a certain trance that allows us to think over what we really want to be, and some people remains to stay on track whilst the rest just seems to falter away. Even so, getting lost in your primary path was never a bad thing.

We sometimes get lost in order to find the right way, and those who get lost are sometimes the most successful. I know that It’s difficult to have a sudden change of career path but you’ll surely reap the rewards once you realize that this is exactly what you want to do. 

11) Sing like crazy 

Everyone close to me would know that I am a frustrated singer. I have this unwavering passions towards singing no matter how off tune I could be. I even respond in a song at times but who cares? The world is our stage.

The glasses can break and you could even cover your ears if you want to, but I’ll never get tired of singing my heart out. 

12) Conquer your fear

I’ve been afraid of roller coasters ever since I rode that heart pounding Revenge of the Mummy ride in Universal Studious Florida. I told myself that time that I’ll never again ride another roller coaster in my entire life because of the trauma I acquired but here I am, standing confidently in front of roller coasters. A living testimony that man is still stronger than any contraption of steel.

The memories still fresh in the back of my mind: I was unwillingly dragged inside by words of comfort that doesn’t seem to have any effect. Then I was strapped on the uncomfortable seat holding intensely towards the bars that is preventing us from falling, sweating every inch of fear inside of me. Then the ride started. The speed. The fall. The darkness. The only difference was, I was screaming from the top of my lungs, and that made it all different. 

See, the only difficult part is in conquering your fear is jumping over that hurdle then once your feet is on the other side, the rest of your body will smoothly follow. 

13) Trust your own instinct.

We often outweigh our own ideas because of the unending influence that surrounds us and more often that not, we give more credit to that rather than our own.  Think first and listen to your own. It’s not wrong to be significantly different from the decision of the group. True friends will listen to you no matter how much of a minority you are. 

14) Don’t just hear, listen.

Other people get comfort by knowing that you listen to them, and not just hearing them out. There’s a difference so make sure that you intake what your friends are saying and respond accordingly. 

Everyone needs advices. 

15) Be open - not experiencing how you felt doesn’t mean that they won’t understand you

This is mainly the reason why I find it difficult to hold myself from going into that state of depression. I have come in closed terms that problems are uniquely given to us, and that regardless of how diverse and complex it is, it helps to just vent it all out.

Let’s not forlorn over matters that we can give solution to.

Just be open, the world is ready to listen. 

16) Stop every once in a while 

It’s okay to look back. 

I rest my case on that statement alone.

17) Don’t just let dreams be dreams

Every time your eyes see something worth achieving, make sure you make an effort to attain it. Don’t allow yourself to just stare out of hopelessness. There’s a reason why people become successful as they are, and luck don’t play a part in those games. It was because of their undying determination that assured them of getting home the bacon.

18) Pray

We all need divine intervention at times. There are some cases where it’s just too much to bear and you lose yourself at the moment. One thing I never forget though, that I’m never alone in this process. 

We never are, we never will be.

So just close your eyes, kneel, and start talking to Him. He’s ready to listen anytime, anywhere, any day.

19) Travel

Travel. Explore. Discover. I say it over and over again, traveling is a feeling like no other. 

20) Never stop searching

Whether it be a place, a thing, or a person. There is somewhere, something, or someone out there that is perfect for us.

Never get tired of searching. Time will come where you’d know what it feels like to be found.