The Woman That You Are

You will never be the woman you envy. 

As you read that line, her face comes to mind. Her expressive eyes, her lips when they curve into a smile. You remember the vigor she has or that gentleness in her when she walks. You remember her bright ideas. You remember her quietness. You remember her enthusiasm at life. You remember the way she is hopeful and light, or that reserved spirit that makes her a mystery. Why does she have to be this feminine? Why does she have to walk on the career path you want for yourself? All these features you remember with ache, all images quiet insults against your confidence. 

She could be anyone to you— the top student from gradeschool, that woman on a famous TV series, your best friend, your love’s past flame, or the woman he loves. She may be someone you know closely or someone who is unaware of you. 

But she’s always there. 

When you shop and look at yourself in the mirror, “do I get to look a little more like her?” or when you run downstairs in a hurry, making sure you project a completely different person, a person who could be more than her or could be from a completely different pole... she’s there. You do your best to take her out of your system, you try your best to find her in you.

But within you is you.

As you remember her, the soul within you hopes for the day you would recognize you. Oh, that you’d see that you have a sweet way in you, that you gasp when you see something you find lovely, or that you’d know that that gentle smile in your eyes is enough of an expression. The woman in you waits for you to express your unique artistry, or that you’d know that your dark eyes which are too deep or too small beholds a million stories. You like dancing but your feet won’t coordinate with the beat of the music, but still, you are your own fun person. Do you recall your best childhood memories running around hiding behind trees under the moonlight? 

You may try to be her, the woman you envy. But within you is an irreplaceable being only you can embody. And you are enough. That soul doesn’t limit you from admiring and crowning other women with words that they deserve, no, you don’t. Your soul even hopes that you could be inspired by her, but your soul hopes that as you recognize all these other women’s feats, you’d recognize yours as well. I hope you see that your cage locks you away from your own light. I hope you see that the woman in you is worth fighting for, worth believing, worth living up to. 

You are your own season. You are your own form. You are your own story. And you, you are enough to be free, to be celebrated, to be loved. 

Just as when you were created, He already knew your inward parts, knew your substance even when you were yet unformed (Psalm 139). You have been created with wisdom. You have been created with love. That makes you enough. 

So, no, you will not be her, but someone better for the life you own. You have always been designed to be you. 

Authencity is the best form of beauty

With all the perceptions of beauty, talent, intellect, and stuff that make people admirable, I am deeply concerned about people who are being shaken by the "What's-up" and the "What's-cool" stuff that they tend to prefer trendiness over authenticity. Everyone wants to be liked.

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What makes a person beautiful? What makes a person smart? What makes a person talented? What makes a person admirable? If I have every single human in this planet answer these questions, surely, I'd get tons of perceptions and opinions which are totally irrelevant to determining a person's worth. And if in that case, they're all gonna be irrelevant then why should I still ask? Just to prove that there's no such thing as stan...dards!!! a phenomenon I'm so annoyed with. People who know me deeply would understand that I perceive standards as completely destructive lists that tend to summon people to try to become who they are not (if someone could just hear the snappiness of my tone, they would know how this is suffocating for me). My desire is for people to understand their worth apart from other people's judgments.

Authenticity is beautiful. For the record, it is not just a cliche statement people have used to comfort people who are perceived not to have it all, it is true and man... it is just true. I've never seen anyone who is just being his/her true self ugly, no matter who they are or where they coming from. I actually find it brave and beautiful. It makes me appreciate the diversity among humans, and the preciousness of each one. I find it uglier (sorry for the word, but) when people try to be who they're not. It makes me puke, it makes me want to go on life coaching them.

Preach, Skate, preach. Hear ya. But seriously, I know I am imperfect and most times I have this little pot of envy boiling within me towards other people who seem to have it all, but then I look back to how I was crafted and I realize that it is vanity and to futility to try to be like someone else because I am from a completely different makeup, with completely different gifts, social circles, upbringing, and all these that piece our identity. Trying to fit in to the point of conforming is a fruit of wanting to be desired, it is ego at work.

It is not sheer incompetence that people copy other people and plagiarize other people's crafts, it is from a high level of insecurity that people try to come up with the same stuff other people already came up with. It is a declaration that they don't know who they are or what they can do, they just end up going through the same thing other people have already done--thinking they would be liked better using other people's intellect under their names.

It is not merely jealousy that people try to beautify themselves the way the society thinks people should be beautiful, it is a mixture of the lack of knowledge about one's personal identity and the lack of confidence on who they really are. Things which if I try to tie up, I would not get to the end of.

Getting admiration and affection from someone is a great thing. It is among our many human needs. But we don't need everyone's approval to fill in that need. What is the difference of getting the greater mass's approval from getting only a handful's, but whose thoughts for the authentic you are authentic feelings--which most likely will last? Big. Sure, it's fun to get all the other people notice and praise you, but at the end of the day, you're replaceable with all the other clones that the society's standards produced. Compare it to being liked by very few people whose affections are deeper and truer, this is definitely priceless. It's the fact of being loved and being found with a worth when you least expect it, when you're in your rawest.

They say there's no new thing under the sun, and how's that? I'm not saying you try to come up with something new. Originality doesn't equate to authenticity. Authenticity is being who you truly are. And there might be others who are like you, and it doesn't mean that you're imitating them just because you ended up with the same interests and style. I'm just saying for you to live according to who you really are. And it's beautiful if we all just stop caring (because sadly, some people will continue judging), but practice the beauty and fearfulness of our inner to outer selves.

I hope all the women in the world would just be confident in their own skin. Because we are all beautiful, we are all loved, and we have a great capacity to love. Also sending this to the guys out there, you are all beautiful and lovely.

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Dapitan

(Late Post)

I'm sort of posting all at once since I haven't done so the time just after the trips happened.

Last August, we went somewhere down the country. What I loved about the place is that everything's cheap, the people are so accommodating and kind, it isn't polluted, the people are disciplined (eg. they don't smoke, they don't litter in the streets, etc), and it's a really very beautiful place!

Here are a few snaps from Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte:

Traveled with this girl. That mini structure behind (at the left of) her is the mini airport of Dipolog. Really cool!

Yes, rides have days off. Cool, right?

*craves* MARAAAANG. This is among what I miss the most. You can buy this there for very low prices. It's just difficult to transport this one because it's a very delicate fruit. I am so thankful I have lotsa free of this everyday I was there!

Flower power. Really very lovely sight in front of a local church there.

Halo-halove you! (They have really yummy halohalo's there!)

That's the way

Where to go

Locals in the afternoon

Monument of Dr. Rizal by the Dapitan beach. This is actually a very historical place bec this is where Dr. J. Rizal (Pinoy national hero) landed when he was exiled.

Looking for dinner (Yep! I asked him what he was doing)

Restless feet

Calm waters! Layers of waves. I am in love. (Writing this makes me drool for adventures!)

Portrait of a lone wanderer.

*cries* Make me lie here once more

Felt this under my feet while I was dipping my feet. The sun was setting at this time. So much love! Really.

Dapitan beach at its finest. It was surrounded by trees and mini mountains. I am just craving for it once more.

Kid enjoying her freedom. Just because... she should!

I am just so amazed at the vastness of wonders that one is bound and yet to discover. There is just one big planet to explore yet, and I am so happy and feeling free to be starting these adventures at this age. 

Poem on Lovely Things

I wait for joyful things,

The greens and yellows,

And those long wanderings.

I expect good seasons,

The sun in summers,

And the rains when it pours.

I love smiles and laughters,

The short holidays,

And those wild adventures.

I breathe in melodies, 

The sound of dry tears,

And the tuned memories.

You're Not Made For Sadness

Melancholy can be beautiful, and it is easily associated to poetry. With so much drama, tears, and brokenness... the beautiful words happen. Even if we admit it or not, most of us have this great pull towards sadness. Sometimes, we just have to feel our heart pierced for us to feel the life in us. That's understandable, I am always like that. It even had me falling for a guy who has this certain quality of sadness. Other people's sadness attracts us--it makes us feel like we're superheroes who can redeem someone from their pain, or if not a superhero, a compatible soul--another lonely heart.

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After a long time, I have realized that there's something wrong with how I deal with pain. Pain is absolutely paradoxically lovely. It squeezes all the rains and the gloomy seasons from us, but it is not a state to be stuck in or to live in. It is true that it is an event in someone's life but it isn't true that we can live there forever.

I am a Christian and I believe that God has bought me with a very precious price--the blood of Jesus, but I have to admit that I have a lot of unresolved things in my heart that need to be addressed. I indulge in the lies of bitterness, sorrow, anger, and false hopes. And then, I realized it's tiring. Where could this get me? Aside from the fact that it pulls me away from the greater plans God has built for me, all these black feelings shove me away from genuine joy--a gift I have always had.

Hugot has been ubiquitous in my life for the past months. Certain words, phrases, events remind me of things that I shouldn't think of. As a Psychology student, I tried to study this phenomenon once--the idea of certain words or happenings opening certain folders in the memory, therefore eliciting emotions into action. From this, I have learned that what matters most to us easily gets retrieved from the memory files (I honestly can't remember if I have learned this from someone else or if it's a personal hypothesis). Then, if I easily retrieve memory files that cause me grief it means that what's on the surface of my core is bitterness and the spirit of the inability to move on.

I realized I don't want sadness anymore. It's time I step out of it and bid my farewell to it. I am more than the past that keeps me buckled into it. Because of these things, I can hardly move forward, I can hardly get anywhere. Everyday, I walk the earth as I remain in that stuck phase where I am in.

God didn't forbid anyone to experience sorrow though; in fact, He understands us. What we have left to do is to entrust the Lord with our healing. The pain is not ours alone.

Psalm 147:3 says, "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."

The Lord is in the business of healing us from moment to moment. It is not our job to bandage ourselves. We can do all these steps to move forward and away from sadness, but God has mightier hands than those that we have.

From all these things, I have resolved to seek and see the beauty of God, and be inspired and driven by His love more than by anything else at all. If I bask before the beauty of the Most Wonderful, it would be lighter to walk the realm of this life. From these, I conclude that I was not made for loneliness. I was made for joy, worship, and true and unfailing hope.