It’s been a year since I landed in Manila, and life has come full circle. I’m back in my old routines but also welcomed some changes along the way. Some of them are: keeping up oral care while I wear braces, maintaining my newly groomed digitally permed hair, reviewing almost every single diner I have been to and being more active in content development, attending to a new church, being more analytical in shopping for garments and honing my presentation skills not only for work but also for events by hosting.
I also muster stronger faith each day in a Power greater than myself. Pouring my sentiments to God and to people I trust will take care of them helps me better comprehend things at hand. When I’m still unsure, I just listen to the Divine Power and pray to be open to what I hear. I can never predict where and when the message will come, so I stay receptive and aware.
Last weekend, I had a talk with myself. It went well. Here are bits of truth and realizations I’ve gathered from experience from the latter half of 2012 to date:
Real Scoop on Life After the Homecoming
1. You don’t know everything. Google might.
Recognize your own lack of knowledge and uselessness sometimes. That requires acceptance. There are so many things to learn in the world that a lifetime may not be enough to know them all alone. You can turn to books, experts, online forums and search engines.
Not knowing doesn’t mean you’re on the wrong track or chose the wrong profession or are hopelessly lazy. You may see yourself as someone small now, but take courage to lift up your eyes and soon you’ll know everything you have to know about your chosen subject.
2. Be yourself. You’re the only person truly qualified.
Be proud of your merits and stand your ground against the bigotry and ignorance around you. stop putting barriers where there shouldn’t be any. Or see shadows where there aren’t. Be confident and think that you are where you are through your own sweat and nobody else’s. You will be okay, whatever the “peanut gallery” may think.
Sit up and pay attention. Sit up and claim the pride that accepts you just as you are… and uses that pride to spur you on. Practice progress, not perfection.
3. When you find an individual or a group who gets to know you and accepts you for being yourself, treasure them. They’re rare.
Don’t settle for people who don’t give you things to say. Forever is a long time to make small talk.
Also, be the type of friend you want to have, even when you don’t feel like it. It’s called maturity. When you feel breathless, it would be instinctive to retreat alone. Sometimes that’s needed and good. Sometimes, it can be your way of grasping for control. So you need to treasure and accept yourself as the best friend you can have in a lifetime.
4. Maintaining a good exercise and fitness regime truly helps!
The type of physical exercise does not matter; just make sure to practice and perform it regularly and as frequently as you can. “No one said that it’s going to be easy. If it’s easy, then everyone would have done it.”
I confess that from the beginning, every time I plan to exercise, I ask myself why do I need to force myself to do it. I’m already satisfied with my body weight and shape, anyway. So why spend hours in training to feel body pain in the next days? Despite these questioning, I kept going.
No matter how hard you try to stay on track, slip-ups are part of the process. To clear your mind and also still have confidence to continue the battle, you have to stay fit both mentally and physically.
If I can’t train at that moment, I still do—in my mind. I swim, somersault, run, jump and fly. Then I remind myself to recalculate and take the next turn, with my inner voice scolding me like a GPS directing me to the right road.
5. Life is not a spectator sport. You have to play and watch concurrently to learn.
No one ever said it was going to make sense, this life. Yet we try to make it so. There’s no one size fits all and there are no guarantees. We may well fail because of having fuzzy, too many or unrealistic goals or simply poor planning. It happens and I’ve got to consider that. But if I do mess up, I don’t want it to be because I didn’t give it a darn good go. I live and still am trying to defy gravity. But I also have to teach myself to realize that a busy life is not equal to a full life.
About Rochkirstin Santos-Sioco
Health and technology freak. Food and lifestyle blogger with a large appetite for food and travel.
I guess every one’s the master of his or her life. Everyone has a say on how their destiny would end up and the people they get to treasure.
Yes, everyone is a master of his/her fate, and anyone will not win a Nobel Prize for coming around and embracing his/her fate without taking action and this include choosing the right circle to share life with.
It seems like you have a great start for a homecoming and you experiences and advises about life and living is really interesting and can be use as a simple guide to any person as an appropriate way to live life.
I’m happy to share my insights to you all. 😀
I substantiate with Be yourself. You’re the only person truly qualified.
Be natural and cool. Don’t try to be greater those who surrounds you or create misinterpretations.
The real you is the person you are when nobody is watching. To be yourself, don’t worry about yourself. It’s only when you analyze how you come across to others and what others are thinking about you that behavior modification seems appealing. When you look at others with yourself in mind, it’s like using them as a mirror – you try to see yourself through their eyes and adjust the image accordingly.
wow! that’s a real good self-assessment. You’re still you and have many more years ahead of you, personally and with your career. Good luck and keep it up, cheers!
Thank you, Gigi. Having a set of lessons I’ve learned keeps me grounded to follow good standards to reach my goals. 🙂
Very nice reflection . I would love to concentrate on accepting that we don’t know everything . a lot of us pretend to be a master or the all knowing person that sometimes lead to tragedy . It’s nice to accept our limitations.
True. I believe that when you want to make a positive change and you voice it out to the universe, the universe helps you. So if you don’t know what path to take to make your wishes come true or how to get there, educate yourself and ask experts. I’ve been doing this since college actually and well, what do you know, help comes my way every time.
you can also ask someone first who is expert on that matter, do not let your pride hinder you to ask some questions
Yes. Also, don’t let pride hinder you from realizing your problems.
lahat naman tayo, may kanya kanyang kahinaan at kalakasan. peru d maipagkakaila na sa mundong ito kailanagan nating maging bukas sa ibat ibang idea. .
Your words are somehow related to this moral: Love yourself for you, don’t aim to please others. Don’t base your happiness off of other people’s acceptance of you.
I admire people who have time to truly contemplate on things that actually affect one self and working on their purpose in life. I wish you more power on your future endeavors.
Thanks, Marri. 🙂 I do this especially when I’m bored or just emotional. ^^
I believe that we have to treasure the people that became part of our life and fully accepted of who we are.
Well, it’s also good to surround yourself with people who constantly challenge you.
I would always want to stay healthy and have proper exercise.
But sometimes, I cheat on my workout days.
I hope I can maintain.
Hehe like dieting, there must be a day to go binge-eating. I think you can also have a “cheat day” for your active exercise routines, to let muscles rest once in a while.
It’s interesting how many people (this is an anecdote) forget that being fit and healthy is an important part of being happy and having a happy life. All valid points, and all worthy of remembering. Good post 🙂
Thanks, Jason. 🙂
As for me, I do not depend on what others might say but I accept certain comments whether positive or negative as long as it will make me grow more as a person. in any case, we are still the master of our lives and we make our own fate, that’s for sure!
If we put a significant amount of our attention on how we are growing internally and make certain we are doing those things that are necessary to support our growth and development, we can really accelerate the process.
We should not stop learning. Sometimes, it is just our pride when we think we know it all. We need to humble down ourselves to grow. I had experienced number 3, and distanced myself from that environment to have time to reflect in solo and know more about myself.
If we look around we realize life never stops teaching us something so we should not stop learning; everyday there are opportunities to learn something new.