Thankful for every waking morning. ❤️

My risen Lord reminds me that He can save us from anything and that He will get me through it all. Life has been far from normal for the past three months but I take comfort in knowing there's an end to pain and suffering. I may feel like dying every night but I'm thankful for every waking morning. That's my opportunity to rise and be as normal as I can be.

The risen Lord also reminds me of looking forward to joy after every pain. 


This Holy Week, I had the chance to go on an out of town trip. That was almost three days of kain tulog and a time to bond with my crazy family albeit the challenge of being on my 48th and 49th day of medication. We couldn't afford to forget any of my medicines and Mommy contacted a nurse for my 48th and 49th time of painful injection. 


But indeed there is joy in every sunrise. There is joy in feeling the heat of the sun as it touches my skin, yes there is joy in hearing the sound of the waves as I drift off to sleep, there is joy in feeling the sand as it tickles my toes. For there is joy in being with the crazy fam bam.



 "I don't show the world how I suffer. I show them how I rise even if it feels like dying every effin' night." ~Maki





The 180degree turn. #thestruggleisreal

Before anything else, this one's quite long, an incomplete account of how the first two months of 2016 almost knocked me down. Since I was on a writing hiatus, keeping this short is also a challenge.

Yes the struggle was real and it is still here and it pains me. Big time. Every fucking night. But I have to :) to keep going.

Exactly a month today since my freedom from my 5-day hospital imprisonment, I am slowly getting back in shape. For 30 days now, I'm taking 5,000mg of antibiotics, so please spare me and don't ever think that I'm overdoing things when I find it hard to walk on a normal pace, when I hallucinate, when I feel dizzy anytime of the day, when I throw up. You won't like how it feels and I won't wish you the same thing.

Posting this gives me a sense of relief, like it's a way of coping from how painful the past 60 days have been. There are times I feel fine talking about the experience, the reason behind the neck wound, and the string of events prior to the biopsy that took its toll on my physical body.

Then there are times it feel bad when I have to explain to people and feel the need to warn them that hey it's not a communicable disease so don't stay away from me.

Before February started, it was against my will to undergo the procedure for fear that it might be malignant. I was scared to know the truth but I had to. I was tested for malignancy, for HIV, for another thing. So there, the day that the biopsy results were out, I made a plea in Heaven and God heed my prayer.

This disease is not new to me but treatment is much more complicated and more expensive. I'm now on my 30th day of medication and I cannot miss or stop. I have become dependent on other people and I miss not being like that. We're still waiting for another test result and until then, my everyday struggle remains the same. But I know God will help me endure everything.

It's April. I'm in love.



It's April. My favorite month of the year. Yey!

The month has just started and I get more and more excited about the list of activities I have lined up for this month. There's my cousin's wedding, the Holy Week trip to Batangas with the fam bam, but the thing I'm most looking forward to is my pre-birthday trip. Finally, I can have an ultimate summer getaway. It's been two years.

As April begins to unfold its surprises, I realized I'm about to turn 28. So many things, happy and heartbreaking ones, have happened that changed me. Some are for the better, some are not.

I maybe disappointed with myself for letting my emotions get the better of me. Somehow, I become a person that's quite far from what I envisioned myself to be, but I can only reflect and stop those things from getting worse.

There are a lot of events that broke my heart and there are some people who have let me down. You know what they say about that? I once read in Pinterest that sometimes you expect more from people because you would be willing to do much for them. But life goes on, right?  These things somehow turned my heart into steel, most of the time blinded with pessimism but I know for a fact that I'm still the girl who loves to laugh. I may have done and felt things I shouldn't but it made me appreciate things people my age sometimes take for granted.

There are still traces of my old self now. I still laugh hard at the silliest things. I am touched by simple gestures. I always need something to keep me sane. My act of love is shown through words that's why I love being reminded that I am appreciated and loved. I enjoy being alone sometimes. But I enjoy it more when I'm around with people who can make me smile.

I may not have everything I want to at this age, far from what I prayed for a decade ago but I know life is full of surprises. I just have to accept the fact that life is not fair but it is a gift.

And whenever this month of the year comes along, I still feel that kind of excitement knowing my birthday is just around the corner. If it's not too much to ask,  I pray dear Lord that for this month I get just plain happy vibes.

After all, it's my month and I'm in love.  


Self-help.

I've been reading a lot of self-help articles the past few days. Aside from the ample of time I have at work (only because it's lean season), this is really one of the things I am fond of. I know this year has been awful and these articles I have chanced upon make me look forward to a better 2014 in three months time. I am freakin' excited to end this year. Excited is actually an understatement.

Well, cliche as it may sound but this year has taught me some of the greatest lessons in my 20-something life. I won't go through it one by one, I don't want to sound like one of those self-help stories I've read in the past weeks and if I mention those lessons here, I would have to cite some unfortunate situations that happened to me, which I'm avoiding only because I would like to forget the pain or whatever negative feeling attached to those events. 

But I have bookmarked some of the articles that made a mark in my heart. And just in case I  get through the same kind of pain or joy or if my issues now will still remain unsettled in the next five years or more (but I really pray that it won't), I can easily go back to reading these ones. 





No filter.

It has been more than a month since the Great Escape. I thought it would do me good. Well, it has but just momentarily. The happiness I felt during that trip was fleeting. Although I've been wanting it to last as long as it could. For sanity's sake.

And now, I've been wanting to escape again. To go somewhere, a place where I can see life through rose-tinted glasses without anyone's help but mine alone and God. But I am not in it. Far away from it. Some of the people around me might probably think I've been entertaining all the negative vibes I can but I tell you, I never wanted this.

Put yourself in my shoes, go through every bit of the unfortunate events I've gone through. Feel every ounce of  pain and sadness I tried to brush off and then tell me, will you blame me for being in this state I am now in?

It took me a lot of courage to admit this. But I am at my lowest. Again. I've been fighting every urge to wallow in what I am feeling now. I've been struggling every ****ing day to be happy or tell myself that there is something to be happy about.

Well they say that every waking day is a gift itself, something to be thankful for but it seems that it's more of a struggle, a daily battle if I may say. It feels like a tug-of-war kind of thing with myself. I know I should fight this before I totally lose myself in the process of salvaging myself, a rescue and favor I need to do for myself. And not for anyone else.

I don't need anyone's approval of my feelings. I don't owe anyone an explanation. I just need people to understand that a weakazoid like me is trying to fight, to smile, to live. Sadly, some may not be fully aware of the special kind of understanding I ask of them (those or that person I count on the most).

Well, life is fun. Not just now. But soon this will all make perfect sense and I will come out stronger than I ever was. Because at the end of the day, being strong is the only choice I have.

Photo credit from Pinterest. 


Very random thoughts.


I dread being alone these days.
It makes me feel how miserable I am feeling lately.

I want to feel happy again.
I miss the sunny attitude I used to have.
But I am happy whenever I laughed so hard at simple jokes.
It’s my way of coping with misery.

I want to wear that happy hat again.
Happiness is a choice they say.
I choose it every single day, how come each day it’s a struggle.
How come everyday I have to work so hard just to feel it?

I dread it when it’s nighttime.
Because each night I literally feel that my heart is breaking into pieces.
How can I say goodbye to misery?
How can I not let my emotions get the better of me?

I want to see the world.
It might change the way I think and feel. 

Get together with the JA peeps. A sweet escape indeed.

Wow, it has been four months since I last wrote something. It has been a tough ride since then. A lot of depressing things happened, my mind had been a constant nest of worries and confusion, and the past six months have been very difficult for our family but as of this writing, I can say that things are slowly going back to normal. So I'm really grateful for that.

Depression and loneliness have also made a comeback in my life. Literally, I felt that my life was falling into pieces. That's how bad I was feeling. And since the year started, I was always looking forward to things that can bring back my sunny attitude. Sadly, nothing worked for me. But God's timing is always right. Just when I thought that every aspect of my life is sucking the happiness out of me, my happy pill (my friends) saves me. 

And now, for the first time this year, I can say that I am feeling better, I am happy. Thanks to my dear friends, happiness is starting to kick in. 

The past two weekends have been a blast. It was a good way to recover from a depressing state. The dinner, videoke night, and talks over coffee reminded me that happiness is just around the corner. Friends can really keep my sanity intact. But two weekends spent with friends/dear HS classmates are far more special if done after almost 10 years. Nakaka-miss maging HS. Sobra sobra. Bentang benta sa akin ang mga stories last Friday night. Lalo na yung 1/4, number one pag Filipino at Kapitan Tuando. Ang pag-figure out kelan kami nag-present ng may Heal The World song bilang si Jamor at Jerico lang ang nakakaalala. At bilang finale group song yun nung videoke night. 

It has been almost a decade since we had a get together. Kung wala pang balikbayan na hindi umuwi for eight years, walang get together na ganito. :))) 


These are just some of the people that made my HS life very, very memorable. But really, I am just thankful that I spent two weekends with these people. Funny stories from HS made the wee hours of the morning more enjoyable. And thanks Jerico for the treat, nagkaroon ng reunion dahil sa pagbalik mo. :D

Well represented ang group na to, may engineers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, writer. Ako lang yata ang tamad. Hahaha. But kidding aside, I am certain that all of us were just so happy to see each other and exchange stories after 10 long years. 

And being with them again I can say that some good things never change. JA rules! :D