Tag: health

A letter to my journal

I guess you really are my bestfriend. Whoever created words are people that I am deeply indebted too. Imagine a world without poems and songs. I just couldn’t. 

Somehow, words feel as if it’s art. It is a dialect that I’m comfortable in, my safe place, my cocoon. When things are exciting, it’s you, my journal, that I tell these stories too. And when I feel suffocated, it’s you that I turn to.

I am beyond grateful that I have you as my bestfriend, as my crying shoulder and my emotional sponge. I have you to thank for helping me cope with a world that moves too fast for a person with a fragile heart. I have you to thank for being my playground and avenue of creative expression. I thank you, my journal, for being the witness to all the highs and lows of being a human.

My mind cannot fathom how 23 characters can make intangible ideas and thoughts feel so real. It is beyond my understanding how typing on a keyboard or grabbing a pen and paper can give such a cathartic feeling. Writing to you my journal, is one of the most magical things that I am grateful that I can do in this era.

Thank you, my journal, for listening to my rants, for accepting my rage, and for acknowledging that I can have all these thoughts and be rough around the edges, and still be accepted. Thank you for giving me the space to write about the nightmares and for immortalizing the good stuff. You have gotten me through a lot and helped me survive when I was walking in the darkest tunnel. With you, I know that I am safe.

I wish more people would write. I wish more would get to see the beauty that pouring yourself on a page could bring. I wish more would be more reflective of their thoughts. I do believe that if more people write on you, journal, there will be a better generation of humans.

Not everyone will like you, and that’s okay.

In this short life, why not stop living for the likes, but rather live for the things that make your heart beat a little bit stronger?

I know what you desire. I know that there’s one thing that you want, that all of us wants. You want to be happy. I mean, who doesn’t want that? You want your heart to feel at ease. You want to exist in this world with that spark and that fire. You want to feel peace and security. You want that heart of yours to have a warm and fuzzy feeling.

But let me break this down for you love, just like every other pursuit that we have in our lives, happiness takes work. Happiness will not be consistent, because in order for life to be interesting, sadness must be felt. However, the probability of your heart feeling at ease increases when you do the work. Let’s say I’m your soul doctor, what will I prescribe you?

I can only think of one thing, and that is, stopping yourself from wanting everyone to like you. We grew up wanting to please our parents. Maybe you bend over backwards just to make your partner happy. You may even not express who you truly are for fear that you won’t be accepted by your family. Maybe you’re pursuing a career that your parents want for you but your heart is nudging you to do an entirely different thing. You may show people that you are strong, smart, and perfect and never want even a drop of weakness to spill. Or maybe you created a persona on social media that does not reflect your true self. You post all these glamorous photos, when the truth is, you are dying inside.

Maybe you live for the likes, the heart reacts, the compliments, or applause. You may be living for the titles so that people can admire you because you’re a lawyer, a doctor, or an engineer. But let me ask you something, does the superficial world create a warm and fuzzy feeling that sustains you to wake up and do the work every single day? Do you feel like you are living a life filled with gratitude and meaning? Or are you just waking up, working, achieving, and posting?

In this short life, why not stop living for the likes, but rather live for the things that make your heart beat a little bit stronger? Why not live for the moments that you will remember before your last breath? You need to start really living, now. You need to be who you exactly are. Stop chasing dreams for the applause. Just do things because it gives you joy and it serves other people. Be honest with yourself and maybe then, you’ll find yourself breathing lightly, and smiling, not because of likes on Facebook, but because you genuinely adore the person that you see in the mirror.

Admitting Addictions

Do you have an addiction?

An addiction can be anything. It could be drugs, alcohol, sex, binge watching, social media, or food. It can even be as mundane as nail biting or as weird as eating your hair.

As for me I have recently learned that I had addictive patterns. I was addicted to scrolling through social media, binge watching, worst case scenario thinking, beating myself up (mentally), and eating. Believe me, these addictive patterns has caused me a lot of missed opportunities and major life mistakes.

Any addiction is bad. Period.

It doesn’t do any good to your physical and mental well-being. But first you must understand that an addictive pattern has a source. People who are addicted to drugs, smoking, and alcohol has that same feeling when we get addicted to something. They can’t get off it until they had awareness, and a one on one talk with the discomfort that they are trying to avoid.

Sometimes we even wonder if we are the problem. Maybe you think it’s impossible. You’ve probably asked why can’t you stop yourself from grabbing that next bar of chocolate? Or why are you so hooked to a TV drama that you totally forget about your deadlines?

Every addiction has a source. As my spirituality mentor Gabby Bernstein says, there is a feeling underneath any addiction. We get addicted to something for a lot of reasons and usually it is to escape from a feeling.

You are not alone in this addictive behavior. So far, I have dealt with my social media, binge watching, overthinking, and self-beating  addictions. Currently, I am in the process of healing my food addiction. I still am praying and researching about how I can overcome my love and hate relationship with food.

To the few who are reading this blog, know that you are not alone. Everybody deals with an addiction, whatever that addiction is.

I will be writing about how I overcame my  unhealthy addictive patterns and I hope that you will be here with me. Let us support each other to be our most authentic selves.

I’m here. I’ll listen.