2013: Heluvayir

December 31, 2013  6:23am

I have almost an hour to finish this article before the laptop battery goes out. I also struggle from sleep deprivation in the past few weeks but they say that I work better if I don’t have any sleep. Perhaps I will have that kind of ambience in the next twelve months but before I get to that, let me first tell you a brief rundown of the past 364 days of my life.

I can’t sleep because I’m thinking about a lot of things, a lot of people and a lot of actions that I did in the past. But those things, people and actions won’t occupy the entire space of this blog post since doing such would tantamount to tiring my readers and thus killing myself.

2013 has been a ‘heluva’ year, as how the slang mouthpieces would call it. Indeed, for the first time in a long time, I once again managed to make very big decisions and stand by it, without sacrificing the very principles, which I stood up for and will continuously stand up for in the coming years. Yes, I stepped into other people and perhaps hurt their feelings, but I guess, that just how things go.

This 2013, I moved out of my comfort zone and took a bold step, which somehow pushed me to truly abide by my mantra to take the risk and accept whatever consequences.

This 2013, I resigned as an almost three-year researcher/reporter for the national newspaper to work now as a communications officer for one of the national executive agencies of the government.

This 2013, I won some and lost some material things which mean so much me, since it held some parts of my memories.

This 2013, I learned so much but not enough for me to be proud of myself. In fact, the moment that I realized what I have realized, I began to look at my world in a very different perspective.

This 2013, I found out what’s constant and should be prioritized, especially in making future decisions.

This 2013, I travelled to more places I’ve never imagined I would include in my book of itineraries and further understood the meaning of life from people who really comes from different walks of life.

This 2013, I opened myself to more possibilities, more options, more notions in such a way that I can now solidly qualify what can be best from what can be right.

This 2013, I lost a few people and friends and decided that it’s time for me to truly let go and move on from the things that I shouldn't be highlighting in the first place. It’s sad and perhaps it’s one of the reasons why I’m sleep-deprived but at the end of the year, I know that I can be contented with the limited that I have, whom I can share my deep dark secrets with than a bunch of existentialist punks who only care how to make themselves feel better.

From the bright and unfortunate events that shaped my 2013, no one said that it will be easy and I know for a fact that the coming year will still be a challenging year. But with the lessons that I stored in my mind from the experiences that I had in the past, I’m quite sure I will be able to move on, smile again and think of what’s next.

Postscript:

I know that I should have given references to some of the this big news and issues that transpired in 2013 but I think it's not anymore fitted. Although I offer my sincerest condolences to the families of the victims of the recent disasters and calamities that struck the Philippines. My thoughts and prayers go as well to the survivors that in the following years, they may once again have the peace of heart that they so deserve. Thanks also to those who showed support and ignited the true sense of 'bayanihan' among all the people from within and outside this beloved country.