Fortunate Life

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The Discipline of Letting Go of What I Cannot Keep

Today felt like one of those quiet turning point days. Nothing dramatic happened. No big life event. No sudden revelation from the sky. But something inside me loosened, something I had been gripping too tightly without even noticing it. It is strange how the things we hold on to the hardest are usually the things we were never meant to keep. People. Expectations. Old versions of ourselves. The idea of how something should have been. The fantasy of how someone should show up for us. The timeline we imagined our life would follow. I do this sometimes. I cling to what feels familiar even when it no longer feels right. I replay the same memories. I revisit moments that hurt me. I hold on to the invisible thread connecting me to people who have already walked ahead without me. It is not because I am weak. It is just because my heart remembers deeply. But today I woke up feeling a quiet shift inside me. Maybe it is the Stoic principle sinking in. Maybe it is simply maturity. Maybe it is ...

Reframing Struggles as Training

Today I found myself thinking about the things in my life that feel heavy. Not the dramatic ones, just the quiet struggles that sit in the background. The small disappointments. The unspoken worries. The responsibilities that stretch me. The moments when I feel unsure of myself. I realized how easy it is to treat these moments as burdens, as proof that something is wrong, as signs that I am falling behind. But this morning, while brushing my hair, a thought came to me so softly that it almost felt like someone whispered it into my mind. What if this is training. Not punishment. Not failure. Not chaos. Just training. I paused and let that idea settle. Life has a way of placing us in situations that we did not ask for but somehow need. The challenges that frustrate me are often the ones that shape me. The moments that disappoint me are usually the ones that push me closer to who I am becoming. I started to see my struggles through a different lens, not as obstacles but as exercises. A...

When Emotions Take Over: Seeking Help Isn’t Weakness

There are times when my emotions feel like a tidal wave—overwhelming, relentless, and impossible to control. Even though I know I am blessed with a loving family and friends who care about me, there are moments when I feel deeply alone. Frustration builds up inside me over the things I cannot achieve or the dreams that seem just out of reach. And yet, I often hesitate to share these feelings with the people around me. Why? Because my struggles feel petty compared to theirs. I don’t want to burden them. I don’t want to sound ungrateful. Society often teaches us that gratitude should cancel out emotional pain. “You’re lucky, so you shouldn’t feel depressed,” they say. “You’re loved, so why would you feel unseen?” But feelings don’t follow logic. Emotions are not about fairness—they are about human experience. And sometimes, our minds get caught in loops of negativity that feel impossible to break. For me, these moments are even more complicated because I notice how much my body and min...

The Calm Confidence of Acceptance

Today felt like one long lesson in acceptance. Not the dramatic kind, not the painful kind, but the quiet, subtle kind that happens in the background of an ordinary day. The kind that whispers instead of demands. The kind that slowly reshapes the way you see yourself and the world. I have always struggled with acceptance, even if I do not admit it out loud. I grew up believing that if I tried hard enough, if I cared enough, if I loved enough, if I held on tightly enough, life would meet me halfway. People would stay. Situations would work out. Things would go the way I imagined. But life has a softness and a wildness of its own. It moves differently than my expectations. It bends, shifts, surprises, disappoints, and heals in its own timing. And acceptance means choosing to stop fighting that. This morning, while I was getting ready, I suddenly felt that old familiar heaviness in my chest. A quiet resistance. My mind wanted things to be different. I wanted someone to behave different...

You Are Not Your Emotions

Today I woke up with a heaviness that I could not explain. It was not sadness exactly. It was not fear either. It was something quieter, something softer, like a fog sitting inside my chest. For a moment I almost let it decide what kind of day I would have. Almost. But I remembered something I wrote before. Something I am trying to practice, even on the days when I feel fragile. The reminder that emotions are visitors. They come, they stay for a while, and eventually they leave. They are allowed to exist, but they are not allowed to rule me. So I sat still for a bit and just observed what I was feeling. No judgment. No forcing it away. I simply said to myself, This is what my body is feeling right now, not who I am. It sounds simple, but it took me years to understand this. For so long I thought my emotions were the truth. If I felt rejected, then it meant I was not enough. If I felt anxious, it meant something bad was about to happen. If I felt lonely, it meant I was unlovable. I g...

Feeling Lonely in a Crowd: Listening to Your Body’s Whisper

Have you ever been surrounded by people, yet felt completely alone? Maybe you were at a party, in a meeting, or even just in a crowded café, and despite the chatter and activity around you, a sense of isolation crept in. If you’ve experienced this, let me assure you: it doesn’t mean there is something wrong with you. I recently felt this while in Siargao with friends. We had been partying and drinking for several nights, enjoying the island, letting loose, and having fun. But during our last night, in a crowded sports bar, I suddenly felt overwhelmed. Most of the people around us were foreigners and men. Out of all the tables, there were only two Filipino tables, including ours. The bar was lively—people playing pool, cheering at a game on the TV, drinks flowing on every table. My friends and I were playing cards, trying to enjoy ourselves—but despite all the noise and activity, I felt disconnected, almost invisible in the crowd. Psychologist Rea Villa explains that feeling lonely in...