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Friday, March 14, 2014

Lifelines

I just came home from a recently concluded overnight batch retreat! We had it in the middle of finals week so it allowed all of us to just relax for a moment and think about our life -- past, present, and future. One of the activities we had was to make a LIFELINE. What usually comes up first in our minds is "people or things where we depend on in difficult situations", or "Who Wants To Be A Millionare" game strategies! However, for our activity, the facilitator meant was to create our own life timelines (thus LIFELINES) that has all our most significant happy and sad experiences. We were given a blank sheet of paper and an hour to do the activity.

For my lifeline, my starting point was when I was in Grade 3, since I think that's what I can really recall from my childhood. Grade 3 because after that year, my family left Davao to transfer to Cebu. During that time, it was pretty weird and scary because before that, I was so accustomed to life in Davao where I had all my friends and relatives then transferring to another place where I really did not know anyone. I think that was a really significant life transition. If you will notice, we're always transferring between Cebu and Davao, but the transfers have been so much easier cause I feel like both places really feel like home to me now.

My lifeline is designed like a map, hence the dashed lines, so you can follow through.

My lifeline, March 2014
My life has been somewhat shaped by the relationships (romantic) I've had. I'm not ashamed of that fact, nor do I regret my choices! A lot of times have I been labelled as "mahilig sa uyab-uyab" or whatever in the past but it honestly doesn't bother me anymore cause deep in my heart it doesn't define me now! *wink* The term "boyfriend" means the person/s I had a somewhat "serious" relationship with, based on the period and length of time together. Based from this drawing, a highlight on my highschool relationship was placed because I think emotionally, it greatly defined my decisions and the way I viewed life at the time. When the relationship ended, I got really depressed and very pessimistic about myself. But, at the moment, I didn't realize that it was an opportunity for myself to grow and be better. It was a point in my life that I consider as life-changing because out of the experience, I learned one of the basic but most important thing -- to love myself. Gradually, I pushed myself to get out of that dark place and be with people who truly and genuinely cared for my happiness. 

Shortly after that time, Jon Mark and I got together and beautifully, we're still together now. God has given me not only a lover, but a bestfriend. Our relationship allowed me to grow as my own person. He challenged my insecurities but let me accept my weaknesses. And that's a great thing. He directly told me that he didn't want my world to revolve around him because other people in my life are important too. He's happy when I spend time with my friends and interact with other people, spend a lot of time with God, and it's so relieving to be in a relationship that is not selfish nor limiting. I have a great guy, plus a lot of friends and family that inspire me! It was really one of the things that greatly granted me windows and doors to grow and be happy! 

The activity, simple as it is, puts my life into perspective. Things that happened in the past (though we didn't understand why it happened before) all interplay to shape the person we are now. Every experience creates a ripple that affects us and our relationships forever. At the upper part of my drawing, you can see that as of now, I'm still contemplating on my future. I'm on the verge of another life transition, which is graduating from college, and it will change a lot of things that I've accustomed to. I'm excited at all the possibilities! And scared because what happens next is relatively unknown. But as they say, "If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough." I'm hopeful and giddy at the thought of making another lifeline a few years from now and add it to this one. I greatly recommend that people make this little life map too! :-)

Definitely looking forward to LIVING, LOVING, AND LAUGHING! xx

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