2012: End of the World? Pffftttt!
published in iSTORYA.NET, Dec.31, 2011
Much emphasis has been given that 2012 will be the end of the world. Why, prior to it being born, the year has a movie and a song! That means, as we celebrate the New Year, we also open our doors to the possibility that the world will end… soon. With the recent Typhoon Sendong and other natural calamities in other countries this year, one couldn’t scratch the possibility that it might.
For those who know me, my end of the world is not 2012. It might as well be 2011, with all the major catastrophic storms and quakes along the course of the year. I didn’t know how I was able to survive. I try to be as pragmatic as possible and there are things that I question in life. I am not perfect, I am not famous, but the key phrase is I was able to survive. That must mean something.
So in my attempt to sound wise and to further pacify myself, here are my thoughts of my riot of a life in 2011. I hope you could relate to some.
REALIZATION 1: No matter how much you think it’s the end of your world, the rest of the world will still continue.
When I received news of the greatest loss I had this year, I was in a car. It seemed my world stopped. I was in pain and I could not stop crying. I wanted to shout as my walls crumbled down. But looking around, the rest of the world just continued its course even if mine seemed to end. This just means, if it’s your end of the world, it doesn’t necessarily mean the end for everyone else. Life goes on, whether you like it or not. As long as you’re alive and breathing, it goes on. You just have to live it.
Another point of view is that, if your life is at its fullest, be aware. There might be people close to you whose world might have seemed to end even if your world is not. But one thing I am sure, each and every one of us has the power to stop others’ world from ending. A simple hello or how are you will save a person’s life. You just don’t know it. A little kindness goes a long way, I always say.
REALIZATION 2: Man is not an island. It’s okay to ask for help, rather than be alone.
Wallowing in your own misery will work for sometime but it will not work all the time. Pain shared can help unload burdens in the heart. I have learned that there’s no use in trying to act strong when all your defenses are down, there’s no use in holding on to pride. It’s okay to ask for help, it’s okay to open your hearts to others. It’s okay. Because that is when we acknowledge that we are human after all, we are not Superman.
During the most devastating time of my life this year, I couldn’t imagine doing it alone. I was overwhelmed with the support of people I know, friends I didn’t know were still there, etc. Life has more meaning when you know that there are others who are willing to lend a hand, if you just ask for it.
When you share your pain and ask for help, you don’t know too, that you are helping others. Someone reunited with his parents because of something I wrote during that time. My intention was to unload. I didn’t know I was able to touch some lives in the process.
REALIZATION 3. Life is ALWAYS a matter of choices.
This is the last and probably the most important of all my realizations this 2011. Let me explain it in the perpective of Sendong’s devastation as it is much recent. If Sendong represents a storm in our lives and it has wrecked our homes, our dreams, our strength, we can always believe that the world will end. We can always ask for help because just like the real Sendong, hearts have opened up to share for its victims.
But then again, the storm passes. And we just cannot live our whole lives crying over the flooded house, or the loss of our friends. We just cannot depend on the help from others all the time. There will come a time that the crying will stop. There will come a time that you will declare to yourself that you need to stand up and build a new house, a better one to withstand future storms.
Again, life is a matter of choices, no matter how painful and hopeless it is at the moment. One always has a choice.
It’s a choice between moving on and being left behind.
A choice between standing up or wallowing in misery.
A choice between surviving or being stagnant in pain.
It might be the end of the world. But on the other hand, it might also be the beginning of a whole new world.
Whatever you choose will determine your destiny.
Beginnings can be started any time. You don’t have to wait for New Year to begin something new. Choices are always there. All you have to do is choose what’s best for you and what your heart is telling you.
Forgiveness is a choice. I’ve learned that the hard way.
Peace is a choice.
Loving is always a choice.
Moving on is always a choice.
We all fall, yes. But do we want to be remembered on how many times we fall? Or how many times we rise from the fall, stood up and fought to survive?
Pain, they say, is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Again, a matter of choice.
So here’s my two-cents’, if it’s worth any: As the song goes, hold on for one more day, every day. Take your own pace, at your own stride. Do the best you could in the present, stop figuring what you could have done in the past and focus on what-ifs. Instead, you dare life by asking, “What now and what next?” Choose what makes you happy. Choose to stand up. Choose to live the best of your life. Choose to care.
With this, I wouldn’t care if tomorrow would be the world’s end.
At least, I have lived the most of my life today. Back in my college days, I have this wonderful phrase that relates to what I am now: Scarred people are beautiful. 2011 has left me scarred, beaten and tired. But for each day, I choose to stand, fight and live the most of whatever is left in this life.
So for 2012: Bring it on! I choose to live a life of purpose.
Happy New Year everyone! Happy New day every day..
Much emphasis has been given that 2012 will be the end of the world. Why, prior to it being born, the year has a movie and a song! That means, as we celebrate the New Year, we also open our doors to the possibility that the world will end… soon. With the recent Typhoon Sendong and other natural calamities in other countries this year, one couldn’t scratch the possibility that it might.
For those who know me, my end of the world is not 2012. It might as well be 2011, with all the major catastrophic storms and quakes along the course of the year. I didn’t know how I was able to survive. I try to be as pragmatic as possible and there are things that I question in life. I am not perfect, I am not famous, but the key phrase is I was able to survive. That must mean something.
So in my attempt to sound wise and to further pacify myself, here are my thoughts of my riot of a life in 2011. I hope you could relate to some.
REALIZATION 1: No matter how much you think it’s the end of your world, the rest of the world will still continue.
When I received news of the greatest loss I had this year, I was in a car. It seemed my world stopped. I was in pain and I could not stop crying. I wanted to shout as my walls crumbled down. But looking around, the rest of the world just continued its course even if mine seemed to end. This just means, if it’s your end of the world, it doesn’t necessarily mean the end for everyone else. Life goes on, whether you like it or not. As long as you’re alive and breathing, it goes on. You just have to live it.
Another point of view is that, if your life is at its fullest, be aware. There might be people close to you whose world might have seemed to end even if your world is not. But one thing I am sure, each and every one of us has the power to stop others’ world from ending. A simple hello or how are you will save a person’s life. You just don’t know it. A little kindness goes a long way, I always say.
REALIZATION 2: Man is not an island. It’s okay to ask for help, rather than be alone.
Wallowing in your own misery will work for sometime but it will not work all the time. Pain shared can help unload burdens in the heart. I have learned that there’s no use in trying to act strong when all your defenses are down, there’s no use in holding on to pride. It’s okay to ask for help, it’s okay to open your hearts to others. It’s okay. Because that is when we acknowledge that we are human after all, we are not Superman.
During the most devastating time of my life this year, I couldn’t imagine doing it alone. I was overwhelmed with the support of people I know, friends I didn’t know were still there, etc. Life has more meaning when you know that there are others who are willing to lend a hand, if you just ask for it.
When you share your pain and ask for help, you don’t know too, that you are helping others. Someone reunited with his parents because of something I wrote during that time. My intention was to unload. I didn’t know I was able to touch some lives in the process.
REALIZATION 3. Life is ALWAYS a matter of choices.
This is the last and probably the most important of all my realizations this 2011. Let me explain it in the perpective of Sendong’s devastation as it is much recent. If Sendong represents a storm in our lives and it has wrecked our homes, our dreams, our strength, we can always believe that the world will end. We can always ask for help because just like the real Sendong, hearts have opened up to share for its victims.
But then again, the storm passes. And we just cannot live our whole lives crying over the flooded house, or the loss of our friends. We just cannot depend on the help from others all the time. There will come a time that the crying will stop. There will come a time that you will declare to yourself that you need to stand up and build a new house, a better one to withstand future storms.
Again, life is a matter of choices, no matter how painful and hopeless it is at the moment. One always has a choice.
It’s a choice between moving on and being left behind.
A choice between standing up or wallowing in misery.
A choice between surviving or being stagnant in pain.
It might be the end of the world. But on the other hand, it might also be the beginning of a whole new world.
Whatever you choose will determine your destiny.
Beginnings can be started any time. You don’t have to wait for New Year to begin something new. Choices are always there. All you have to do is choose what’s best for you and what your heart is telling you.
Forgiveness is a choice. I’ve learned that the hard way.
Peace is a choice.
Loving is always a choice.
Moving on is always a choice.
We all fall, yes. But do we want to be remembered on how many times we fall? Or how many times we rise from the fall, stood up and fought to survive?
Pain, they say, is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Again, a matter of choice.
So here’s my two-cents’, if it’s worth any: As the song goes, hold on for one more day, every day. Take your own pace, at your own stride. Do the best you could in the present, stop figuring what you could have done in the past and focus on what-ifs. Instead, you dare life by asking, “What now and what next?” Choose what makes you happy. Choose to stand up. Choose to live the best of your life. Choose to care.
With this, I wouldn’t care if tomorrow would be the world’s end.
At least, I have lived the most of my life today. Back in my college days, I have this wonderful phrase that relates to what I am now: Scarred people are beautiful. 2011 has left me scarred, beaten and tired. But for each day, I choose to stand, fight and live the most of whatever is left in this life.
So for 2012: Bring it on! I choose to live a life of purpose.
Happy New Year everyone! Happy New day every day..
