So 2014 is ending🌻😁

And I reckon many would bid it a heartfelt thank you and goodbye, and some would heave heavy sighs and say, “at last you are coming to an end, you difficult year, you.” hahaha😅

Perhaps the comings and goings of each year with approximately 365 suns☀️ in them are particularly symbolic…

It’s like finishing a chapter of that current book you are reading, or getting to see that last episode of your favorite series, or finally finding the guts to leave that selfish, immature person you have selflessly given a whole lot of your precious time to, or quitting that awfully toxic job, or ending that bad vice, or just closing your eyes to sleep after a full day…

This is so because, for all its worth, it really feels good to end and then eventually start something, somewhere, right?

And that another of those new, crisp, blank, clean-smelling life pages gives us hope that the next days will be better, or that the next chapter or the next season will be more awesome, or that this next job will be more fit for you, or that your next relationship will be for keeps at last, or that when you wake up, everything will be nice and bright and shiny.

So I made a little survey and asked a random question to 20 people today, the last day of the year, it went like this:

“If you were to write about 2014, what would you write about?”

Some really cool friends gave these meaningful replies (in no particular order)

• “I’d like to write that this year revealed the courage in me in ways I’ve never imagined.” #brave

• “I’m listening to Sheppard’s “the best is yet to come” that’s probably it.” #nowhappening

• “That question made me smile 😁 I’d write about CHOICES, dear. May be a very broad topic but that’s mainly how I define my 2014” #choices

• “Haha. Looking at the bright side, when I failed to meet my Expectations…” #ThisDeservesCoffee

• “First of major pains and adventure. Adventure – 1st wake boarding, 1st time in ***** (insert cold Asian neighboring country here); Pains – 1st ******** (insert medical condition here) and 1st major surgery. #firsts

• “Oh ghaaad, I have so many things in mind. If I were to write something about 2014, I don’t even know where to start… Hellweek” #hellyeah

• “How different it is to travel with family and friends. Obviously, the latter’s less hassle.” #gosomewhere

• “I would write about my adventure in *** ****** (insert very famous company here, which you probably know of already haha) #career

• “I will write about losing and coping. I lost a lot this year eh, a dog and an uncle.” #loss #coping

• “My life transition and how everything fell apart and then became better…” #transition

• “I’d write siguro a recap of my 2014, the best days and the learning times.” #recap

• “I’ll write about how this year was the most balanced year I’ve ever had. I juggled my time with work, love, family, and God. I can die now. Hahaha” #KeepItUp

I asked what one should write about because writing things, especially the recent ones, is very taxing. And it really takes an immense amount of courage to even just try look back.
Thank you for the courage, friends! *clap clap* 😁👏👏

And well, as a friend says, a year end post should be about oneself.
Why yes, this is actually about me and the many people I’ve met and gotten to know more of this year…

I guess 2014 has been a year of discovery for me, my EUREKA year –-

🔹i’ve realized how God can be everywhere, even in dark recesses of the underground river in Palawan🌴

🔹how friends will always be there, no matter how annoyingly crazy and nonsense and irrational the things that you get yourself into🙅👯💁

🔹how weirdly connected you are to your siblings, that they’d always know if there’s something wrong with you

🔹i’ve learned too that, as I told my brother, loving is a divine thing, and it is not for any of us to understand, nope, not in any way 💖

🔹that pain and sorrow and loneliness are all three different things but are still all very much encompassing of love ❤💛💙💜💚

🔹that you fill your cup (the fullest), only by emptying it ☕

🔹that it isn’t giving when it doesn’t hurt…

🔹 and that people are most amazing of creatures in this universe because, no matter how imperfect they are, they teach you valuable lessons that make life more beautiful and meaningful and all the more worth living.👥💎

This year, I’ve learned a lot about myself – things i never really thought I’d be capable of doing and becoming.
And I’ve transformed into a real person now, all too starkly different from my partly skewed realities, which is quite remarkable, really, because I just lived off the first quarter of my life (that’s if I get to live until 100 years old) last September.

Thanks for the wonderful 2014, guys! ♥😁😘
Hullo, two zero fifteen! ✨