Dear 2017 Jhun,
How's life? I hope you're doing fine. Seriously, as of this moment, I can't think of anything to say to you. It's like I'm afraid to ask you, and of what, I don't know too. Blame it on the hormones, I think?
Okay, just so I can think of something, let's do a round of Chuwariwap. Right now Kodaline's One Day is playing. Somehow this part gave me the goosebummps
"You've felt this way for far too long
Waiting for a change to come
You know you're not the only one
And life passes you by
Don't be wasting your time
On your own"
And life passes you by
Don't be wasting your time
On your own"
Now let's wait for the answer to the reason what's in it for next year...
and it says...
Ten Feet Tall by Afroack
and I still can't comprehend why.
the next one is...
Beating Heart by Ellie Goulding
as for the last one...
The Sound by The 1975
now this cheered me up just because it's one of my faves
Let's just wait and see how your year will go. ;)
Seriously, even after all of this, I'm starting to get anxious again. It's like the coming year, I'll spend time waiting, for what, I hope you'll know the answer by then, once you read this. I hope you're still listening to your guts my dear. Trust them as much as I did, because as far as I can recall, it has never failed us. Go with the flow. See where life will take us. Believe.
I'll be waiting for your story soon
Yours,
2016 Jhun
***
Hi there! Cheers to the year that we had. No worries. We’re still doing fine, kid. We’ve been doing a lot of “adul-things” (you know, the things that adult people usually do to survive. Hahaha!) lately, but fear not, we’re still kids at heart. Anyway, just to keep you up-to-date with our current situation, we’re STILL working in a school setup, but in a different place now. We’re somewhere far from home and truth be told, it felt quite liberating. We still go home from time to time though, but since we got to spend time on our own, away from the daily trivialities we usually deal with before, we finally get to think about things and make decisions by ourselves. One thing’s for sure though, it really is hard being an adult. It’s scary yet freeing in a way. I just wish we could have done more crazy things though. I hope this coming year, we’d be able to find time to do more crazy shit. Hahaha!
As for the waiting thing you mentioned, I still haven’t figured it out yet. We do still have a few more weeks remaining for this year so maybe I’ll just keep you updated with my next letter. One of the weird things that I’ve encountered lately though was the dragonfly. It felt like it’s trying to send us a message. And when I checked the meaning of it as a spirit animal, it said that they bring change. And as far as dragonflies go, they go where the wind blows. That’s why I find it quite weird when I read your letter and it also mentioned the same thing. That we should just go with the flow. I just hope and pray that wherever the wind takes us, it’ll be for the better. 😊
Hope you weren’t disappointed with where we are.
Yours,
2017 Jhun
P.S.
I’ll just share some of the realizations that we had during the course of the year. ;)
1. Growing up is hard to do
2. Time to start learning how to make (real-life) long term goals
3. It’s not bad being the responsible one. It’s just too damn tiring.
4. Better start saving up
5. Learning the art of letting go is hard; the key to learning it is to master the art of acceptance first.
6. There will always be regrets; learn how to accept them.
7. There are things to be grateful about; focus your attention there instead.
8. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. ~ Newton’s Third Law of Motion
9. Change is good
10. Life is hard. The easiest way in dealing with it is, rather than waiting for someone to fix it for you, just do it yourself instead.
11. Smile (though your heart is aching). Trust me, it works wonders.
12. Two is a coincidence. Three is a sign.
13. Be open to learn new things.
14. Plans change. Be prepared.
15. Do what makes you happy.
16. Patience. The result is worth the wait.
17. Continue enjoying simple things.
18. Find what makes you happy.
***
Dear 2018 Jhun,
What do I tell you? As what
Adele’s belting out now - “Hello from the other side.”
Where y’at? I hope it’s somewhere
good.
By the way, did you figure it out
already? What the waiting is all about? I sure hope you did. Because if not, we
might soon find ourselves committed inside a psychiatric ward.
All jokes aside, how’s life
lately?
We’ve been doing this for a
couple of years already, and up until now it still amazes me how far we’ve
grown. No matter where you are now, remember that all of our past selves are
cheering you on. Keep on trusting your instincts. It saved our life lots of times.
I have no other wise words to
tell you. Just “keep moving forward” (as what one of our favorite movies – Meet
the Robinson – says).
Be a dragonfly, go where the wind
blows. But do it gracefully and spread your wings far out and wide.
Be the master of your universe.
;)
Cheers to the day that we meet
again.
Yours,
2016 Jhun
Dearest 2017 Rhio,
So, how's life lately? Tell me. What are we up to these days? Any significant things that happened?
Honestly, I still don't know exactly to tell us. It's like our mind is having this blank canvass waiting to be filled up by surprises and whatever it is that we decided to do for the year. And so far, I'm just having a good and steady feeling... so I'm quite certain that things will turn out alright and great for us.
But here are some nuggets of wisdom that I'd like us to have:
1. Save up. I don't know why, but, just do it.
2. Balance work with school. Know how to prioritize and learn when to say yes or say no so as not to overwhelm yourself.
3. Balance our heart and mind. I know that we've been following our mind mostly for this year, but, I guess, this year, I hope we give our heart a chance once again. Listen to it even if it is quite irrational for telling us things. Leap of faith, remember? ;)
4. Pray unceasingly. No matter where we are or what we do, be it for the little things or the big things.
5. Be grateful.
6. Do one act of kindness a day. It changes things or anyone else for that matter. A lot.
7. Who knows, this might be just our lucky year. ;)
8. Take chances.
Oh and here are our clues for 2017 according to our playlist:
1. Heart Like Yours
2. Season of Love
3. Words Meet Heartbeats
And to ask you again...
- what would you do if you can do anything at the moment? -
Peace, Love, Light and Happiness,
2016 Rhio
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dearest 2016 Rhio,
Hey, how’s life lately? So, guess what? There’s just way too many things that happened this year. But first, congratulations for finally being in the 4th year of law school. It wasn’t an easy journey, you know that. But I’m glad that we’re here doing our best every single damn day. Of course, all of these with the help of The Big Guy Up There. 😉
You must know that our 2017 theme is “Follow Your Heart”. Well, I really can’t say that we really did follow our heart. But, I’m pretty sure we did follow our heart especially when our body and mind got weary from all the school stuff that has been consuming most of our time this year.
Yep. The balance that we had last year – all those shenanigans of eating healthy and having our weekly exercise had quite taken a backseat. Add to that the other responsibilities we have to do aside from just being a law student. I must say quite difficult and at times we feel like screaming our heart out from all the tiredness that our to-do list may bring… but we both know, that we just have to keep moving. No matter what. Don’t worry. We do take our “pauses” in life too. So, don’t fret.
Anyways, remember the ring we thought we lost when we went to New York for the first time? Guess what?! On our birthday, just when I woke up and thinking of finding the cute binder clips that a friend gave us… the ring showed up. And in the most unlikely place I never thought I’ll find it. For some odd reason, I think it might be telling something. But still don’t have any idea. So, we’ll just wait and see. It looks like the things we thought we lost had a way of finding us. Because, maybe, just maybe… it was meant to be. What do you think?
Hahaha! Looks like my reply letter to you had gotten longer than I expected to be. But let me tell you some stories more. Hahaha! Ever since the start of this year’s school year, I’ve been really having a good feeling about our thesis. But since it hasn’t happened yet… I’ll just tell you about it in the next letter, okay? Let’s just pray hard for this one. I know, I’m sure we’ll get it. No doubt about that!
Well, we went back to that place we never thought we’d get back sooner than we expected it to be. But, for this somehow two-week travel of ours, God made sure to He got me… remember that line: “Here’s looking at you, kid.”? Yep. That was exactly what I thought and felt when a schoolmate of ours met us in New York and treat us for a night at the Rockefeller Center to witness New York at night. And we finally braved the subway on our own. Hahaha! We did feel like “New Yorker” on those solo moment of ours. Happiness at its best and its simplest because we get to see, feel, smell, hear and taste everything with our senses and be in awe of all the blessings He gave us despite life’s lemons thrown at us from time to time.
Of course, one of the significant changes is definitely giving away some clothes of ours especially some dresses because for some unknown reasons, it shrink and were a tad bit shorter than it used to be. Also, we got some really obvious muffin tops. Hahaha! Sometimes, we hate it but surely we do embrace it as well. It only meant that we’re having good appetite not just for food but also in life. Hahaha! LOL 😆
I guess, wherever we are right now… we are definitely still us despite the many changes – what with all these adulting. I can say we really did grow in ways I never thought I knew. I guess, the thing I’ve been fighting within me is to never lose the kid at heart in us and the sparkle in our eyes with all the magic in the mundane because of the everyday miracles we live with and live in. I’m also glad that we get to know how to roll by the punches of emotions that has been sometimes surprising us from where on earth has been coming from – mostly on those random days. We really do learn and grow. We thrive and more just than survive.
I’m so happy for how far we’ve come and how far we will become just yet.
Here’s a big hug from me to you that I hope you always feel somewhere in this alternate universe whenever you need one.
Always know that I got you and I love you just the same and more.
Peace, love, light and happiness,
2017 Rhio
- - - - - - -- - - -- - - --
Letter from 2017 Me to 2018 Me
Dear 2018 Rhio,
Let me begin this letter with… “I got you, kid!” Whatever it is that you are going through – a mixed of emotions that seem to overwhelm you at the same time coupled with more ounce of faith bigger than your fears - is more than all that you need to surpass it. Remember, The Big Guy Up There is always there for you. He won’t abandon you especially in these times which is one to be the most crucial and life changing one. A month of perseverance and endurance and doing your 500% best. Of course, not to mention the months of patience you need to wait for the results to come which I know for sure that you’ll make it. I believe in you. I believe in us. So just pray and keep holding on. 🙏
What else? Well, don’t forget to smile and keep your head up high and your feet firmly on the ground. Don’t be too complacent and pray unceasingly.
I feel nothing but positivity for us as I’m typing this because I know that you can make it. We will pass!!!
So, I’m just going to make this a little bit short and sweet because I know that you’d most probably be going back to reviewing for the coming weekend of exams. Just a few more till we get to achieve that dream of ours. Okay?
Of course, I have this feeling too that you just might probably met our very own “ErwanEcho”… Am I right? Hahahaha! The combination of Erwan’s handsome face, intellect, creativity, good cooking skills and love or travel with Echo’s positivity, sincerity, fun to be with and sweetness, making sure you are loved and taken cared of always? Hahaha! I just pray and hope that he inspires you to be the best version of you and loves the real you no matter what. And guess what, if he sees you all stressed out, mostly ranting, hormotional and hangry and let’s you be clingy to him and not judging you and best of all… stays with you and helps you out what with all the bar exam shenanigans? Seriously?! He’s a keeper! And I guess, it’s The Big Guy Up There’s way of telling us that no matter what we go through, He blesses us with people in our lives to feel his love.
And isn’t it that this is our fave number? So expect great changes, lots of happy surprises and bountiful blessings coming your way this 2018.
Don’t forget to tell me about all of it. 😉
And to ask you again...
- what would you do if you can do anything at the moment? -
Peace, love, light and happiness,
2017 Rhio
