My Name is Nothing: A Comeback Post

Remember those tears, late night thinking, heart breaking, and emotional writing? They were so worth it. I should have said “So worth it in the end” but this isn’t the end! In fact, this phase I’m going through is just a new beginning. For so long I have searched and learned wisdom, tried to apply positivity into my life. At this moment, I could say that my life has dramatically changed since I, well, desired change!

Things aren’t perfect, I tell you, but you can really sense it: The scent of transformation. Realizing the fact that you’re not the same person as a couple months ago is so surreal! Because back then, this moment I’m now was just a dream and nothing more. I never expected for this vision to be certainly alive. This must be how growth feels like. I can say that I am now a better, wiser, and stronger person all because of the choices I’ve made.

The funny thing about maturity and wisdom is that people can’t see it, and you can’t blurt it out like wit or humor. My friends are going through stuff, drama, and they cry out negativity and complain a lot. In my case, it’s all like a reality show to me. Despite knowing my capability to give advice and stuff, I am still a firm believer of experience being the best teacher. If there’s something I learned is that we cannot force or change people into how we think they should be. I’ve studied a hefty amount of articles about “being yourself’” to be aware enough that we should discover ourselves, and appreciate what we have. I apply that concept to others too. We can’t be the bearer of their answers, but we totally know that we’ll always have something to say if they ask for opinions or advice.

So, how am I doing, really? One word: challenge. First of all, I had just been given the position of Editor-in-chief of our publication team, and I’m trying to be a good student too! Anyway, what about love? The irony behind everything is, over the summer, I’ve been singing almost nothing but love but now? Nah. I don’t think I have space or time for it now. I mean, my friends keep on talking about their relationship woes and joys and what about me? Just a listener, a witness. I have labeled a couple people as my ‘crush’ but you’ll know if it’s truly love or not. Maybe it’s because I’m focusing on myself and career? That may be the case. The thing is, when people say love, all they think of is romantic love. I admit I do feel a bit lonely sometimes. The world is all love, love, love and it feels like Valentine ’s Day when they do that, but once life has given you darkness, you’ll see love in ways you’ve never imagined before.

Love, is a beautiful thing. It is one of the magical elements of life. Other people are lucky to have it from the moment they were children to when they’re in their later years in life. Some aren’t very fortunate. They don’t receive it very often, or they’ve become wise enough to realize that love is not as hard to earn as it seems. There are many instances in life when it is present, but we often overlook these precious gems in a sea of negativity. We don’t need to do drastic things; the worst is being untrue to ourselves. All we need is a bit of perspective.

Guys, I would like to reveal the meaning of my name. It is French for nothing. Ever since I knew what it meant, I felt bad about it because I really do like my name. You don’t see people named Larrien every day, unless you live next-door to someone named as such. But do you know what? I realized that being nothing isn’t so bad at all, because without nothing, you can’t have everything. Did I make sense?

Being nothing allowed me to listen more, to further understand life, to learn more and to see things in different perspectives.

Having nothing allows me to be less materialistic, set better goals, appreciate life better, and cherish every moment that come my way.

Because if we do think about it, the non-materialistic things in life may seem like nothing. Love? Peace? Happiness? Freedom? We can’t see that! Since when did we see a person pointing to something and say “Look! It’s love!”  We never did. It doesn’t take the form a spooky mist, sparkly magical glitter, or colorful flashes of light. Nope, nada, that’s why these things are called abstract. We can’t see them, but we feel them.

These unseen things, they can be referred to as ‘nothing’ if we think about it realistically. We can’t sense them, but  they are actually everything, if we go to the bigger picture.

If there is one thing I could truly say about what changed from my life back then to my life now? I’ve finally realized that NOTHING isn’t that bad. For so long, I’ve tried to be who I am not. Well, I do know how to fight when I’m oppressed, or I know how to voice out my opinions in a discussion but, it just wasn’t perfect. I am not an outspoken person whose words flow fluid like how my words flow from my fingertips. I used to fight ME so much that I forgot who I really am for a certain time. Fortunately, life taught me well to the point where I could come up with these realizations. I am unique with my own strengths and flaws.

If there is one thing I have learned? It’s that we should know about, learn from and try to love ourselves.

Final words? I miss this blog so much. Reading my past posts (and the off-site passages I’ve written) make me proud of myself. Sadly,  I have kept myself away from this blog for a couple months to the point of forgetting it already, but you know what? I don’t regret being offline for quite some time. Those days showed me life outside this virtual world. I was actually living my life, and learning, and loving. I was taking flight as the Nothingale through storms and cerulean skies.

Do you guys know why I came back? It’s to go back to my roots. Like the Nothingale I am, I still sing, and most certainly, I always remember to fly low when I’ve already learned how to fly high. :)

Xoxo Keep on living, loving, and learning! 

I'm No Longer Your Muse

It's a beautiful thing when two people do a duet. The blending of their sweet voices, the music which moves our feet, and the way our thoughts would fly with the musical notes in the air. It always is an amazing thing to be someone's muse. To know you're in a duet with someone who shares the same melodies of your heart.

I was his muse. He was mine, too. I was happy with the fact that I could finally dance with someone. He was the reason why I sing my thoughts through words. It made the Nothingale fly higher than ever with her emotional wings. The feeling was wonderful.

When he left, I became silent. I desired for my co-singer to sing with me again. It felt like he was the music I needed. The only music I'll ever dance to forever.

They say that nothing is forever. At some point, the sound has to meet silence. It's a natural balance of how things work!

Just today, I realized that I don't need someone to make a beautiful performance. Birds sing by themselves most of the time. They sing of nature, of beauty, and I just wonder what makes them so happy to sound so beautiful every single day. If birds can do it, why can't we? We can be happy by ourselves, by loving ourselves.

Soon, we'll eventually have the will to dance again, but by that time, not by someone's music but by our own. By that time, it won't take long for a man to ask if he may join you in your dance.

For now, I'm listening to the sorrowful tune of heartbreak. Soon I'll learn to be like a bird, that I might live up to my name of being 'TheNothingale.' I'll learn how to make music from my own soul.

What is this music I speak off? Happiness. For me, music is happiness, and from happiness out comes freedom.

Last words? Learn to be happy with our own selves, because what a waste of our beauty if we don't share it to the world! Sunflowers always turn to the source of sunlight, and the same goes for connections too.

To the guy who left? I'm no longer your muse, dude. I'm broken, but soon I'll learn how to sing again, by my own. Thank you for setting me free. If not for you, I would not have discovered the melody I have in me. Now, all I need to do is to shift this sad solo to something happy :)

Keep on loving, living and learning, Flockmates!!!

Live, Love and Learn, That's Life

Let's face it, it's never nice to overthink. As girls, we loathe it when we over react, while boys find that one trait annoying when it comes to their chicks. Not all maybe, but I do know a lot to testify that.

I have to speak in picturesque speech because... Well, he might just read this. 

I was finally glad to be able to go out after lots of years being an awesome hermit. The sun was nice, the people were more than awesome, but then some..thing took me by the hands and lead me to a hurricane. So to think, I'd just broken out from my shell. It was my break from my virtual life. Then suddenly I was bombarded by a potato pirate with confetti and rainbow sprinkles.

I felt like Anna from Frozen as the gates were finally opened. Really, no joke. Only that I didn't marry a guy I met for  a day. 

For the entire year, I tried to be the perfect daughter. I wasn't a star student, but I tried my best and I know I've learned a lot from that school year, then I chose my friends and rarely went out to hangout with people. It was all family, family, school, school then maybe a lot of hobbies, and hobbies... But I wasn't really able to socialize propery. As a teen, I know I needed to socialize. I mean, how will I survive when I'll be standing on my own? 

That day I mentioned awhile ago was one very remarkable day: I was finally allowed to join the Youth Org. in our neighborhood. My happiness was incomprehensible.

But I was caught by surprise by some.. awesome inevitable gummy worm. 

The cheesy words came, and the awesome times, the heart emoticons and the texts c: I'm not saying I didn't like it, I mean.. it's just that It really shocked me. If I were Caucasian I would have blushed a million times. 

I mean, how I wish! That would make me a lot cuter I think.There is the feeling of blood rushing to your cheeks, and would then ransack the place and then rainbow would course through your bloodstream to your entire being. 

At some point I felt like a ten year old girl with a slight gap between her two front teeth who blushes intensely at some boy giving a silly heart drawn to a sheet of paper. 

It's a natural reaction for shy people. 

And oh my gosh. I realized, on this very day. April 14th 2015... It's been a year since all these weird love-drama-stuff happened in my life, and well I would totally like to say thank you to all those 'exes' aka 'Almost lovers' who didn't make it but they made life colorful, ya know? 

I had a wish back then, then I think it became true. 

Wait, is this what I wanted? 

Honestly, I used to be One of the Boys, AKA the girl version of a friendzone. I was too 'boyish' for a guy to have feelings for me. They see me as a bro, or perhaps an awesome sis. Then when school ended for 2014, I vowed to make changes to myself and be more 'girly'. If you need further understanding please listen to the song 'One of the Boys' by Katy Perry. Seriously, that song was the song of my entire summer of that year.
Not everything in the song totally applied my life, okay? The gist of it captured my goal: to be girly. According to the song 'I want to smell like roses, not a baseball team." 

I did many things: Jog with my friend, ate less, and in the end I enrolled myself into swimming lessons plus joined a little swimming competition which involved training. 

April 14 was the day I met my first... uhm. 'almost lover'. We only lasted for two months because when school came, we had to part ways. After that very first summer love, I met another guy somewhere in July. It ended, then another one came some time in September. It ended after three months, then the final one was by the whole month of February. 

People were always there to speculate, especially those who knew me. They had their eyebrow raised when they noticed how the 'weird girl' was not being her usual boring self. The gossips came, but I took it with a pinch of salt, thinking 'this must how being a celebrity feels like' and I tell you, I don't really like it. Yeah, people would finally get to know your name and face but then it's.. just annoying with the false information they give everywhere.

I mean come on, gossip is like a highschool version of Journalism, but instead of giving awareness to a truth, they try to sabotage the truth. 

The thing is: I don't regret meeting those guys. Every 'relationship' gives me something new to learn. First of all, I've learned how it feels like to be in a relationship, that there  are  different people in this world. We also
get to  learn a great deal in ourselves, and most importantly, at every 'break up' our heart's defense system levels up. 

So... Now that it's April 14 again, with a.. possible relationship at hand... Am I ready to face a whole new year of.. This and that?

Thinking about it overwhelms me. I mean, what lies in store for me? 

But nah, all I could say I guess is... 'Bring it on, Life. Try me if you dare.' 

xoxo Final words, Flockmates? Never lose yourself in the process of being with others. We only have ourselves. We're like one column, and the other someone should be like the other column. With the two of you together, you can support something entirely awesome. If you love yourself, you have that one column already installed inside of you, so that one day when your special someone leaves, then at least you can still stand for yourself. Not loving oneself is like leaning over to a column. So..  Be an awesome column and be a greek one too if you like!

As always, live, love and learn, because that's life :)

One Sick Day

Touch my neck, what do you feel? Heat.

 Observe my body language, and what do you observe? Weakness.

Yes, my fellow birds, I am sick.  I have no idea what got me into this state. The moment I woke up, my head was throbbing with a slight pain and felt it weighed 200 tons. I had the appetite to eat, but I was totally moody, as if I was on PMS. Wait, *counts the calendar

I think I really am in my PMS week, but that shouldn’t mean I should be this sick!

Good thing is that we’ll be having soup tonight. 

All throughout my childhood, I was not a sickly kid.  Besides the occasional cough, and runny nose, I don’t get fever often, and in fact, I’ve only vomited for like, four times in my entire lifetime. That’s why I always wonder why I get sick, because it really doesn’t occur to me always.

What are the things you usually do when you’re unwell? Based from my results today, I’ve slept more than 10 hours, and only woke up to eat, go to the bathroom, and well, this post is a proof that illness doesn’t stop me doing from the things I love to do.

Alright, so what is the connection with the doggy pic up there? My expression and are quite similar! I couldn’t spend long hours in front of the computer, I couldn’t go out, I couldn’t help mom at the store and  I couldn’t play with my younger sisters and dog; hence the sad face.

Pooch over there is named Chipy. He isn’t really my dog. My grandmother owned him, but then she passed away. Ever since, he’s with my grandfather now and my auntie. Among all the things my gran left behind, Chipy is our most valuable one. We recalled nights when gran was in bed, her illness invading her body at every second. Of course, we had to prohibit Chipy from entering that room. Poor guy would sleep by the foot of the door that when one would open the door, he’ll be there like a fluffy rag. Those doggy eyes that light up when he hears my gran’s faint voice.

Chippy had a son, named Poopie, who is now my dog! If you’re wondering how Poopie looks like, he looks exactly like his father! Now, my dog’s story. Poopie is the last among the five puppies Chip’s wife gave birth to. A couple months after they were born, there was this strange disease breaking out, and the former owners had very little knowledge in puppy disease. If you haven’t guessed already, I definitely took Poopie and brought him to our house. I remembered him being a very sick dog. Turns out that his condition was Diarrhea.

I recalled the nights I would keep a careful eye on his stool. There were the times when I would force a dropper full of water on him so he wouldn’t get dehydrated. I fed him milk, and cleaned his  cage, and would pet him on my lap wishing he’d be okay.

And he eventually became okay.

Now he’s a very active dog who’s very loud and playful but shuts up every time I sing to him. Weird, right? I mean, I didn’t know dogs can be in tuned to music too! He’s the first to greet me when I arrive home from school. The one very eager to kiss me with its pink, gooey tongue.

I’m so thankful to have a dog like him.

Most importantly, I wish gran’s soul peace and happiness, wherever she is right now, for she taught me how to love and care for others, even those who are not human. She exposed me to poverty, and didn’t raise me up to be the spoiled brat I was bound to be. I was her only grandchild, but she took me in as if I was her fourth child. All I can say is, without my grandma, I wouldn’t be the girl I am today.

.

I wish you to be healthy and well always, flockmates! J

Rise and Shine, Flockmates!

I am the Nothingale, bold and brave and dreaming in this whole new world of blogging and business and searching for worms. I hope I'll spend a lot of time in this, and would stick to be committed in blogging, as I have had previous experiences of suddenly disappearing from a blog. I am basically everywhere in the Internet, in FB, Twitter, Instagram, and I have a similarly-named blog on Tumblr but that is for another time.

Today, I ready my scissors to cut the great red ribbon of victory and start dashing towards nowhere in particular. I hope I make many friends here, and I hope I may inspire my readers as well and have them love me and love them and maybe we could hangout together someday or something!

Much, much love, Larrien :)