Don't Hide Just Seek

"You hide because that's all you're allowed to do and you're expected to hide anyway." 

It seems like everything around you is dim and dark and a tiny light would have been enough to at least see your shadow, a shadow that you can be yourself with, a shadow you can pretend to be friends with, a shadow that portrays your own darkness. You wonder, why do I have to find the light when all I can see is my own mirror of darkness. 

It's dark and you wanted to hide. But you're not hiding form anyone else, you are hiding form yourself and you want to find yourself as well. 


Confusing, that's what's going on in your confined and lonely world and you want to liberate yourself from it. At first you're too scared to look at your own reflection in the dark, then it became as if it's a part of you, connected, unending, and still dark. 

You know that there's nothing to hide for, but you are to weak to even care what you know. You know that you don't even have to look at it but you still choose to. Your weakness became so loud, a deafening loudness, sharp and noisy---- then you realized, it was quiet. 

You walked away and still wanted to hide, and you got tired because no one dared to seek you out, to reach out and even ask you. "And even if they did, you don't have the strength to tell them what you're hiding because that's what you're good at and that's what you are expected----to hide."

So, you smiled and said, "I'm fine." when what you really mean was, help me... I'm lost and I need you to find me...   

You don't know anything. Everything seem to look well. Then, came a point when looking well isn't an option anymore and as great of an example you are, you have secrets and you'd rather keep it to yourself than be thought of a victim, that you're having a pity party, that you're being a fake believer because you're feeling all dark from within. 

Each one of us has a battle and it's up to us if we fight or we surrender. As much as you wanted to give up, you painfully fought. You felt that despite struggle, you're still losing anyway so you decided to just give up. 

In exchange you hid yourself---- you liked the darkness instead because everything was too fake, too complacent and too weak to even believe-- no matter how hard you try, no matter how deeper you try to understand----

Christians can be fake too, we can be fake in our own little way!!!! We hide because we are too weak to admit that we have flaws too. And our flaws might be the reason of other people's failure. Or maybe their flaws can be the reason of our failure. 

You're too scared to be yourself because you don't want them to think that the God you're serving wasn't or isn't doing His job. You know that in your weakness, He is your strength but you'd rather appear fine from the outside. And you didn't realized you're actually hiding from your own darkness by doing it.

It's the most hardest battle because you only have God to listen and the people around think you are doing alright in your walk. But where do you start? How? When? Who do you talk to? When you don't know who to trust anyway... 

A Christian like me can look totally fine from the outside and you won't even figure out what's going on from within me, so who am I to know who to talk to? We have our own mask and identity and it's our choice if we remained that way. 

No matter how many bible verses we know, how many times we read it, how many people encourage us---- those won't matter if we are doing it by obligation. 

"If we allow the bible to speak to our lives, we won't be living defeated."

We have every reasons to hide but it's not what you are called to do. 

Our career, our life, our family, our mother, our father, our children, our friends, our sister, our brother, our wife or our husband shouldn't be the reasons why we want to hide. 

"If we struggle in our journey as a christian, it's not because of them, it's because of us." We should not let it affect us, control us nor change us. We are our own image and we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. Whenever we have our hiding moment and we want to be seek in one way or the other---remember to not let words, people nor situation affect you. Do not bully yourself. Because It's not true. 

"You are worthy and no matter what, it's already a done deal, signed and sealed."

Stop hiding. 

You are a warrior of God. Don't be scared by your own shadow, it only means you are looking at your own abilities and when you do, you will only see the darkness in you... 

Look up, Seek Him with all your heart and you will find Him. 

AM I TOO YOUNG TO INVEST?

Are you really too young to invest? How old do you think should a person know about money management, investment, profit, market or even retirement?

I'm blessed to have been introduced to buy and sell at a young age. My mom made us "polvoron"  a delicacy in the Philippines made of flour, powdered skim milk, margarine and sugar. Then I would sell it to my classmates during recess, we have two recess plus lunch break so I had all the time to sell it. 

My mom would give me a certain percentage from the profit. Obviously, it's not a lot but at the age of 10, I understood the value of money and how business works. 

Did I invest when I was a child? Probably  not financially but my mom did---but I did invest my energy to sell my moms "polvoron" because I know I will earn something. 

WE WANT TO EARN. THE REASON WHY PEOPLE INVEST, because we want to earn and have more in return. 

So are you too young to invest? 

DEFINITELY NOT! HOW TO START.

1. START SMALL. Try buy and sell first if you are not familiar with the business world yet. At a young age, a child should learn how to manage money and how money works. For someone like me who did it because of my moms guidance, I benefited from it. 

• confidence
• sales talk
• basic addition and subtraction
• self concept and self worth
• independence
• knowledge on making profit

2. DON'T BE AFRAID TO RISK. Don't make money your biggest priority but find a way for the business startup to be a stepping stone to know more and learn a lot of lesson. If you're afraid to start, then you're afraid to learn. 

3. PRAYER AN MOTIVATION.  Every persons success started from faith and motivation. Motivate yourself and believe that you can do it. "IT'S EASY TO START BUT IT'S HARD TO MAINTAIN IT." 

If you are able to motivate yourself over and over and over again, and you have a strong faith that God will never forsake you, YOUR AGE WON'T BE A HINDRANCE TO START ANYTHING, EVEN INVESTMENT. 

4. KNOWLEDGE. When you consider yourself young in the world of investment, meaning you still have a lot to learn, a lot to fail and a lot to encounter---- no matter what, don't think of those obstacles and challenges as barriers but rather, Knowledge. Without it, anyone who wants to invest or in the investing world cannot survive. 

"People say Change is constant, I say, Learning should be constant" 

5. PLAN. You need to have a concrete plan on what you want to do, what you like to do or what interest you. Just because you like something, that should be a good investment for you. It's not! Think out of the box and do trial and error and never give up, remember that the greatest people failed many many times and never gave up that's why they are now considered great in their own field.

6. DON'T WAIT. If you wait long enough, you will be old. hahaha! Kidding aside, all I'm saying is, you shouldn't wait and invest while you're still young. The younger you start, the more you'll understand the concept and the more you'll understand, the easier it'll get, the easier it'll get, the more reason for you to keep on going. 

So, ARE YOU REALLY TO YOUNG TO INVEST? If you still think you are, then I don't know what to do with you anymore. 

Go read a different blog. :)

Because to me, NO ONE IS TOO YOUNG TO INVEST. I started at age 10, you can start earlier than that. 

WHY OVERSEAS FILIPINO WORKERS ARE AGAINST THE "BALIKBAYAN BOX" INSPECTION AND WHY WE ARE AGAINST THE NEW POLICY THAT IT MUST NOT EXCEED TO $500.00.

1. WE SPENT MONTHS TO ORGANIZED OUR GOODS---SWEAT, PAPER CUTS AND OF COURSE BACK PAIN. ONLY TO FIND OUT ONE OR TWO OR EVEN MORE OF THOSE GOODS THAT WE SPENT OUR TIME SAVING, CAN BE TAKEN OUT WITHOUT OUR PERMISSION. 

2. WHEN WE PURCHASED THOSE GOODS, WE DID NOT ONLY BUY IT, BUT WE PAID THE SALES TAX WHICH CAN BE AS HIGH AS 8% TO 10%. 

3. WE DON'T BUY ALL OF IT, SOME OF IT ARE GIFTS FROM FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS, CO WORKERS AND FAMILY MEMBERS. ARE YOU ALSO GOING TO INCLUDE THOSE GIFTS AS PART OF THE $500 LIMIT? IT'S A GIFT!!!!!  

4. THERE'S NO WAY FOR CUSTOMS TO IDENTIFY THE AMOUNT BECAUSE IT VARIES FROM COUNTRY TO COUNTRY. I JUST DON'T GET THE LOGIC. WHY ARE YOU SO WORRIED ABOUT WHAT WE ARE SENDING? WE ARE NOT CRIMINALS!!!!

5. IF YOU WANT TO REALLY CHECK OUR BALIKBAYAN BOXES, MIGHT AS WELL CHECK HOW MUCH WE EARN, HOW MUCH WE PAY OUR RENT, IF YOU WANT MAYBE OUR BOSS, OUR LIFE AND HOW WE EARNED THE MONEY WE SPENT JUST TO SEND A BALIKBAYAN BOX HOME. I DON'T THINK YOU GET IT AT ALL!!! INSPECTING OUR BALIKBAYAN BOX IS LIKE CHECKING OUR PERSONAL LIVES. IT'S NOT LIKE WE ARE UNDER INVESTIGATION.

6. YES, WE MIGHT BE EARNING DOLLARS, DINAR, RIYAL, ETC., BUT WE ARE ALSO SPENDING IT IN DOLLARS, DINAR AND RIYAL. NO MATTER HOW MUCH THE EXCHANGE RATES ARE, IT DOESN'T MATTER. WE ARE NOT RICH JUST BECAUSE WE ARE OFW'S.

7. WE DON'T TRUST THE SYSTEM OF THE PHILIPPINE BUREAU OF CUSTOMS. LET'S NOT BE HYPOCRITES HERE, PHILIPPINE OFFICES FAIL BADLY BECAUSE OUR SYSTEM FAIL GREATLY!!!! WE LOVE OUR COUNTRY BUT WE HATE THE SYSTEM.

8. WE DON'T DESERVE THIS AT ALL. WE HAVE OTHER STUFF TO THINK ABOUT INCLUDING OUR FAMILIES WELL BEING. IT'S HARD TO BE AWAY FROM OUR FAMILIES ALREADY, DON'T ADD TO THAT BURDEN. 

THANK YOU FOR READING AND BE WELL!!!

Snap it, Print It: Why we should print our photos

Oh snap! This photo can get a hundred likes!!! Uploading.. uploading...uploading complete... waiting.. waiting...YES! 15 likes! 

Admit it, you are also guilty. You might have not thought that way but in our subconscious mind, we want that one like and appreciation at least. We have "boastful" nature in us as humans and the more great photos we share, the more the likes, the more it satisfies us. 

• There's nothing wrong about it, come on, it's the 21st century and the world changes day by day. Social Media is now part of us and whether we like it or not, this is the new generation. When we have 30 mins break from work, we open our facebook. 

• When the traffic light is red, we check our instagram. While waiting in line, we pin new ideas on pinterest. When we are bored in class or even in a restaurant, we post photos. We've all done it. 

• We can write anything we want and even upload anything we want--including our outfits of the day, our shoes, our pets, our coffee? our new phone, our food, our cuts, our new apartment, or even the weather!! Name it! (I even took a photo one day of my 2 years old comb!) A day won't be enough to enumerate all the photos we uploaded since the day we all signed up to be part of the social media world. 

• We have thousands of it that we have to scroll more than ten times to find that one photo that we are looking for when we first took our first plane ride a year ago, or that time when we won the championship game, or maybe our first couple photo, or even our first kiss or even simple photos like spending the weekend with grandma or our friends wedding. 

• All precious memories worth keeping but we chose to not have a hard copy of it for years and years and years. Maybe not all of us but a few of us doesn't have copies of any album that we post on facebook. We don't have a big container filled with photos like grandma, we don't have box filled with memories.

We might have thousands of photos in our smart phones, Google+, LinkedIN, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest but we don't have an album filled with laughter, tears of joy and embarrassing moments. 

• Those valuable and precious moments that we can all share to our children and our children's children. Stories that we can all laugh about when we reminisce those moments as we glance that one photo we took and took time to print.  

After all, it's not about how many likes we get, how many compliment we received but how precious those moments are when we snap it!