Jasmine.

Nostalgia for me, with all its ephemeral flashes and thrills, is a giant lifeboat people cling on to when befuddled with too much complexity. After all, humans are no immune to challenges. As you step up the ladder of maturity, baggage can weigh you down and push you to your limits. You’ll realize that growing up is an extremely overwhelming process yet leaves you no other choice. In order to be saved, a part of you refuses to let go. A part of you is stuck in that momentary brightness when your world revolves only around the mundane.

But eventually, you make peace with the fact that this world no longer puts you at its center, and that there’s more to lollipops and colorful hairpins and fancy paper dolls. So you say goodbye to childhood and innocence. But not for long. Life pierces you to the core and you find yourself tripping down memory lane.

It became my saving grace to recount my childhood days especially when my character is put to test or when I feel like jumping off  a cliff because in it,  I seem invincible. It’s true that there are people and situations capable of prodding us to think or act negatively. No matter how hard you try, obstructions will crop up like pests ready to destroy you from full blossoming. What a feat it is to be a good person! As they say, madaling maging tao pero mahirap magpakatao ( its easy to be human, but its hard to act with dignity). I believe it’s part of this universe’s design to let humans experience conflict, otherwise we would not be able to appreciate life in its fullness.

Honestly, it’s much easier to make sense of theoretical problems than understand real-life issues. Years of training allows you to be an expert in one field or discipline. But when it comes to managing personal life, not even a hundred years of existence can make you demystify life in its totality. There’s no such thing as masters or doctoral degree courses that can provide ultimate answer to every human’s unique questions.

Yet we are also gifted with free will. Viesca expounds “no one who achieves anything significant in life gives up at times when he is supposed to stretch.  Claim your birthright to become a better person with every event that comes your way.  In those moments when things seem too complicated to understand, be thankful.”

We can create something from nothing, turn crap into a thing of value. In a sense, we all can be alchemists of destiny. Instead of relying on nostalgia which is more often than not, erroneous and escapist – we can man our future by living today and savouring the present!