The Dares of Life

Basically, in life you’ll experience and learn everything you need to know. You will grow up, feel different emotions, make and pick decisions, face every challenges and hindrances all through the ups and downs of life. In every moment of your life, you will be in a situation where you must make a decision that will affect your surroundings, your life and your future.

Challenges.

What are challenges? Why do we face them? Why do we have them?

Challenges are tests in life that you need to take and overcome so that you will improve and learn. We need to face and not run away from these challenges so that we can move on, achieve our goals and dreams and be a better person. We have these challenges so that we will learn in life, and become a better individual.

In our everyday life, we face different kinds of challenges, anytime and anywhere. Like the children that go to school, some of them are bullied which cause depression, insecurities and eventually, suicides and deaths. Every single day for them is like a living hell because they either get teased or hurt physically and emotionally which only breaks their heart. But that challenge can make them a lot stronger, braver, and better once they face it and overcome it. They would turn to be better persons in the future and will avoid those happenings again.

Every single one of us are different and unique in our own ways, we just have to be proud of everything that we possess and have instead of drowning in shame because of the hate that we get.

In life, we may trip down and fall hard but it’s what makes us stronger. 

So stand up, wipe your tears, chin up and face every challenges and dares that may bombard you in every way that is possible and overcome all of it. You have your own strength and weaknesses but your weaknesses can also be your strength.

The Upshot of Life

                What is Life?

As per what Langston Hughes stated in his poem, ’Mother to Son’ that “Life ain’t been no crystal stair.” According to Wikipedia, “Life is the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.” And there are other countless more definitions and meaning for life that is based on scientific basis, on experiences, on the understanding of the person and etc. But for us, what really is Life?

For me, Life is living. Life is like a chance that God gave us, so that we can learn lessons, learn from our mistakes and failures, experience what is living and how to live, so we can learn to not be ashamed of falling down but instead stand up, learn how to grow up, learn how to understand, learn how to feel and learn how to do your best every single time so you can achieve your goals, achieve success and happiness.

In life, we all do different things every day. We do good or bad things, depending on our decisions. And in those decisions, we can easily affect all that surrounds us, positively or negatively. And with those decisions and acts, those would be our trademarks, remembrance, souvenir and legacy to the people that became a part of our lives and the people that knows us.

For me, I want to be remembered for the deeds that I have done that would describe who I really am. I want to be remembered by people that I had been one of those chosen people who touched their hearts (of course not literally) and that I had become a part of their lives too. I also want to be remembered for the talents and skills that I possess that helped me achieve my goals and dreams in life. And someday, I want to be—scratch that, I will be a successful accountant in South Korea and continue living my dreams there. I also want to be remembered as the ‘Princess Ann E. Buendia’ that was who I really am, and not some plastic act of sweet nothings. And that are some of my goals in life.

 Don't you fall now because life is not about how hard you fall, it's about how you stand up every time you fall, so stand up, wipe your tears, heal your wounds and climb up to success.

 Life is beautiful, don't waste your time mourning, live life to the fullest.

Lion-Heart

                My name is Princess Ann E. Buendia. I have a father, a mother and an older brother. But one thing’s for sure, I adore this one person and look up to her as an inspiration and one of my heroes. She was always there for me, through the ups and downs in life. She was the one who gave birth to me. She was also the one who guided me, along with my father and my brother, in my life, in all the challenges that I faced. She was also the one whom I’ve held on to whenever I always feel scared and whenever I lack of confidence. She was also the one, along with my father, who walked me up the stage whenever I was awarded a medal for a contest that I’ve won of. She was also the one who walked me up at my Graduation in Elementary. She was also the one who bore all of my whining, accusations, unwanted emotions and etc. And most of all, she is Joie Espinosa Buendia, my mother.

                March 13, 1969. The day she was born. The day my mother was born. My mother lived in a simple way. They were poor back then, which forced her to work while she was still young and studying. She studied in Naic Elementary School for six years and graduated as a Valedictorian. Then, in High School, she studied at Western Colleges and graduated as the First Honourable Mention. She focused on studying for herself and her family which left her with no love life. In College, she also studied at Western Colleges, which became the way for her to meet her One and Only Love of her life. She met my father, on her first year of college. Their love story was beyond a laughing stock, it was amazing and at the same time, cliché. My mother was a volleyball player and that time, they had a game. My mother out-stood because she was just the one who wore long basketball-like shorts while her teammates and opponents wore short volleyball shorts. The outfit was the reason why my father noticed my mother and then, boom! Love sprung out.

                June 18, 1994. I guess, it was the best day for my mother and father because it was the day that they became one and legally married. They had my older brother after almost a year, in April 14, 1995. He was a blessing to them, of course, especially when he grew up with them. He was the pride of my parents; he became Valedictorian and won lots of contests which led him up to the International Level. They were with him, guiding him along as he slowly grows up.

                Not so long after, June 7, 2000. The day I was born. I guess I was a blessing to my mother even though I wasn’t as intelligent as my brother, not as responsible or as kind as the other kids. My mother continued to work, along with my father to give my brother and I a better life. My mother worked as a public teacher in Bucal National High School for twenty-three years. One day, there was a test for applying as a principal, she immediately took the chance and took the test.

After a year, my mother became a principal at a public elementary school named Bucana Elementary School. She worked hard to make the school a better place, and all her hard work paid off. But she was suddenly moved to another public elementary school for promotion. It was in Mabulo Elementary School, it was also a public elementary school not so far from our house, so my mother took the chance. She worked hard to make the school a better place and took very good care of everything and everyone—the school, the surroundings, the plants, her teachers, her students, her office and even the students’ parents and also the staffs that work there. Up until now, July 24, 2014, she still strives, continue working hard and showed no sign of giving up, giving us a better future and a good life.

I love everything about my mother, starting from her long brown hair, her sleepy eyes, her flat nose, her pouty red lips, up to her flaws which make her perfectly imperfect. She was my inspiration. She taught me the way of never giving up, the art of forgiving and the risk-taking. She was always there, guiding me and helping me make decisions whenever I couldn’t do anything myself. She also let me stood on my own, and not be dependent on her, on my father and on my brother whenever I have problems that she thinks and believes I can do on my own.

I was never really good at showing my feelings because I was really shy and I lack of confidence. But I’d tell you one thing, I love you, Mom, so much. Thank you for everything, for guiding me, for taking care of me, for loving me from the bottom of your heart, for putting up with my attitude and countless more.

“Umma, Saranghaeyo.”