By: Niña Cudal

In the Philippines, a famous coffee brand’s tagline asks, “Para kanino ka bumabangon?” (Who do you wake up for?) Everyday, we ask ourselves this question. Some may answer their family, loved ones, friends, community, or even themselves. Whatever your answer is, the important thing is it’s your answer and no one else’s.

As we move about this digitalization of our lives through social media, we often find ourselves trapped in our own news feeds, with friends posting graduation and post-graduate toga shots, wedding pictorials, baby photos, a new car, a new house, a successful business, and more. While their achievements are credible and worth celebrating, your life should not be patterned to their journey. Like you, we all have struggles and challenges that we face everyday.

Maybe now,  in the current state of things, it may not be looking so great. Your personal timeline of goals may be a little delayed. Some may have reached their goals first, but remember that you have your own story—and maybe yours isn’t finished yet.

Don’t be fooled into giving yourself unnecessary pressure. The world is ironically cruel and caring at the same time so make sure to be kinder to yourself every day; you owe yourself at least that.

While you walk the path towards your dreams, remember to stop and smell the roses. Too often that we get caught up in our hang ups that we forget to enjoy the little things. We should trust the process, one day at a time.

Television show “The Good Place’s” resident ethics professor Chidi Anagonye puts this so eloquently, saying, “It turns out life isn’t a puzzle that can be solved one time and it’s done. You wake up every day, and you solve it again.”

So, cheers, self! We made it through today. Time to wake up and solve life again.