What a Summer of Doing Nothing Can Do

It's been a good couple of weeks or so since I last "blogged-in", and during those couple of weeks, I had a good chance to just lean back and relax--pretty much do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. It was definitely a welcome change from my usually hectic and stressful everyday life.

It feels wonderful to have had the chance to do all the things I loved doing in the past--way before my life grew up and grew complicated. For the first time in years, I painted again, I wrote poetry again, I made crafts and other stuff again, I read books again. Though it seems pretty shallow, to me it was as if I lived again.

It's weird, but I realized how dead on the inside I was, living the same monotonous routine phase I called life. It was a sad realization, but an important one. It was definitely instrumental in my having a renewed belief in life. I have lots of hope now, and it feels good.

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My mom sent me a book via mail. At first, I thought it was an arki book, and I was really excited. When I received it, I was kinda disappointed to find out that it was one of those gift books--one of those inspirational things usually left to dust in the shelves of National Bookstore or some gift shop.

When I read it, though, I realized that it gave me so much more that what a nice, expensive coffee table book can give. Let's just say I saw a side in both myself and my mom that I never would have seen had the book not been given to me. For an instance, I saw more to what people always tell me--that I was so much like my mother. I used to think that similarity ended on looks and likes. Now I see that it's so much beyond that. It's hard to explain, but I'm really proud of that fact.

Here's something off that particular book that gave me so much. I share it with you that it may do the same for you:

I want to tell you that I believe in you;

I believe in your mind

and all the dreams, intelligence,

and determination within you.

You can accomplish anything.

You have so much open to you,

so please don't give up on what you want

from life

or from yourself.

Please don't put away the dreams inside you.

You have the power to make them real.

You have the power to make yourself

exactly what you want to be.

Believe in yourself the way I do,

and nothing will be beyond your reach.