In Stephen Chobsky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, there is a quote that says: “We accept the love we think we deserve.” And if you know me personally, you’ve probably heard this from me once or twice. I believe that nobody picks the person they fall in love with, it just happens. Whether it’s right, illegal, painful, or perfect, the feelings we get for a person is not a choice. The initial spark, the incredible chemisty, connections we have with people, whether they’re appropriate, just happen. But I think what we choose to do with these feelings are a choice. Do you continue loving a person that abuses your…

The beginning of October, I headed to Davao for a short vacation. It was to say, interesting, with how much small details went awry. First, after being reassured by a friend who was from Davao that their cab drivers were honest, we were taken for a long detour and asked for an extra P50 by the cab driver outside the airport. Then we spent around more than an hour trying to find the right ferry to get to the part of Samal Island where our resort was. An hour after we got to our resort, the power went our for a few hours, so even when we were feeling sick…

Being in my late twenties, recently uprooted from the path I thought my life was taking, I have been thinking about success. Growing up, we were all conditioned to think that success at this point in our lives is making a lot of money, starting a family, and having fun doing it. But does being successful in one side of your life and not the others automatically equal to failure? Does work-a significant other to share it with = being a loser? Or does being totally happy with your relationship but hating every single moment of your working life mean that as a person, you’ve failed singularly? Too often, it…