There's a saying 'passion drives people' and yes it's true because it leads people to their goals and we all know that 'passion becomes more than just something you do, it becomes something you are'. We're all passionate about one thing, may it be in sports, music, arts, or anything else and it excites us somehow, right? But what happens when depression creeps in? Last two years ago, I came out through social media to raise awareness and told that I was diagnosed with clinical depression but I've been battling with it even years before and up until today, I remember there was a time it became worse and I started not attending classes anymore, cancelling my meetings with people, battling with my thoughts every night, feeling tired most of the times, staring blankly, and losing the interests in everything even the things I love doing. They are just the least of what depression can do. Now, the thing with depression in most people, like me, is it would cause a war with your passion, you would literally be fighting with voices inside your head because it would make you believe that life is meaningless, that someone else can do better than you, that no one cares, that it's a waste of time, and whatsoever, and it would cause you to doubt yourself, doubt that you will succeed with what your passionate about, and doubt about life... It will literally cause you to despise your passion. And there would be times that you wake up without being passionate about something at all and it will cause you to think that your life is meaningless. Little by little I saw things that I loved lose their meaning for me... I once loved cooking and baking so much, I was so passionate with it and loved messing around at our kitchen before but now it would even take so much convincing in my head that I have to cook today, later, or tomorrow. Music, who doesn't love that, but me I almost lost my passion with it but thankfully I didn't and continued serving God with music. Photography, almost everyone knows that I love it so much but there was a time I almost gave it up, I remember I did not touch my camera for a year or so, not because I'm busy like what I always reason but because I almost wanted to give up, and honestly, even the passion of being successful in my career is in battle with my depression. Some people would say it's just laziness or no direction in life but it's not, it's depression, it paralyzes you. Now you know, depression can turn your life on its head - passions are not safe with depression, it can crush any of it, passion, dreams, hopes, goals and everything that comes its way, and one can do worse than simply losing them.
Currently, I've been fighting my depression with my passion more and more, by fighting with the voice in my head that keeps saying I can't, and at the same time I'm keeping an active and healthy lifestyle (like going to the gym or jogging around in the campus), having my daily devotions and quiet time with the Lord, keeping myself busy with things I'm good at and things I would want to do, taking a step back, having alone time sometimes, reading, writing, listening to music, switching routine once in awhile, and it's been helping most days. I know it's hard, and for people with depression that are reading this right now, I am sure that you are making your best to come out of it, you are not alone, let's not lose this fight and continue to live our lives to the fullest, it's easier said than done but honestly let's try fighting it with loving our passion more than our depression, or you can share or talk about the battle you're in with people you trust or close to you (although I do still feel uncomfortable sharing things like this to people even close to me, but maybe it helps, right?), and let's always think of something or someone we love for us to keep fighting and always remember that God is bigger than this! Don't give up, and don't give in! Let's declare war back! And remember and take this in mind that you will succeed, there will be fall backs, it's normal, but you will and can succeed!
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Sa umaga'y nakangiti at tumatawa
Ngunit sa gabi'y nakatingin sa salamin Lumuluha, tinatanong ang sarili, 'Kaya mo pa ba?' Lagi mong pinapasaya ang iba Kahit masakit, Kahit nagmumukhang tanga ka na Huwag lang makitang nasasaktan sila Basta't makita lang silang nakangiti, Ang tanging nagpapasaya sayo. Pilit mong maging masaya Pero ang totoo Malungkot at nasasaktan ka na Nagsisinungaling Pilit kinakaya. Dinadaan sa musika Sa pagkuha ng litrato Sa kain at tulog Lahat na ginagawa Pinapagod ang sarili Para mawala sa isip at damdamin Ang lungkot at ang sakit. Masaya ka ba? Ang tanong sa sarili Laging iniisip Kung pwede bang itigil na ang lahat ng ito? (Navarro, 2017) Hey there Young photographer, Let's start with, what do you think makes a photographer a photographer? What do you think makes YOU a photographer? I hope it's not that you have a Dslr in hand, the gears you have, Nor how much money you make. Whether you shoot with your smartphone, your iphone, canon 5D, or Nikon d4, it just doesn't matter at all. What matters is the intent, your drive and love for art, like what James Elliot (an award winning photographer and creator of through the Lens) said, "Being a photographer means sharing your world in your own way." Samantha Chrysanthou, a blogger, said, "It’s not about records or objective truth; it’s about an idea, emotion or germ of a story that the photographer felt when he observed an object for what it truly looked like. A photographer is someone who sees these elements existing, shifting, morphing and evolving in real time, all times, and tries to express her subjective experience of such seeing." If you are constantly taking pictures, memories, and capturing the world around you or your world then you are a photographer! Now you've defined yourself as a photographer, it doesn't matter if you're already a photographer, a beginner, or starting to be one, I still got something to say to you... I've been where you are right now, we were all beginners at one point and we all take cliche photos that's why we want to start to learn new things about photography, the angles, the techniques, iso, apertures, and many more. Most of the time, at the start you feel you're not good at it, and there's a probability that you are right, but like what was mentioned earlier, we were all beginners at one point. I know you're eager to learn fast, but you have to slow down, take your time. You can join photography seminars or you can even watch tutorials in youtube. As time went by and I had more opportunity to take photos, joining some photographers, events, photowalks, and I took time to practice, never gave up, my editing and photography skills have leveled up. As mentioned earlier, it doesn't matter what gadget or device you have in your hand, or the gears you have. You don't have to buy an expensive camera and gears especially if you're just starting, don't go crazy buying the most expensive equipment right away, for now, what matters is how you take the shot, how you express it, or how you see it. It's in the photographer. Every photograph is unique, every photograph has its own story. Though, honestly, it irritates me to see the poor quality of my camera I started off with, a digicam, and how poorly I knew how to edit during my beginnings, it's nice to see how much I've improved over the years, and how much I can continue to grow! This is for you, the aspiring/new/young photographer that is nervous about starting out on your own! It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. But of course, I encourage you to take opportunities and do your very best! Next, as a photographer, accept criticism from people around you, they may help you in getting better shots next time, don't be offended, thinking that your shot was not nice that it's horrible, learn to accept criticism especially from experts. Grow from your mistakes, and do your best to never do them again! You can be better than you were at the start! You grow from your mistakes! Don't be afraid to experiment with your camera or phone's settings, take photos regularly, don't be afraid to experiment and take new unique shots. Don't be afraid to be connected with other photographers, get connected and join a community, you may learn new things from them! Never ever hesitate to share your photographs! you can share them on natgeo's website, instagram, facebook, or twitter, everyone will appreciate it, it's an art! And who knows you'll be featured one day? Never give up! I've been in to photography for 7 years now, it all started as a hobby until I got really serious about photography, seeing the light, putting meaning on it or how I see it, joining seminars, joining some communities, and I enjoyed and fell more in love with photography because of the way it consumed me. I've been sharing my photographs in my social media like facebook and instagram, and I've been joining photography contests online, in events, or in school, I've never won, that was okay, I didn't get my hopes high, I just wanted to share, but I never gave up, I practiced more, learned more and because of that, I've never expected to win 2nd place in UST Fotomasino's Iridescence Photowalk last December 2015, and just recently this year, a friend introduced me to submit a photo entry to a well known site, rappler, to be featured in their world photography day album, I tried, I submitted and never have I expected again that out of thousands of photographs submitted they have chosen like 37 photos and my photograph was included and featured and it is truly an honor! God is good! Just never give up! With phone cameras or DSLRs, it doesn't matter, either way you are a photographer! Just practice practice practice and take more shots! If there's something I learned, it's that you need someone to encourage you and tell you that you can do it! If you have the passion and eye for photography, then follow it! Never give up and just do it. You can't go anywhere without taking those first steps! Ending this with a quote "Photography is not about cameras, gadgets and gismos. Photography is about photographers. A camera didn't make a great picture any more than a typewriter wrote a great novel." Happy Shooting, Folks! P.S. When I was a beginner like you, until now, I needed an encouragement to tell me that I can do it! Special thanks to Margarette Sia, a well known photographer and blogger in California, for her words of encouragement! You may follow her at margarettesia.com, instagram.com/margarettesia, and facebook.com/margarettesiaphotography. Sources:
-http://www.margarettesia.com -http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/what-makes-a-photographer/ -http://www.oopoomoo.com/2014/07/what-makes-a-photographer-a-photographer/ -http://digital-photography-school.com/11-tips-for-beginner-photographers/ How do you spend your vacation break? Going out of the country enjoying touring its places? Or reading books? Or playing computer games? Or watering the plants in your garden? Or doing summer job to earn money? Or volunteering in different organizations? Or babysitting? There are lots of things in mind to do during our vacation break, right? Well, before I had my vacation break from school, I had my first internship, required as a pharmacy student, in The Generics Pharmacy, I had a great time though, memorizing different brand names and generic names, learning new things about community pharmacy, and more! Then, I spent my vacation break with my family and friends, food tripping alone or together with them and being a tourist in my own beautiful hometown, Zamboanga City! Yes, you've read it right, being a tourist in my own hometown! Why? It's because when I went back in my hometown, it looks new, there were lots of new places to go, and new restaurants to try! Amazing, indeed! I'm gonna share with you my food tripping adventures. South Avenue, Yubenco Tetuan Thanks to Achi Margie for bringing me here and for treating me! We tried their burgers, and it's very delicious and cheesy! South avenue has Ribs as their specialty but we just ordered one burger each. Just an advice when eating here, don't be OC. It's really messy when you start eating your burger, cheese spreading out, patty sliding out. But promise, it's affordable and delicious! Sulit, I can say. Juicy Lucy with fries (My Order) it is South Avenue's version of the cheese stuffed patty with two cheeses topped with coleslaw. Price: P140 Evan Almighty with fries (Achi Margie's order) it's a quarter pounder patty topped with onion rings, jalapeno, coleslaw - served with spicy and cheese sauce. Price: P135 Sugar and Ice Cafe, Veterans Sugar and ice cafe is a dessert place that you can enjoy catching up with your friends! Full of sweets, Heaven indeed! Well known for their homemade ice creams especially their durian ice cream. They just started by selling their ice creams and now they have their own cafe! Great! Cookie Monster Crepe and Death to Chocolate Cake and Barbecue flavored fries S'mores Ice cream Waffle. Thanks to Sugar and ice for giving us this free taste! Bistro Fellini, Guiwan It's a new Italian restaurant in town! Expensive but worth it! Pepper Rub Steak Duo, two pieces of approximately 150 grams each of top blade USDA Certified Angus Beef splashed with bourbon steak sauce and served with our choice of mashed potato and vegetables. Herb Roasted Chicken, it's a half sized chicken seasoned with their special homemade rub then roast to perfection and served with our choice of mashed potato and vegetables. NY Pepperoni, it's a spicy American pepperoni with mozzarella cheese. Jarheads, Canelar Airport Jarheads is a new restaurant in town, it's a small place that looks like a 50's diner in Texas. They have delicious food, and it's all affordable. Famous for their ribs and buffalo wings. You get to draw on their tables too while waiting for you order, they'll give you different colors of pens. Pretty cute. Lord of the Wings. I love eating spicy foods, but this is different! I cried when I ate this, I can totally say it's spicy to the max! It's funny at first, when I ate it at my first bite, my friends were laughing at my reaction and so I ate a lot of rice and drank lots of water to lessen the spiciness in my mouth. I was sweating, and my face was getting red. Should have believed the one who's taking the orders. It's spicier than the level 10 of Ramen Nagi, spicier than Maggi Kari, and spicier than Hongkong's Famous Street Food's Laksa Soup. Out of all the four flavors of their buffalo wings like the Jack Daniel's, I chose this. But I tell you, I loved it, it's very delicious! Bowling at Tebi and Sean with friends after Jarheads. Located just at the side of Jarheads. I tell you, I'm not good. I just throw the ball. Haha! But practice makes perfect, right? Fiorgelato, Mindpro. Ordered Cookies and Cream, Choconut Fudge, and Fragola flavors. Lantaka Cafe
And on the right side is my treat, it's a Chocolate Crepe, it's kinda big for one person, and it has brownies inside the crepe, and vanilla ice cream on top, great combination! Very sweet but delicious! And a chocolate shake for me! Crepeman, La Purisima
THE HOMEMADES Experimented a dessert one night, it has bananas and graham bits with butter and melted chocolate inside and cookies and cream on top with graham bits with butter, and someone named it Sweet Scaffold! THE TAKEOUTS The best Bulalo from Dipolog from my dad, mom, and brother! Very delicious! And Merci's Butterscotch from Bacolod from my mom! Just can't stop eating it. We finished 3 packs, I guess. There are still more new restaurants to try here in zamboanga city, like Carls, Red, Samurai, and more! Next time when i get back! I can really say I had a great vacation break! Great time in my hometown before I get back to Manila for my studies. Would like to thank all the readers for taking time to read my blog post, my friends for spending their time with me especially those who find time from their schedule to catch up with me and the other Manila girls, my family for spending and catching up with me for one month and for the fun times especially dessert times! And of course I thank God for blessing me with my family and friends, for protecting me, for providing me financially, and for a great vacation break!
First of all, I would like to thank my friend, Mycah, for bringing me to Bonifacio Global City and for introducing me to many restaurants and a must to go places and for a one night stay in her place! It was really a great time to have a food trip with her! First Stop at NIU Niu by Vikings! It is located in SM Aura. Such an amazing place to eat! Even though it's expensive, I can say it's all worth it! It has nine stations, nine stations to stop and taste every food in those stations! Next Stop at Vanilla Cupcake Bakery We took almost an hour just to find this bakery! We looked at the google map in our phones, asked people where this bakery can be found, but no one knows and even the google map has it wrong! So, no choice, we roamed around BGC just to find Vanilla Cupcake Bakery, and finally we found it! Haha. Was really tired, and hungry AGAIN. So when we were there, it took me a very long time to decide what to order because there was this Prime Rib Eye Steak and Porkchop with mushroom gravy sauce in the menu which made me very hungry, although my favorite is steak I've decided to order Porkchop with mushroom gravy sauce to try another food aside from steak. I not just like the food but also the ambiance of this place, it was great! Check it out, here below: And not just that, their cupcakes too! Love their Reese Cupcake! Next Stop at Baskin Robbins Expensive but delicious! Forgot the name of the flavor I ordered but I'm sure this was chocolate. While eating this, we went outside Rustan's and roam around the place which has many food outside, enjoying the free tastes, and at the same time, enjoying the fresh air! Next Stop at FullyBooked No doubt we're here because we love reading books so much! Loving this place, a 4-story building full of books and stationary! Heaven! Spent almost 2 hours in here wanting to buy all those books! Food Critic of the Night? Haha! That's all! Had a really great time! Thank you, BGC. Thank you, Mycah! And of course, Thank You Lord, for being with us, for Your protection and guidance! Another first! My first pharma week! Really enjoyed and had fun, all what we needed to destress! Had the opportunity to meet new friends, meet fellow students from the faculty of pharmacy (including Medical Technology and Biochemistry), meet a lot of stars (Actors/Models/Singers/Dancers), meet the pambansang inspirasyon Lloyd Luna, and had the opportunity to be me, the crazy me, now my friends and blockmates know who I really am when I have fun, and when ADHD strikes me! Haha. Had the opportunity also to join some activities, to dance with fellow students during the mob dance, to sing out loud with friends, to eat a lot of delicious food, to photo bomb in some pictures, to capture moments, to play around with my blockmates, and more! Great time to bond with blockmates though. There were lots of activities to join, food to eat, and booths to look into, alternative classes to join, and at the end of the day there were lots of food trucks. Just amazing! To sum it all up, we really enjoyed our first ever pharma week, the best pharma week yet I can say, one of the best 1st year experiences that I had! Great way to end the week with a concert for a cause with lots of famous people and fireworks too! Great week indeed. Well, many said that this Pharma week was the best so far, and that it's really "Bongga", that it's way better than the University Week, and that we had a star studded Pharmacy week. A lot of people tweeted on twitter (faculty of pharma students, non-faculty of pharma students or even non-thomasians and alumni) good feed backs and praises to the student council for doing a good job, that they enjoyed the week, and that they wanted more. Great job to the UST Faculty of Pharmacy Student Council for a successful Pharmacy week and also to the Junior's Pharmacist Association for the successful Seminars and orientations we've joined/attended. Continue to be a good, humble, inspirational, and hard working leader mga kuya and ate! More power to you! Hands down! And yes, To God be the Glory! Thank You so much Lord for giving us what we needed, a stress free week! Check out the pictures (1st gallery would be my shots; 2nd gallery would be my friends' shots) below! MLN (Micah Lim Navarro) Photography Random Pictures My Insights/Reflections I can say that it was a great opportunity for Thomasians like me to witness the Papal visit in the University of Santo Tomas. Although it was a tiring day for us especially when you're already entering the gates, people were pushing each other, some fainted, some were already shouting, or even fighting just to get inside the UST campus, and non Thomasians who were trying to get in the gates designated for Thomasian community. For a non-catholic christian like me, I say the pope is a very interesting person. His radical views on integrity and accountability, his respect to non Catholics, his desire to be powerless made me really admire him. His life of grace and boldness to cleanse his own yard made me look at my self inside. I can't help but see the spirit of the Protestant reformers in him. Pope Francis has that authenticity of a beautiful blend of humor and humility. It was so heart whelming to see the crowd so lively, so happy, so blessed to see Pope Francis as he passes by them, and how Pope Francis inspires the Filipinos, the Youth to love the children, and to love the poor. His admonition to the Catholic Bishops and Priests to be simple servants are equally needed among the ranks of evangelical ministers. His homily though not as bombastic, make us see Christ outside our theological walls. His call for rest and compassion and his warnings against corruption both in politics and religion should make us reflect our roles in this society. The testimony of those who saw him and said they felt peace and their problems gone, I have witnessed those children who shared their testimony in front of all the crowd, the youth, and Pope Francis. I can say those children were so brave to share about what happen in their past, to share their testimony, and I hope these children has become an inspiration to everyone because I am sure that all of us here has also experience in one way or another, His love and I would encourage all of us here to come out and boldly proclaim how much He has done in our lives. And I have witnessed how inspiring and heart whelming it was that Pope Francis embraced the girl who haven't finished her testimony when she started to cry. The site that Pope brought such joy and peace, is comparable to the joy and peace that one can experience when one chooses to LOOK TO JESUS! "To think. To feel. To do. And all in harmony..." one of Pope Francis' quotes that I love, he said this during his' message to the youth. A very very inspiring one! It also left a deep conviction to me when the Pope did not even attempt to answer the little girls question about why God allows children to suffer. His humility to admit that He has no answer is an answer to our spiritual pride. We still do not know a lot of things. Thank God for spiritual leaders who admits that and model to us how to cry for others. The Pope's sincere quest for powerlessness should become a rebuke to my secret addiction to power. After seeing how the mass was i silently appreciated how the evangelicals simplified everything in our services. At the end of the day God is the judge. With grateful heart. I say thank you Pope Francis for leading us to reflect on our relationship with Christ. Glad you came to our country. The Crowd *This blog post is for my project, and I would like to give credits to Rev. Arnel Tan for most of the reflections, would also like to thank those who read this post, it really helped a lot for my project. And of course, Thank You Lord! To You be all the Glory!* Pictures taken by yours truly. #MLNPhotography Welcome to my first blog post! Since I love taking pictures so much, would want my first post to be about photography.
I got interested in photography when I was in 1st year High school so I started learning about it, started joining seminars, or classes about photography, and I got the opportunity to meet professional photographers like John Chua, and also I started doing my own unique tricks on how to take landscapes, portraits and more with my first ever dslr, Canon 550D! Encouraging everyone to love photography, to take every moment, it's not just for those who has dslrs, you can take pictures using your smartphones or digital cameras too! Have fun taking some unique shots! That's all that I can say for now though. Here's some of my shots: #MLNPhotography |
AuthorChristian |