Thursday, November 6, 2008

Phoenix


October 30, Thursday


If you’ve read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey from cover to cover and back again, you might be familiar with Habit 2’s Go for the Goal Key No. 4: Use Momentous Moments. In case you’re not, here’s an excerpt to help you understand my point better:


Certain moments in life contain momentum and power. The key is to harness these moments for goal setting. Things with starts and finishes or beginnings and ends carry momentum…


Often tough experiences can carry momentum. Are you familiar with the myth of the phoenix bird? After every lifespan of 500 to 600 years, the beautiful phoenix would burn itself at the stake. Out of the ashes, it would later rise, reborn. In like manner, we can regenerate ourselves out of the ashes of a bad experience. Setbacks and tragedies can often serve as a springboard for change.


If the last semester wasn’t a major setback, then I don’t know what it was. I welcomed my sophomore year wholeheartedly, excited as usual that a new AY was about to start (drat my Aries-ness!), but I ended it with low spirits. Really low spirits. Like OMG-did-that-sem-flit-by-or-is-it-just-me bottom. And yeh, my grades are bad.


Of course, I haven’t seen them yet so I’m merely assuming the worst.


Nevertheless, the loss of hope is something that we Aries people are not known for. Pioneering, impulsive, enthusiastic – we tackle change head on. And I swear, by witness of this blog entry, that this incoming sem, Second Sem AY 08 – 09, will not be a disappointment like its immediate predecessor.


I’m writing this merely because, “A goal not written is only a wish.” So there.


What caused this change of heart, you might ask? CD’s. Containing video clips I should have seen right after my high school graduation. (If you’re wondering why I’ve only seen them now, blame the dusty drawer where the stuff was hidden for the past two years.) The first CD has the short vid that Jee Ann made for me; it’s set against the song Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson. The second CD is the raw footage of KHS Batch 07’s actual commencement exercise c/o my Uncle Aping. I swear – and for once I am not exaggerating – they made me smile. And clap my hands like one of those seals I saw in Ocean Park.


Ten minutes. That’s all it took for me to remember why I’m studying in the first place. Why I’m trying so hard to combat laziness. Why I should want to be my best. What I’m fighting for, kumbaga. It’s to make the people I love proud, because I want them to be proud of me, because I want to do them justice.


We do well always and everywhere to serve you.


If you’re Roman Catholic you should know where that comes from.


Your Fawkes-wannabe,

sandybeaple


PS. My husband came out on TV Patrol to encourage US citizens to vote. So if you’re from the US and you’re reading this (which is highly unlikely, methinks), vote! :X

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