9 Fantastic Things I Hope For This 2018

4:45 AM

After a few arguments I've thrown to and from my fickle self, I've finally decided to make this kind of blog post an annual thing. I thought, "Maybe this could benefit people? So why not make them rethink their goals for the year and maybe let them add a few more from your own list?". And that, my wonderful readers, is what I'll be doing starting today :) 



Here goes...



1. For people not to give in too much to societal pressures

I know it's hard. I give in to societal pressures every now and then, too. But if the pressuring will make you think and feel any of the following, then it's probably a bad idea to give it the upper hand:

a. Broke
b. Unhappy
c. Unsatisfied
d. Weak
e. Less confident about yourself and your abilities



2. For people to help do something about the environment

Because like every 20-something-year-old in a quarter life crisis, neither is nature getting younger. 

Here's something simple you can do: Schedule trips to the supermarket and make sure to bring the right amount of cloth bags with you. This will help lessen your consumption of paper products. Yes, I know brown bags are mostly recycled paper. But every little bit counts, you know? Less demand, less production, less destruction to Mother Earth. It's all related!

Speaking of climate change, I've read recently that climate change can affect the gender determination of green sea turtles. Let's not rob them of opportunities to actually find someone of the opposite gender to make clones of that other green sea turtle next door, shall we?




3. For people to be more careful of what they say

"You're pretty, but you need to lose weight."
And you need a lesson on social etiquette. I don't need your opinion on my body. There's a reason why it's not yours. 

"You're too picky. Do you really want to die old and alone?"

It's called standards. I refuse to settle for less. 

"You rant too much on your blog."
It's called, "Soraya Left Manila" and not "(Your Name) Left Manila" for a reason.

"You work from home. How are you considered a professional?"

Every time you open your mouth, you're inviting people to sucker punch you. I just thought you should know that because I almost RSVPed. 

And yes, those are all conversations I've made with myself in the past.




4. For people to be more considerate of others

It's not easy even for me, but taking the high road for others does more good than damage most of the time. But if you're already very considerate, please learn from your mistakes. It pays to break off from the cycle of bad decisions. trust me.

NOTE: Also, if people (especially adults) can stop doing this at supermarkets, I might just live longer:


Fresh produce + 2 bags of fresh meat left to rot in an abandoned shopping basket. This day, the mall was open until 12 AM because of the Christmas rush. All the staff was busy hustling so this would probably have gone bad before they can get to return it. How many people do you think were deprived of sleep that day because of the extra task of returning these? How many mouths could have been fed by those meats and veggies left to rot? Yes, the staff was being paid to do that. But could it have been prevented? The answer is YES.

I might sound like a middle-aged woman with this rant, but the children (especially yours) are watching, you guys! They think this animalistic behavior is okay. News flash: it's not.




5. For people to actually love themselves more as well as those who should matter most to them

Because time and again, no one else will do it for you but yourself. #KnowYourWorth



6. For people to recognize mental health problems in themselves and in others

During the first 2 weeks of December last year, I was hit by yet another panic attack episode. It was different from my past episodes because it let me see things in another perspective. I realized that:

a.) I was distancing myself too much from people (so I moved back to my old room which I used to share with my sister).

b.) I was too invested in my career (so I separated my personal life from work by not hanging around too much in my home office).

c.) I lacked and possibly missed human interactions (so I took time to actually go out and be a human who likes sunlight).

d.) I was setting aside all the opportunities to seek professional help for my depressive tendencies (so I sat my Mom down, made a few jokes, and opened up about it for the first time. Baby steps). 

e.) As much as I didn't want to be bothered by my body type and skin problems, I became a little more aware that I wasn't making enough effort to resolve them for the whole year (so I searched for a meal plan, scheduled a solid morning exercise routine, read about and bought new supplements to cure my acne from the inside, and revamped my daily schedule to fit all of that in).

In the end, I realized that I did all this because I want to be able to either embrace my tendencies or defeat them at some point in my life. 

I'm staying. 



7. For people to make better life choices

"But he said he/she still loves me, why shouldn't I take him/her back even after he/she cheated on me? It was just that 1 time. He/She said he/she won't do it ever again."

Care to place a bet? No? Then, love yourself. See your worth. Just do it. 

"It's only gonna cost me 6 months of my yearly income. I can still make it. It's just so 'in' this year. I need to have it."


If you need to use credit card installments for it, you probably can't afford it in the first place (unless CC installment is the only mode of payment and of course, other circumstances that permit this logic; please don't bash me. I just don't want to see you go broke). 

Imagine this: You're an office worker in the March of 2007 and the Nokia N95 (priced at $700 / PHP 35k+) has just hit the markets. You want one and apparently, everyone does, too. You sacrifice time with your family and friends for overtime pay, your pet dies from a virus because you didn't have the money (nor the time) to take it to the vet, and your significant other leaves you because you're hardly around. 

Now leap 11 years into the future. Everyone knew about the hype, but not everyone went broke for it (you did, and in so many other things, too). And now you're slaving away to pay for your postpaid iPhone X (priced at $1.2k - $1.4k / PHP 64k+ - PHP74k+), you're always fighting with the people at home because they think you're going on a downward spiral for tech (not that it's bad to want an iPhone; that's your thing), your pet is simply a memory, and your ex, the one you pictured spending eternity with, is getting married to her/his long, lost childhood friend (cue heartbreaking Korean love song here). Now, add living off paychecks into the mix. How is this better? And all for a gadget that'll probably lose its value in 5 to 10 years from now. 

"I've done this before and no one berates nor notices me when I do it. It should probably be okay this time as well."

I ratted you out. I'm a Satansend (the opposite of Godsend) out to teach you a lesson. 
Please subscribe to our newsletter. We're offering 30% off of hell time for the Seemingly Lonely Singles Club members who tend to ghost this year. 




8. For people to be more straightforward rather than passive aggressive

"I know you're not the best when it comes to SEO, but yes, I will let you teach me for free."

If ego were a cryptocurrency, your house would have been flooding with cash by now. And no, this isn't a conversation I've had with myself.



9. For people to practice being better drivers

I've recently learned how to drive and I can definitely say that it's so easy to cause an accident with just 1 wrong move. It's even easier to bang up your car if you don't learn to signal other drivers. But what I've noticed (because I almost got into an accident that 1 time I was given the wheel for a whole day) was that bad drivers know no status. Whether it's a person driving a luxury car, a mid-priced car, or a PUV (Public Utility Vehicle), there is bound to be a driver who refuses to respect road rules anywhere. Nor do they give an iota of regard about other drivers' mortality. It saddens me that it happens. But what can we do but practice good driving even if others cannot; even if others will not. 


Final Notes

How is everyone's 2018 going so far? Mine has been quite exciting with the surge of new readers and commenters from around the globe. I've even reached 20k visits before I even knew it! This breakthrough has me hoping for even better things to come for the succeeding months. And I promise I'll come up with even better content this year once I've had that much-awaited Eureka moment. Ciao for now!  



Until the next blog! Thank you for reading!

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