Worrying Less and a Comeback

It's almost a month since the last time there was an activity in my blog. And I apologize. Honestly I did it deliberately. I had a lot of things to write about but I took some time off to try looking for some more. 

Major things happened the past weeks. I passed an exam that would enable me to do some other stuffs that matter to me. I also enjoyed the FIBA Asia week where our national team won the silver medal and earned them a slot for next year's world cup of basketball. I also attended a week long work-related technical training. Then there are those news about big scams which are large enough to shake up a whole country.

I'm excited for this.

I also have some concerns that is enough to shake my head a bit. Right at this moment, my service laptop is not booting. Obviously,  I can't do anything at work without it. My files are all there. And it's a holiday at work on Monday and I'm not sure if the IT guys are available in the morning. I have to work on Monday night. And I tried accessing my email on my other notebook but my password seemed to have expired last week. And to have it reset isn't that simple. Even if I have my laptop fixed, at least a day is needed to recover from an expired password. And I will have tons of email for not being able to login for more than a week due to training. And there are work loads waiting for me.  The situation is very worrisome. But tonight, I can't do anything about it. I can only wait until Monday to start solving it. And that's the only thing I can do now.

Worry breeds more worries. If I take one, I will surely get a lot more later. Worrying won't give me a solution but will only present me more problems that I can't solve right now either. Ahh. I needed that for my self. I mean, setting aside those worries.

For now, I'll just enjoy what remains of my "worry-free" weekend tomorrow with my family. I'll use most of my time playing with my 1.5 yr old son. We had a great time last week while watching Gilas Pilipinas games at FIBA Asia Champs on tv. He seemed amused and entertained by how I reacted to the games like during the last NBA finals and with the recent FIBA. And it's funny that he's imitating my reactions everytime we watch basketball. I'm also enjoying the moment with my wife while we both feel and observe the strong kicks of our little fellow in her tummy. Oh, I haven't told you yet about Mik's expected younger sibling.  We're expecting a new member of the family later this year.  We have yet to know the gender but during the last ultrasound, there's a big chance that our expected second child is a girl. We're really very excited about it. Our family is growing and Mik will be a "kuya".  It's still months from now but I hope you can include us on your prayers most importantly for the safe and healthy delivery of my wife.  I'll give you update next month once we get to know the gender of our second kid. 

He did this by himself while watching Gilas members singing the Natl Anthem

And also, it's not only my family which is growing but also my blog's online page. Just some time ago, there was only more than 500 likers. But it doubled in a month's time. Thanks a lot for continuously following my blog and my page. Those of you who haven't liked it, here's the link. I share some stuffs there which aren't in my blog. I also post there external links from other sources. I also put there the links to my articles in "Tapat" newspaper. I have a column there which all are written in Filipino so apologies if my non-tagalog readers here won't understand my articles there. But just in case, drop me an email or a comment so I can translate my Tagalog write ups for you and then I'll post them here.

So this is my official comeback post after more than three weeks in hiatus. You can expect more posts in this blog for the coming week. Thanks again for your support on this page.

What is your idea of happiness?

My baby seems genuinely happy with just me and my wife’s presence. It’s more evident when we had just arrived from work. And when we play with him, he seems happier.  He can’t tell that to us directly. He’s just 7 months old. But he looks so as he’s smiling and giggling. And it makes us very happy in return.

Once in our lives, we were all just like him. Happy on simple things.  Happy with the presence of people important to us.  I don’t know how long it will be this way. Maybe he’ll change a bit once his world outside grows. But while he’s like this, I’ll try to make the most out of it. 

He looks happy, isn't he?

When he grows a bit older, he’ll have his friends. He’ll be playing outside with the neighbors’ children.  Or just inside our house playing online games.  Or with his pet maybe. Then his mom will cook his favorite food for lunch. Or we’ll just order from his favorite fast food chain. And these will make him happy.

Once he starts going to school, he’ll find more friends. He’ll be sharing stories with them. And also plays with them. Then he’ll get good grades.  Get good praises from his teachers. Then he might get interested to join extra-curricular activities. And will have educational tours. He’ll be happy about these as well.

In no time, he’ll be at big school. And be more adventurous with his activities. He might get into sports, or music or whatever he likes. He’ll have a great time for sure. Then he’ll have crushes, or maybe girlfriends.  Just being able to talk with them or even just seeing them, for sure he’ll enjoy those times.  He’ll be inspired. And he’ll continue getting good grades.  That’s cool.

Then come college days and most things become more difficult. But with his new and old companions, things might get easier. They’ll have group works. Then have those sleepovers where 80 percent of the time they aren’t really working on the school projects but just having fun. He might go to parties. Taste alcohol maybe. Parties are great. Then he might get into a serious relationship. Or maybe not. But he’ll continue to focus with his studies. And get good grades. Or maybe some are just passing.  Well, that’s fine as long as he’s satisfied with that. And that he will graduate. And he’ll be happy about it. 

Party!!!

Then he’ll start looking for a job and lands on his first. Then he’ll get his first salary. He’ll buy his own stuff from his hard earned money for the first time.  Sounds fun. Then he’ll save some more to buy his first car. Then maybe a home. And years later get married and have kids, and a happy family he will have.

Then one day, maybe he’ll be just like me during last weekend. I was at home with him and my wife. I was watching the championship game between the Gilas Pilipinas and USA’s team in the recent Jones Cup basketball tourney. With a couple of beer and some chips, I enjoyed that moment where I was there with my family. Ok, and watching our basketball team in the finals. It was their first time since 14 yrs to be in the Jones Cup Championship game. And they won.  Great! I can’t explain that feeling. Our team hadn’t won a championship in the recent years. I was so ecstatic. Up to now, I’m still happy about it. Just imagine that. They’ll have another tournament to join this month. It’s the FIBA Asia Cup. Hope they win their games there too. I’ll be so jubilant for sure.

Though possibly my son will take another route. He might consider being a professional athlete. Or become a farmer. Maybe an artist. Or become an entrepreneur. Or he can choose to live a religious life.  Or anything he likes. Life has lots of possibilities anyway. It’s up for him to choose whatever that will make him happy.

Apparently, this story isn’t just about my son. It’s about all of us. We all started in achieving happiness in the simplest things. As we grow older, we also heightened our search for happiness. But as we look closely thru our lives, it is generally made up of happy things that we can all be thankful for.  And only in between are those challenges and difficulties. But these are just the “necessary evil" that catapults us to our next happiness.

We always ask ourselves how we can be happy.  But we were all once happy. It only stopped when we started worrying about the future. We just need to observe what made or makes us happy. And once we realized what these things are, start being grateful about them again. Stop taking them for granted. Happiness is simple. It doesn’t need to be complicated. For all we know, happiness is just always around us. It could be the people we love and who loves us. The people who appreciates us. The same persons who are happy just to be with us. And in return, just like when we were young, their mere presence will make us the happiest person in the world all over again.