Don't Give Up On Yourself.

When nobody cares for you, please, don't be one of them.

If you are feeling tired, weak, and emotionally vulnerable, please, don't give up on yourself.

Even if it's hard to do, try to raise your head and look up at the skies and see how vast the skies are. Look at the clouds while they slowly dance with the rhythms of the wind. Listen to the music of the trees, birds, and cars passing by. Aren't they in melody?

If you're in front of your desk, drained from hours of work, take a step back. Lean against your chair and stretch your arms as high as you can. Then, ask yourself these questions:

1. Is this the kind of life I want?
2. Can I see myself doing this in the next twenty years?
3. Does this make me happy and feel at peace inside?

You see, our today's culture will tell you straight that we need to hustle, grind, and chase success. But what is success? What does the word "success" mean to you? Above all, how does success look to you?

To make it easier for you to figure out what success truly is for you, let me share a bit of my life with you. Would it be okay? I hope so.

Although I am, and will forever be, grateful to my parents who have done their best for me, I must admit that we do not share the same picture of what success will be.

For them, success means acquiring as many gold medals and earning top-notching awards. They care more about what people think about them rather than how I feel whenever they tell me. "You must be the first in the class."

That constant chase, brought by childhood trauma and lack of self-esteem, subsequently became the way to push me to the edge. Naturally curious, I love to learn new things, so going to school could have been heaven when I didn't have to care about competing against the smarter in the class.

They brought me up with high expectations and in God's grace, I luckily survived the ordeal. I grew up trying to please everybody, including my parents, with whom I felt somehow emotionally disconnected. These caused me emotional and psychological damage and had caused a strain on my marriage.

Now, as I look back, despite those seemingly tragic moments of my life, I am happy and proud that I managed to pull myself up from the abyss. For once, I have realized how necessary for writers like me to spend some time self-introspecting.

So, what's your takeaway?

Simple.

If you are feeling miserable, emotionally, and mentally tortured in every aspect of your life, if you are feeling like giving up on yourself, on your dreams, or on your aspirations, I know it's going to be uncomfortable, but I like you to recall those wonderful childhood memories that you've had.

Do you still remember those days?

Those days when you're happy, truly happy. Those days when your smiles once reached your ears. Can you still recall them? Then, tell me. How did it feel?

How about now while you're reading this?

How does it make you feel when you have to compare those good, old days when you were physically a child and these present times while ignoring the child in you?

If you could talk to that child inside you, can you be truly honest and proud of what you have accomplished as an adult? Or, do you feel sorry for your terrible and passive choices, playing a victim of life's lottery?

It must have been hard for you to deal with it, my friend.

It must have been tough for you to choose between what is necessary and what is meaningful.

Before I go, I like you to think about it. Reflect doesn't cost a lot of your time and money, so take it. Because you know what, I don't even need to tell you what the solutions to your problems are because you already know them.

You already know what you need to do but you just keep on denying, dismissing, or ignoring it. So, if you want to find the answers to your existential concerns, why don't you gather your balls and start listening to yourself?

What do you truly want to do with your life?

Could you?

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