5 Biggest Lessons from 2015

In a span of few days another 360 days in ordinary time will soon to unfold and a new year will start again for all of us to look forward. I have come across my Facebook timeline trying to be nostalgic about how this year becomes good and bad for me. Then there is this one question buzzing around my feed asking: What was your biggest lesson from 2015? Hmmmm … this is just a very simple question if I may say to ponder about but what is really the biggest lesson that I gain from the end coming year.

This odd number year 2015 has been such an inflection point for me. Itemizing all the best and worst I had from January up to December brings back realizations that at the end of the day everything changes for change is natural. Apparently, writing and sharing a post on my timeline on this question makes me to think that there is no single biggest lesson I learned from 2015. Hence, I have come up here the best 5 lessons I learned from 2015:

1. Everything has a perfect time.- And yes! Exactly, the same as “Sa tamang panahon” popularly dubbed by Lola Nidora. Even if we wanted to pursue all the best for our life, but it is not the right time for you to have it, then better take the chance of becoming better for the next time. I have tried so many times in pursuing myself in a lot of endeavors but apparently, most were rejected. Until one day, the best of things happens to me for I fervently waited. I fervently waited for I know it is not just the right time but the perfect time.

Given that time is too precious for us to waste but chances are not absolute. It is never too bad to get behind as long as you know where the chances are absolute.

2. Know your worth.- In the past I have learned the art of dedma. Recently, I have mastered it. I just have to let go of people who can never appreciate my worth. It’s fine! At the end of the day, nobody is here to please anybody. We all have our individual preferences in life which we need to celebrate since it makes us unique in particular. In a more powerful word, I learned to love more myself. Similarly, I have a made a fault for expecting the same kindness and care I share with others. This is what Stephen Chbosky says in his Perks of Being a Wallflower- “We accept the love we think we deserve.”

3. No pain, no gain.- After I graduate, I experience the dilemma of job hunting. It really pay so much that you should not just be a good one but always be the best in every interview you will have since the market demands only the best among the rest. There are times that I feel so down for not having my target company. There are times that I have to wait for long hours just to be the next on the line for the interview. There are times that I have to carry on myself in the middle of the sun or rain just to be at the company to beat the call time. There are times that I have to accept the fact that when the HR personnel says we’ll call you back, it automatically means a no. With everything that had happened to me, I just take a deep sighs until I’ve read on a fitness gym this very timely quotable quotes for me saying no pain, no gain. At the end of the day, I have to embody this mantra knowing that all of what is happening to me specially the physical and emotional pain I am experiencing will be effectual gaining where I am at the present. Nonetheless, life is an unending process so, the pain goes on to relentlessly learn and gain the best for life.

4. Everybody deserves a second chance.- Ohhh well … this has to be very dramatic for me knowing that in life’s revolving door, some people go while others will stay. Here’s the thing, they will either go because they don’t need you anymore and you don’t need them or they will just stay because they need you and you still need them. Again, people change. We never know what’s going up in their heads hence, we cannot dictate things for them but we can show them. Sometimes we create reasons for our own mistakes making the worst nightmare to have in our life in particular with people who are close to us. But humans are so fickle minded that we can only realize the worth of somebody when it is not within in our possession anymore. It’s never too late for us to correct our mistakes and let those whom we love feel radiantly the same love we share even before creating reasons to create a better version of a good relationship towards other people and love ones.

5. Prayers never fails to work.- If there would be one single answer to the question, then this would be the biggest lesson I learned from 2015. When all is said, we should never forget to bring back all glory and honor to God who gives us the strength and grace to steadfastly continue life all day long. There are times that I have questioned God’s plan for me since I feel that the agony is too much to carry and there is nobody whom I can asked for help. Then I sweetly heard the parable of mustard seed on Mark 4:30-32: 30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

I then fathom that with everything good and bad that’s been happening to me, these are all God’s plan. From then on, I pray to be like a mustard seed which when planted in accordance to God’s plan shall flourish and bloom into a good one. I have to allege that strong faith in Him will do big things in our life without questioning His will for us since it is always big than what we ask and expect for.

We all have our own story to narrate and our own learning to share about 2015. Whether this year has been good or bad for us, I know that we share the same thought that life goes on. The process may not always be fitting and it has demanded to be toilsome, it’s a fact that these are all part of the process. Something that we should all be a party in creating rationale that life is meant to experience the contrast of life- happiness and sadness, light and dark, prosperity and poverty. This makes the drama more sensible, enjoyable and realistic. In the long run, what is important is that we learn something and above all we realize the learning we have from that something. That what is correct shall always be correct and what is wrong shall forever be wrong. And may I reiterate that to learn something after all the experiences should not be done after 360 days. Each passing day and night should be taken as a great opportunity to reinvent, refresh and regenerate as a better person every now and then. That is how we should take the odds of life. That is how we are meant to gain the biggest lesson in our life.