12/05/2026
LITERARY | ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ณ
There are quiet discernments made just after midnight comes - the kind that traps you into an abyss of emotions you are too overwhelmed to comprehend. Fear sits heavy on your chest, guilt clings to you like a child, and sorrow never truly leaves your room. But you ignore it all, convinced this is just some nightmare youโve grown accustomed to, that when dawn breaks it would all be over and youโd forget about it. Youโve been through these types of nights before, the heavy and the lonely - the kind where your pillow never stays dry or when your sobs echo throughout the four corners of your room, yet you always somehow survive and wake the next morning as if the emotions from the night before were nonexistent. You become grateful for the distractions, the mountain of tests you have to prepare for, the endless deadlines you have to meet and multiple people you have to talk to. At some point, it leaves no room for feelings and doubts. The whirlpools in your mind wouldโve become an after-thought.
But what happens when the classes end, when all the work has been checked off the list, when people leave and youโre left with no choice but to go home? What happens when you are forced to confront the fact that you are not yourself anymore? Do we find another distraction, or do we face it head on, bravely and fiercely?
The world is a bizarre place to be in - from the multitude of injustices we suffer day by day from an incompetent government, the repetitive corruption we are forced to face, to the dreams and goals we cast aside as responsibility calls - it can all be overbearing. We are often preoccupied with the hums and drums of everyday life that we have not noticed the cracks that have been forming. Bit by bit, we lose ourselves to the deadlines, to the responsibilities and the ceaseless demand to show up even when weโre exhausted. The recognition wouldnโt present itself so bluntly, not until you realize that you donโt play music anymore, when the words you once knew by heart have been lost, or when youโve left the canvas blank for too long. The simplest things do not make you laugh anymore and your friends have asked you where youโve been for the past months even when youโre right there.
And thatโs when you are forced to grasp the undeniable truth: you have died even as your heart still beats.
To be a stranger in your own home is by far the worst feeling you can ever have. It is a demise that no soul asks for, and yet, it happens at least a few times to each and every one of us. But we must die in order to live, and to live we shall, even in the face of pure discomfort, or unbearable pain and loss. Hereโs what they donโt tell you: to lose yourself is the human version of metamorphosis - to shed the skin off of who you have been, to hide in a cocoon before the snow hits the ground and to emerge in the spring with wings that are not like any other. And you soar through the skies, through the clouds, becoming the epitome of victory to your own struggles and trials.
To put it quite simply, do not be afraid to lose yourself. The world will keep spinning, but this life is to be cherished with experiences that define what it means to truly live - by loss and gain, love and heartbreak, and best of all, of change.
Words | Danielle Althea Bandiola, Sinag Staffer
Art | Alfred Aguilar, Sinag Staffer
