It’s Time to Work
Immortalize. That’s an urgent word that sprung in my mind when I organized thousands of my photos and videos in my backup drive. I’ve been offline for almost a year and the benefits of unplugging myself from the online world really help me well both mentally and spiritually. As a millennial, the internet has been part of my life for a big chunk of it. I’ve had Friendster, Myspace, Multiply, and of course Facebook. These sites shaped my relationship with the internet and developed a sense of digital being that is reflected online. However, things got out of hand due to internal and external factors that affected me badly this past year.
I paused…
After hours of mindlessly scrolling and feeding my mind with senseless online entertainment, I decided to disconnect myself. I was so overwhelmed by the demands of this world and the pressures I put on myself. I got to a point wherein I am paralyzed as I laid out all of my tasks and plans that I need to do in my life. Plans like moving out of state, finding another job, dealing with health issues, and finding ways to pay mountainous amount of debt. And looking at a rectangular screen for hours is just pure procrastination, a band-aid and a distraction to my mayhem. As I allowed the chaos to sink in, I stopped and deactivated all of my social media accounts and paused.
I reflected…
Hours became days. Days became weeks. Weeks became months. As time passes, I spent more time writing down my thoughts on my journal. I find it therapeutic writing down thoughts on a sheet of paper and rereading it to help organize my mind. It’s a healing process of keeping my sanity and it allowed me to accept my humanness. That I am vulnerable, imperfect, and full of flaws. Despite all that, acknowledging my thoughts and feelings has helped to understand myself better. I learned how to draw a line at certain people and set boundaries to myself in a good way. For example, I was a “yes” person. My mind was trained in the Philippines that I have to say yes to every request from patients, friends, and families. I realized that I am a people pleaser, and I tried my best to please anyone. Obviously, this approach backfired. Even in my 30s, I thought I already know myself. But that fact is incorrect. I am still learning and discovering myself to who I am and it’s good that I allowed myself in such chaos to truly understand myself and prepare for some adversities to come. In self-reflection, I learned, I grew, and I became better.
I planned…
My roommate and I standing in awe at Monument Valley, Utah—one of the most unforgettable stops on our 3,000-mile road trip.
My roommate and I went for a roadtrip on my birthday week. I’ve never done such a trip before. We drove more than 3,000 miles and we explored the amazing Southwestern states. We camped at the Grand Canyon, biked at Zion, hiked at Bryce, and explored the beautiful landscapes of Monument Valley and Antelope Canyon. It was a memorable experience! As we return home, I started organizing my photos and videos captured from my camera and drone. Then I realized something… I have thousands of photos and videos that are kept in my dusty backup drives. And these precious memories are meant to be shared, not kept in a box that may fail one day (although I have a redundant system in saving my files… but still.)
Hence the word, immortalize. I’ve been offline for almost a year. I spent months of reflecting and reconstructing my mind and myself. I planned to go back online but not for senseless doomscrolling, but for a more meaningful and purposeful use of social media. These platforms are good if you use it to your advantage, but I learned not to give in it to its addictive and time-consuming nature. The main reason I needed to go back is to share these memories through my storytelling and art of video editing rather than let these files rot away in some hard drive. I wanted to share these amazing photos and videos to my friends and families in a way that they can access anytime. It’s actually a great conversation starter for a get together. Imagine if I’m with my friends and family, and I showed them our past trips. That would spark a conversation and reminisce memories that we once had; it’s a wonderful idea for sure! Thus, I wished to immortalize these memories in a creative way. It’s for the people I love. I don’t want to be an influencer or a famous online persona, I just wanna do this for fun and as a hobby. If these stories caught the eye of many, then that’ll be a bonus.
As a starter, I am currently working on three things in this personal project. Once I finished these, then I’ll start reactivating my socials. For now, this blog is a good place to start sharing my thoughts. So… it’s time to work.
