Dear Self – Halangdon

Sublimity in print.

Dear Self,

I know life has been hard lately. Life has been throwing you many obstacles that you weren’t even prepared for. You went through many battles you think you won’t be able to survive.

The struggles you face have tears that won’t stop pouring down your face.

The pain you went through has you questioning many things in life.

You murmur to yourself, “I want to give up. I want to end this suffering.” You were smiling on the outside, yet you’re not okay on the inside. Your friends think you’re fine, but you know that you aren’t. Your thoughts raced and came to tell you things that destroyed you. You told yourself that you are not worthy to live. You kept telling yourself that nothing is wrong.

Nothing is wrong.

But there is something wrong. You thought life would always be perfect.

You remembered your favorite song? It has lyrics that reminded you like this,

“They tryna kill the colours in my mind

When all my heart wanted was to be kind”

Yet, you overcame them. You found the peace you thought you’d never find.

Your feet brushed by the ocean. Your spirit felt the peace you longed for. The sea sounded like the peace you hoped and thought that never existed. The sun is as bright as the morning shining on your face.

You closed your eyes and told yourself, “this is peace.”

This is what it felt without the pain existing. You started to fall in love with life all over again.

You started flipping the pages of your favorite book until it ended with a happy ending. You started painting again, letting color fill your mind with imagination. You started writing and allowed your words to narrate your thoughts.. You started dancing again letting your body move to the music.

You’re on your healing journey. Now that’s a big step already. I’m proud of you! You don’t need to rush healing. Healing takes time. Let yourself heal slowly but surely. Sometimes healing can take you days, months, probably years too!

You will heal from your pain. You will heal from whatever is hurting you. Please prioritize your mental health. Heal from whatever challenges and obstacles and overcome like a warrior!

You are your own warrior, a strong one that I know. One of the bravest people I know.

One day, you’ll read this letter just to find out that you healed. You’re happier now. Your smile is brighter like the morning. Please pat yourself and tell yourself, “I am proud of you!”

With love and affection,

Your future self

October 10, 2025

visuals byAbigail Barredo

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Zoella Stacy

In the world, but not of it.

06 February 2026

I remember once taking a long walk just to see a place people kept talking about. It was an uphill hike to the tip of the mountain, a stroll in a forest, roads that pass by small villages and narrow rivers, and lots and lots of potholed roads and gnarled pathways that’d cause a stumble here and there, but promised a sight that would take breaths away. It was a week-long walk. I wondered why I even started walking. The path inclined more and more that it felt more like climbing than just walking. The kilometers just increased each day. And the roads just got longer and bumpier the further I went. My legs ached so much that at that point, I couldn’t feel them. I was nauseated, flabbergasted, and dreading every next day that came. The more we continued the camino, the more reason I wanted to go back the way I came from. There was no shortcut, just the road, stretching forward, asking me to continue. That’s how the year feels so far.

28 December 2025

On the 19th of November, leaves retreat from the branches, struggles to find new home amongst the grasses, its voyage with the wind stucks in memory, You have you poured, twigs broken in harmony.

25 December 2025

When love and laughter has exhausted themselves after Christmas Eve, Day, New Year’s Eve, and finally the New Year, I’m left with the memories of it, a standstill of the joy captured, frozen in time. Just like that, party’s officially over. The gifts have been open, the money inside the envelopes evaporated, and the paksiw finally consumed in its entirety. A gaping hole that emerged right after the most festive season, a longing for it to go on forever. Nevertheless, it’s a constant reminder that joy will only ever be appreciated when we’re bombarded with everything else, that it’s spent sparsely, in order for us to appreciate life and the things that come with it, with Christmas being one merry example.

24 December 2025

Every house filled with festive trinkets and a an often wobbly yet earnestly built Christmas tree create a welcome atmosphere to the joyous season; yet, to many people, their homes find genuine warmth by embracing the true mark of the beginning of Christmas through the nine-day observance of Simbang Gabi or Mass at Dawn. But why is it that the majority of Catholic Filipinos flock to churches at such an early hour? Is it for the supposed wish that would be bestowed on a person should they complete all days of Simbang Gabi? Or is there more to the tradition that families and friends celebrate in the days leading up to Christmas?

16 December 2025

The flawed walkways taught me soon enough, I am made to be agile and nimble. It wasn't too hard to memorize the road. No older than fifteen, I was told I was small by the sidewalk that narrowed. And when September came, Jose Mari Chan would find his way back. Singing in new speakers and old radios notes dancing in the parol workshops which lined that Old Cabuyao Road. Stars are waking up then the light glows.

09 December 2025

Behold the Moon on the vigil’s quiet hours, Silvering the sky amidst the dark nights Her glow serene above shadowed bowers And guides souls from the blinding lights. For the moon is a mirror, so still and clear, Of the light she bears from the Sun. A lustre that dims every single murk of fear, The beacon that points to the face of her Son.

21 November 2025

On November 29, 2023, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger passed away at the age of 100. There lies a man known worldwide, which is odd given despite being the topmost position in the executive department behind the president in history’s biggest empire, secretaries of state don’t often get to the fame, or infamy rather, of Kissinger.

03 November 2025

You once asked me how it feels to live far from home, and I told you in Cebu, the first words I learned wasn’t maayong buntag— but amping.

02 November 2025

We are food for worms, says John Keating in Dead Poets Society. It’s humbling to die, and it’s devastating to be gone and face your own end like the rest of humanity, or even seeing others facing theirs. Sometimes, to grieve is to expect somebody’s return, but a dead person isn’t coming back, so what you could only do is to stare at the tombstone, as if it were to look at a past history.

30 October 2025

The beauty of language lies in its cultural variance, shifting in symbols and intonations across localities and nations. But what becomes of beauty when its met with foreign counterparts? Misunderstanding boils like a bubbling stew. Wars are waged, conflict spits in the face of peace, and blood is spent. Enter translation, where differing tongues find common ground, utilized in various social affairs that span across empires and ages throughout history.