jessa

Everyday Stories, Lived

Life

  • New day

    Sun’s out, new day, fresh start. I appreciate how our cat Novo hardly breaks his routine, and so I tag along with it, starting my days early (unless deep sleep has its hands around me) and being in that slim pocket of solemn peace and unhurried time of the day. New days let us forget… Read more


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  • People dead inside

    I have seen dead people walking, animated by activities and goals, but who barely resemble humans—humans who deeply feel and care for one another. They offer fake smiles while rotting with malice, ready to twist stories to feed their endless hunger for power. Villains are the heroes in their stories. They were like zombies only… Read more


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  • Let’s hang out online

    I grew up in a neighborhood where your neighbor would call out for you on Christmas day with containers filled with Filipino Spaghetti, Macaroni Salad, and Buko Salad, and where finding someone’s lost cat was as much your responsibility as your own. It was a place where you are a part of a community that… Read more


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  • Can you tell me what I should do next?

    I was so accustomed to being told what to do that I’ve forgotten how to make decisions on my own. It’s not that I do this intentionally. Waiting for instructions about what to do next always feels comfortable and familiar, and my mind keeps going back to this default setting. When other people inadvertently make… Read more


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  • Letter no. 48

    Dear reader from the future, It’s easy to dwell in the present and make decisions based on what you know now. But even though you don’t feel like anything would change at all, you might not believe how different things will be a decade from now. The people you think less of might end up… Read more


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  • Thinking brain on the drain

    Been thinking about discipline lately, mostly because I feel like I am losing grasp of it, especially in moments when I surrender my autonomy to mindless media consumption as if saying to the tech, “Here are all my human capabilities, take them down to the drain.“ These days, lacking discipline means losing control over what… Read more


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  • Imaginary walls and non-existent boundaries

    Assumptions kept me from seeing what was possible, as they dictated non-existent boundaries. The moment I decided to explore the edges, I discovered no harm in crossing over the imaginary wall I had built. Like me, I guess there are times when you do not try to do something new just because you assume you… Read more


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