The Happy Blog

February, 14,2019

I woke up at 5 am today. I am so excited kasi syempre Valentines and big day ‘to for teenagers like me. In my case, wala lang ang sarap lang sa feeling makakita ng madaming couples tapos nagbibigayan ng gifts or gumagawa ng mga sweet na bagay. Wala naman kasi akong partner 😦 Well, part of me gets sad, I admit, pero kinikilig din naman ako para sa kanila. So ayun na nga, I went to school early because I have to study for my Calculus long test kaninang 11 am. Diba ang saya ng Valentines? HAHAHA Habang nag-aaral ako, may naglapag ng flower sa table ko. Syempre kinilig ako. Ang sweet kasi ng best friend kong si Paula. Na-motivate ako kasi bago siya pumasok sa class niya, dinaanan niya talaga ako para sabay kami mag-celebrate ng pagka-single ngayong Valentine’s Day! HAHAHA Then the bell rang. 11 na, long test na! Badtrip!!! Ang hirap ng test ASDGFHDFJHJDKNCM or baka di lang talaga ako nag-aral nang maayos L pero bahala naaaaa bawi na lang ako next long test!!!

Hmm.. after Math, we went to Theo. I love CTC traffic talaga every after class. Ito lang yung traffic na gugustuhin kong ma-stuck. Ang babango kasi ng mga katabi mo J Ayon, sa Theo, nag-lesson lang then after, kumain kami ng friends ko. Since last day na ng JSEC challenge phase 2 bukas, triny namin. Bumili kami ni Kyle ng burger sa 8Bite. Sobrang sarap, as in super. ‘Yun nga lang, medyo mahal pero solid! Tapos I found out na friend pala ni AJ(friend ko) yung nag-start nung stall awwww so proud kasi ang sarap talaga! Sana manalo na siya ngayong phase kasi last time, di siya napasama sa winners eh. Sad. 😦 After naming kumain, naghiwa-hiwalay na kami.

So, pumunta na ako sa GR (Gabay Room). Naabutan ko sila Noelle at Paula sa 2^nd floor landing sa MVP. Oo nga pala, ngayon aamin si Noelle sa crush niya :O Nakibalita muna ako anong nangyari. Turned out, sad siya today. Hmm..so eto yung kwento. Gumising siya nang maaga para mag-bake ng crinkles para sa aming friends niya (and syempre para sa crush niya) tapos nung binigay niya na kay ***, na-sad siya kasi di man lang nag-thank you or anything si ***.  Syempre, as a friend, feel ko yung lungkot niya for the day. Ewan, para bang nalungkot na rin ako tapos naisip ko yung situation ko ngayon at ng sarili kong crush. Naisip ko, “buti pa nga si Noelle, kaya niya umamin sa crush niya kahit alam niyang malaki yung chance na mare-reject din siya. Kaya niya mag-effort ganon.”

Pero okay na rin na di ako umamin sa crush ko kasi mas gusto ko yung friendship namin kaysa sa feelings ko sa kanya. Besides, may crush din naman siyang iba tapos friend ko pa so yes, support ko na lang sila. L Ewan, ang sad talaga hahaha so best way to end this sad Valentines day, kumain kami ng Ramen sa Korean Grocery store sa likod ng Regis. Malamig na gabi. Mainit na sabaw. Barkadang matatakaw. Nakalimutan ko biglang malungkot pala kaming lahat.

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The story above was an excerpt from my own diary. That was almost a month ago and reading it now feels nostalgic and silly. I can’t help but remember that day and laugh to the contents of it. It was a day of mixed emotions. One moment, I was happy. Then, I will suddenly feel sad. As I said, it was a day of going from sad to happy to scared then sad again,  so help me identify the things I felt last February 14.

According to Ekman(1992), these are the 5 basic emotions people feel universally:

I experienced joy in my story when my friend, Paula, bought me flowers for Valentines. I felt a feeling of comfort especially that I was so tensed for my Calculus test the next hour. Sadness comes in when my friend, Noelle, got sort of “rejected” by her crush. That kind of hit me, as well, because I believe we were going through the same situation.  Fear got into me when I realized that what if I was in Noelle’s shoes and my crush rejected me, what would I feel? This made me resort to just keep my feelings to myself.

As you can see, generally, feelings are not constant. I may feel this way this moment, then feel the other way the next moment. I may feel light this instant then become irritable after 30 seconds. There may be several reasons for these changes but biologically, our change of mood is caused by the release of this neurotransmitter in our bloodstream: Serotonin.

As you can see, my Valentine turned out to be a gloomy day. Not definitely, though.

In an article by Gross, et al(2007), they proposed a “magic ratio” which tells us that there should be five positive or good feelings matched to only one negative emotion (5:1). This means that the positive feelings should outnumber the bad ones so that we could be emotionally well to perform or function.

BAD FEELINGS ARE STILL NECESSARY, THOUGH, SO THAT WE WON’T LITERALLY GO CRAAAAAZZYYY!

Going back to my story, notice how I deflected the sadness I got after realizing that Calculus Test #1 was hard. We can always do that! But, sometimes, just self-encouragement does not work. Here are some of my ways on how I “deflect” negative vibes:

• Forgive yourself after knowing that you did something wrong. Overthinking on things does not change what’s been done. Forget the what-could’ve-beens! Just acknowledge that you did it and that you’ll never do it again. Period.
• Listen to music. Silence your thoughts and just let the songs speak for yourself.

• Surround yourself with happy people. Talk about happy things. Encourage each other with happy thoughts.

• Wake up smiling. Thank God for the day ahead. It’s important to greet the new day with joy so that no matter what happens, know that you started great.
• Be mindful of yourself. Be in the moment. Who cares what’s next? You can only know if you focus on the present.

Before I end, I just want to be grateful that you’ve read this entry. Remember that as I am writing this, I am happy because I can share my story and my true feelings. You are amazing! Can you smile for me?

References:

Ekman, P., & Keltner, D. (1997). Universal facial expressions of emotion. Segerstrale U, P. Molnar P, eds. Nonverbal communication: Where nature meets culture, 27-46.

Gross, J. J., & Thompson, R. A. (2007). Emotion regulation: Conceptual foundations.

Gross, J. J. (2002). Emotion regulation: Affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology, 39(3), 281-291.