The Extraordinary Introvert

Wow, I can’t believe I just finished College. 4 years surely went by quickly. Let me rephrase that. 16 years in school seems long on paper, but just look at how each year flew by fast. Obviously, I am still on such an emotional high. It is still so surreal that I wore that badass toga, shook hands with Fr. Jett (University President), got my diploma, framed it pa, traded grad pics and took last minute selfies with my fellow batchmates and graduates. With all due respect to this illustrious ceremony, marching up the stage was actually not the ultimate highlight of the week of my graduation. (DISCLAIMER: Please do understand that I’m not belittling the ceremony. As a matter of fact, it was a moment of immortality and euphoria.) The real highlight of this wonderful season that just recently concluded is this blue rose you see in the picture which was taken 2 days before Graduation. Let me explain why. You see, being this very shy and torpe person, I was not even supposed to go ...

Lately, I have been super ungrateful to God. I have spent too much time comparing myself with others. I would lurk on Instagram clicking on stories of those whom I follow. I would look at their day and the activities they post, and from there, envy arises. “How I wish I was doing this! “How I wish I was doing that!” A few moments later, I would scroll through Facebook posts of those with 1000+ likes and 100+ comments. Once more, a sense of emptiness and a feeling of envy would inevitably arise. Indeed, I only have myself to blame for the self-inflicted enemy I created, as well as the unnecessary self-pity to which I succumb on certain times and certain days. I recently talked with my mom about my feeling down on myself, and boy was that the most intense and concerned she was. The tone was serious and the message was clear: she did not want me to go down like this. At one point, she even asked me if I would really rather be sucked into the quagmire of self-destructive feelings...

Being an introvert is hard, isn’t it? The fact that you’re all alone in the corner, wondering why you don’t have true legit friends, or the fact that you may seem to have “friends”, but they just come and go as time passes. It’s as if you’re always the “Odd Man Out” all the time, and it can be very frustrating so to speak. I am no stranger to this feeling, and I guess that’s what makes me “The Extraordinary Introvert”, as the blog name suggests. You see, life hasn’t been easy for me in terms of the social aspect of it. You’d think that my childhood was “normal”, given the fact that my family life is not too disruptive and my family members are very supportive of me. It’s just that when I leave home, I feel the more striking effects of my introversion. My grade school days were just classes-recess-lunch-dismissal-repeat. However, the in-between intervals were the lonely hours for me. These were spent either sitting in a dark corner of the classroom or walking along the corrid...

2019 is still very young, and these few weeks have been mostly consisted of rest days for me. However, this down time is much needed, because as we continue on with the year, I will soon be undergoing my own “Birdbox Challenge”. (DISCLAIMER: This is not a movie review and you do not need to put on a blindfold while reading) I’m sure most of you have seen or at least heard of the hit Netflix movie “Birdbox”, starring Sandra Bullock. Honestly, I haven’t been able to watch the film, but after viewing the trailer and glancing over some summaries and movie reviews, I do know that Malorie (Bullock) had to overcome demons, which came  in various forms such as one’s worst fears, deepest sadness and greatest loss.   Now that I think of it, we all experience these. It’s what makes us human, raw and innocent. I understand that we all have our ways to cope with these daily life struggles. However, for me, I picture myself wearing that same blindfold Malorie used to fend off t...

Hey guys. I'm finally back in the Philippines, which means that I'm able to write again in my laptop after publishing the last 2 blog posts in that teeny tiny cellphone screen. As promised, here's Part 2 of my New Year blog series. If the Part 1 served as a recall of sorts to the year that was (2018), this new post will focus on what's in it for me and you this coming 2019. I will look ahead to our 2019 in the form of "Notes to Self" (aka the thing you put in your diaries). By this token, hopefully I am able to talk to you guys as well cos who knows, you may just be able to relate and use some of the self-taught advice I'm about to give myself right about now. Note to Self 1: Soo, Anuna ?  For Filipinos,  anuna is a millenial term for "ano na", or "what now". A perfect word to kickstart the year, diba? We're already a week into the new year, and yet most of us are pretty much at a blank clean slate pa rin. I don't blame...

Sup y'all!! As a novice in the blogging industry, I honestly don't know what my first post should be about. However, I figured introducing to you guys the only way Del Ro can. You see, my name's really Jake (Fun Fact: My full name's Jose Joaquin Carmelo P. Del Rosario, so it really takes rocket science to figure out how in da heck I got Jake as a nickname). It was not until high school when peeps started calling me "Del Ro", short for Del Rosario (my family name). I thought it was just a nice cool moniker that I could use during mini-reunions, casual events, and if God makes it happen, rap gigs (yes, I love rap y'all). However, as I'm about to end my College life in a few months, I figured going back to this dope nickname I introduced myself to 5 years ago. I had wanted to come up with an awesome statement that fits the "DEL RO". Here are just a couple of failed attempts "Don't Envy the Lord, Respect Only" "Dreams...