Haring Alabel

 This year gifted me with three milestones that I will forever treasure. First was a proud family moment—our younger brother, Jun2x, finally graduated from college. Watching him reach this goal after years of hard work and sacrifice filled our hearts with joy and gratitude. It was a reminder that perseverance truly bears fruit and that family victories are shared victories. The second milestone was a deeply meaningful spiritual journey. Together with my younger sister, Lyka, I attended our first National Youth Day in the pilgrim city of Naga, Camarines Sur. Being surrounded by thousands of young people united in faith, prayer, and hope was an unforgettable experience that strengthened our commitment to serve and live our faith more fully. The third milestone made the year even more special. I, together with my younger siblings Lyka and Jun2x, attended our first Philippine Conference on the New Evangelization at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. Experiencing this national gat...

Sometimes, I need to hibernate. My sleeping pattern hasn’t been normal since 2017, the same year I started drinking coffee regularly. Back then, it felt harmless, even necessary. Coffee became a tool to survive long days, tight deadlines, and the constant need to be present, productive, and dependable. One cup turned into a habit, and the habit quietly rewired my sense of rest. Since then, nights have lost their boundaries. Sleep comes late, leaves early, or arrives in broken pieces. There are moments when my mind is exhausted but refuses to shut down, and mornings when my body wakes up tired, as if rest never fully happened. I learned how to function on less sleep, how to push through, how to convince myself that being tired was normal. But the body remembers everything. So there are days, sometimes weeks, when I crash. When I sleep longer than expected, withdraw from conversations, and feel the urge to disappear into silence. It looks like hibernation, and maybe that’s exactly wh...