11/10/2025
๐๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ | ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟโ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ
They say dreams start when I aspire. Once I start visualizing myself to be somewhere higher than where I am, more extraordinary than what I used to be. Once reality feels like conceiving blurred lines of daydreams into sharp tones of effort, once I walk and see the version of myself in every intentional stride I take.
But no one told me that dreams can also start in exhaustion.
In questions, in doubts... in tireless trying and hopeful wishing. Not just to approach days with a stride, but also with a trudge. Every drop of sweat fell along with very little hope fading like mist. Every blink was a frustrated, silent plea to stay awake after I hadnโt had any proper sleep in a week.
Dreams started to form in the very minute I tried to stop; therefore, to halt was never an option.
Picking up a pencil as I scan my reviewer wasnโt only a work toward certainty, but sometimes an act of gamble. โUnta makapasar, uy.โ โNasulod kaha to sa akong utok? Bahala na. Basta kay nagreview man ko.โ โSure na kaha ni? Mura mag wala koy natun-an.โ It is a play of irony to hope for better results in how worst I feel.
To ask for good days in times when rock meets bottom.
But then again, dreams can start in exhaustion, but so can rest in trying.
During my examinations, hope lingered in the way I am certain of my excellence, but simultaneously, it didnโt leave even in subjects I was doing the very least my body could muster. I had done my part of the trade; to make do with what I can do and make up for what I couldnโt.
And in that quiet pause between tests, sipping cold water and feeling the wind brush past my face, a strange calm settled in. The world didnโt feel as heavy for a while. The noise that came from the other students where complaints would visit, the rustle of papers... well, it all faded. For a brief moment, it urged me to smile.
I believed what people told me, and from me, I share my story: dreams begin in carrying burdens, but they are made real by learning to unload them.
I rested in setting myself assured that my efforts were aligned with how eager I was to escape this exhaustion. To feel lighter while becoming the person I had long admired, and to feel peace in who I was becoming.
Before I knew it, examinations ended in a blink. My fatigue slowly wore thin, and my breathing grew lighter.
Time passed quickly. Many things happened, emotions were felt too much.
Sighing, I, too, wish to pass. Vested in luck, by the way I tried and the effort I put in trying.
I have made it through the end of my examinations. For the sake of dreaming, and for the dreamer I continue to be.
Via Marjorie Cerilla
Digital Illustration by Nicole Majarreis
Layout by Christine Gomez
