I woke up one wonderful morning. With a perfect smile chiselled in my morning fresh face, I stood in front of the mirror and confidently said, “This is my day!” Beaming, I had a good look at my face and I made sure that I have a good picture on my mind of my happy face to keep me company for the whole day ahead. I was in a swell great mood until...

I accidentally deleted all my contacts.

                Your contacts are the most important data in your smartphone. You know that instance when a burglar takes your phone and you think about the contacts and the other important data more than phone itself. I was confronted with a situation that was the other way around, I have my smartphone safely nestled in my hands, but my contacts vanished in thin air, of course they did not disappear just like that. I accidentally pressed a button that swiped them all out.

I bit my lips twice

                Clock struck 12, and it’s time for lunch. I picked up my bag and headed straight for the cafeteria looking forward for a hearty meal that could compensate on all my hard work for the first half of the day. I was comfortably seated in my favorite spot at the cafeteria, near the window. I’m enjoying the view, trees seemingly dancing to the melody of the wind. I took a bite of my burger, and then another, and there it was, I bit my lip the first time. It bled like crazy, bringing forth the metallic taste of my own blood. It did not end there, I bit my lip one more time and from there I completely lost my appetite.

I had my pants wet.

                No, no, no. I think you guys got that wrong, I did not pee in my pants, never. While brushing my teeth in the office, water splashed all over me, thus having my pants all wet and moist after that. Every one of them looked at me like I was a kid who first used the sink.

My laptop stopped working

                Just when I thought that I can stop for a while to take a break and relax from all the misfortunes I experienced that day, my laptop was drained with battery power. And guess what? My charger is not functioning! How lucky can I get? Now I have to purchase a replacement charger which I believe is not cheap.

                Maybe it was just my luck, or maybe everything was just a mere coincidence cleverly overlapped in a single day. The thing is, no matter what it is that comes your way, you must be equipped with a positive outlook to battle it out teeth on teeth.

Have you been in a situation where in you received a low battery notification from your smartphone while you are on the road? Well, isn’t that an inconvenience? This is even more frustrating during the times when you need your phone the most to be turned on. There are actually ways to make the remaining juice of your battery last longer. Check below to find out how.

1.       Reduce brightness. Dim the screen of your device to preserve the battery life. It also helps if you reduce the screen timeout of your phone to a minimum to provide you with extra hours to use it.

2.       Turn off vibrations. Keeping your phone in vibrate mode consumes more energy that having it alert you about notifications via ringtone. Sounds produced by your phone as ringtones are just tiny vibrations from the speaker, while vibrating the whole device drains your battery quicker.

3.       Close all unnecessary apps. You may not notice that when you open app after app without closing them properly, they remain open until you kill the apps one by one or restart your phone. Manage your applications and close unnecessary apps to prolong the battery life of our phone.

4.       Turn off notifications. Being notified periodically by the activities of your apps can drain your battery faster. Disable notifications among apps that are of less importance.

5.       Wi-Fi is better than 3G/4G connection. If you really need to be connected to the internet considering the low battery life, then use Wi-Fi connection instead of a 3G/4G connection because the latter drains the battery faster than Wi-Fi.

6.       Turn equalizer off. Though I guess with your almost drained battery, the least you could be doing is playing music through your mobile earphones. But in any case you might be doing this, turn off the equalizer, especially the bass booster, to lessen the battery consumption of your phone.

7.       Keep track of software updates. Having your apps up-to-date ensures you that they use less energy their outdated counterparts do. Don’t be foolish by doing this on the time that your battery life is about to run out. Do this every so often when not in danger of draining your battery life when you need it the most.

8.       Store device in room temperature. The battery of your phone depletes faster when in a warm temperature. Store it somewhere cool or away from direct sunlight.

Doing the abovementioned can provide you with an extra hour or two to still stay connected especially on the times you needed those extra hours for emergency purposes. Still, the best way to solve your about-to-be-drained battery problem is to have a replacement battery handy so you won’t have to worry ever again.

                Being a parent is not an easy job. I don’t understand why there is no school or discipline that attempts to teach it considering that it’s one of the most difficult professions in the world. I remember when me and my husband were about to have our first child. We tried our best preparing for the coming of our son, read parenting books, listened to the anecdotes of long time parents, and tried to borrow our nieces and nephews just to have a firsthand experience of having a child at home.

                So much have been said and done, but when our little guy came about, we were still nowhere near ready. We weren’t exempted from the jitters and nerves of having the first child, at one point we panicked. But that is how parenting is, we learn based from experience and it’s always a case to case basis. Raising a child can be very laborious and stressful at times, especially when your little one becomes a teen. As I’ve said earlier, you cannot really learn how to parent your child through any material but experience, this blog only attempts to give you a hindsight in case.

Listen

                As much as we want our kids listening to our every whim, our kids no matter how young they are also need to be listened to. Do not underestimate their capability to voice out their thoughts and opinions. You’ll be surprised on how your kids know about a lot of things. Like for example you wanted to buy your son a mobile back case for his smartphone, instead of deciding it yourself, you can ask him about his likes, his choice of design, his preferred color, or maybe he knows an online mobile store where you can get what he wants.

Trust

                I get it, parents will do anything to protect their children from whatever outside forces that may corrupt their innocent minds now that we are in the digital age with the latest gadgets everywhere in sight. Parents tend to be over protective with their kids but most of the time they forget that no matter how young they are, they already have developed a certain sense of self preservation, as well as a sense of what is right and what is wrong. Keep in mind that it wouldn’t hurt your kid if he commits mistakes once in a while, that’s how he will learn. So you must learn to trust him with his decisions and give him some space to spread his wings.

Say Sorry

                I know it’s hard to say sorry especially to our children, because we try our best to preserve our credibility over them and impose them our authority as parents. But that doesn’t mean that we should not apologise if it really was our fault. Contrary to what others believe, saying sorry and acknowledging your mistakes will merit you extra respect credits to your child. It wouldn’t really hurt if every once in a while you swallow some of your pride and say sorry, especially to teens.

                At the end of the day, it will just be you and your kid. It’s not always them who learn from us, most of the time it’s us who learn from them.

 “I am so tired of waiting,” I told my Mom on the phone.

I’m trying to replace the pain that I’m feeling with anger but tears gently gushed and my chest can’t bear it no more. It‘s been five years since he left, it’s been five long years of waking up alone, having dinner on my own, sleeping without someone beside me. I don’t want to be that huge wall between him and his dreams so I didn’t pry in anymore when he told me he’s leaving for work. I was dismayed, but I’m happy for him. The first two years were good enough. He calls almost every day, he sends me post cards and latest gadgets but they cannot replace him. There was no chance of replacing him. The subsequent years concluded our doom—a bitter ending.

“Honey, if you love him you’ll wait for him,” my mother said comforting me.

“I do really love him. But— I did my part! I waited long enough! Long enough to leave him!” those words just came out of my mouth.

 “Calm down sweetie,” she said. “Why don’t you visit home this weekend? Your Grandma misses you.”

It’s been a while since I went home. I’ve been busy working for the last couple of years or perhaps, I’ve been busy forgetting him. It’s a 2-hour drive from my place to our home. As I steer my way, the summer breeze softly covered my face. My eyes gleamed as I relish the striking beauty of the view, finally, I’m home!

The noise of my car alarmed them. “She’s here!”

“Sweetie, you look thinner,” Mom said as she gives me a warm hug, “Have you not been eating much?”

“I work hard Mom,” I said while hugging her snugly than ever. “I missed you”

“Are you alright now?” she sounded worried.

“Better. Where’s Grandma?

I saw Grandma sitting at the patio as usual; she was reading her favourite book. For the longest time since I was a child, I never had the chance to ask her what that book was all about, until now.

“I’m here Grandma,” I said as I sit next to her. “You’re reading that book again. I always see you reading that since first grade.”

“You did?” she chuckled. “I have been reading this even longer.”

“It must be a great book then. What’s the story all about? How did it end?”

“I don’t know,” she simply said.

“How is that possible?” I was baffled,

“I haven’t finished it yet,” she said in her croaky voice.

“I’m so puzzled”

“I can’t finish it,” she replied, “Not until he comes back”

“Who?” 

“The man I love,” she gazed me. “You look confused… let me tell you a story,” she continued. “My story”

I’ve never seen Grandma with such aura. She looked thrilled.

“Three decades ago,” she began. “When I was at your age, I was beautiful like you,” she chuckled again.

I smiled.  

“—I only loved one man”

“I don’t remember a thing about Grandpa,” I said openly. “What about him?”

“He left”

“He left for somebody else?” I asked her swiftly.

“No,” she paused. “He was a noble soldier. He chose to serve his country. But he promised it was his last”

I was surprised. I didn’t know Grandpa was a soldier.

“Before he left, he gave me this book. I still remember what he said before he left. ‘Promise me, my love, you won’t get tired of waiting... right before you start reading the last chapter I will be here’

                “I finished the 22nd chapter countless times, but he was nowhere,” she sighed.

                I was wordless for a moment.

                “You still wonder why I haven’t finished it?” she said smiling.

                I smiled back. I can sense the sorrow she feels.

                “I’ll never get tired of waiting,” her face smoulders with abiding hope as she stood firmly on her feet.         

   

I watched her feebly amble her way inside the house clutching close to her, the book—her hope.  

                For a minute or two, I sat there still. Grandma’s three decades of incessant hope hit me by that much, and then I realized something—something I should’ve realized long time ago. I took my smartphone out of my pocket and called him. My heart quivers as I hear the ringing.

                “Hello?” he said.

                Now I know what to say.

The Johari Window is a representation of our personality. It is divided into four regions: the arena, what we know about ourselves and what is known to others; the blindspot, what we don’t know about ourselves but is known to others; the facade, what we know about ourselves that others do not know; and the unknown, which is unknown both by ourselves and others. This is a tool for illustrating our personality and to improve self-awareness and mutual understanding among individuals within a group.

With a lot of new things being introduced to us every day, we sometimes lose track of what kind of person we become. An example of this is our exposure to social networking sites such as Facebook. As more and more people (including you and me) become avid users of this site, even when we are on-the-go with our smartphones, changes gradually take place to us that appear in the blindspot of our personality. Find out below what in you might have changed that you are not aware of.

1.       It makes people fatter. Though it has been found out that Facebook can boost self-esteem, it can also lower self-control at the same time. Most people, while checking on their Facebook accounts or surfing the net, have snacks on hand. These small binges can eventually make a user gain some pounds.

2.       It makes you self-absorbed. People who use social networking sites on a regular basis have a tendency to become self-conceited because it is easier to be noticed and brag about themselves in Facebook than in real life.

3.       It makes you a close-minded person. Professor Christopher Sibona from the University of Colorado surveyed Facebook users and found out that 40% of them would avoid the people who unfriended them on Facebook when confronted in real life. According to him, the act of unfriending someone else is a form of rejection that may cause psychological problems.

4.       It makes your significant other uncomfortable. For couples who are avid users of Facebook, one tends to stalk the account of the other every now and then. They become obsessed in stalking over likes, comments, and even in adding friends and accepting friend requests of each other. Even the choice of how one personalizes his/her profile is scrutinized by the other.

5.       It makes people depressed. There was a study conducted in 2011 that shows that there is a possible correlation between children who use Facebook regularly and depression.

It is always important to know ourselves inside-out. We must be transparent as an LCD screen protector when dealing with ourselves and with others. It is also equally important to acknowledge what others might have to say about us because as the Johari window illustrates, only half of our personality is known by us. There is, and will always be a part of us that may be bad that we don’t know, and a way to know what they are is to ask the people around us.