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Tag: valentines day

Read this if you’re sad that you’re single on Valentine’s Day

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Today is the day that most people flaunt their relationships in social media about how happy and meant to be they are. But for some people, it can be a day that reminds them of how super single they are and how lonely it is to have no one to hold hands with, to not have any dinner plans with nor have anyone bring you flowers in the office. I have nothing against Valentine’s Day. In fact, I love “LOVE DAY” It has become one of my favorite holidays and it’s not because I’m in a relationship or anything like that —but simply because it’s a day when we can celebrate love in general.

I’m not even going to sit here and pretend that I wasn’t one of those people who once didn’t like celebrating this day. I’ve obviously been broken hearted more than I ever wanted to feel the heart wrenching pain—–I’ve felt lonely and been very annoyed by those couples who just flaunt their love in front of the world. But when i look back and ask myself “why am i so upset and caught up?” —then did I only realize that I had my own demons to silence and my past to let go of. If you just got out of a relationship or trying to get over someone, I was there in your position a year ago and I’m here to tell you that time does heal all wounds. You just have to go with it —feel the pain, recognize it and live. One day you’ll wake up and realize that it’s gone because you kept on going.

Also, whether you sulk here all night and day, people all over the world will still fall in love anyways. So you can’t be upset at people for falling in love, love is love. Sometimes we tend to forget that there’s different kinds of love. It’s not just romantic love —there’s self love, love for your friends, family, for God, for your pets! Every time I look back in my life, when I’m at my lowest —these love that these people had for me were the ones that sustained me and helped me to keep going and to move forward on the other side. It’s at these lowest moments of my life, when I was at my worst —did they not give up on me. They believed in me, corrected me, fought with me to get me to get me back on the right track. So today —on love day, I will not forget everyone that helped me become who I am now and be better. This is one of the best days to celebrate our love with everyone we love. So if you’re out here sad that you’re single, call your grandparents and tell them how much you miss them and love them, or your parents and how much you appreciate them, or hang out with the rest of your single friends and go dancing or simply stay home and cuddle with your pets.

Plus, tomorrow all the chocolates will be on sale!!! So instead of sulking because you currently don’t have the love of your life in front of you right now, appreciate the other loves of your life that you currently have. And I promise you that one day he/she will come in your life and it will change everything. All your questions, fears and confusion will be silenced. But for now, just enjoy your single life. I’ve always thought about it this way —if I ever get married someday, i will have the rest of my life to spend with that one person; therefore, before I get there I would like to do as much as I can before I consider someone else’s opinions/needs along with mine.

My hope for you is that may you see today in a different light —there’s too much in this world that hasn’t happened to you yet. Don’t let your past or that one guy/girl who broke your heart steal your joy. Go out there and have fun! Celebrate the fact that you’re still alive and you still have a chance to meet the love of your life someday (or today or tomorrow), make new friends, land your dream job or travel somewhere you’ve never been before.

I made this dress for my Valentine’s shoot that I collaborated with one of my close friends, Eddie. Isn’t he so talented?! I love that he always makes my photos look so whimsical and magical. I was so inspired by Rita Ora’s and Liam Payne’s For You Music Video and fell in love with her dress at first sight that I wanted to recreate it. We also tried to do some levitation shots as they were levitating towards the end of the music video. Can I  just say that it is not as easy as what they make it seem!? This is probably one of the hardest shoots I’ve ever done but also one of my favorites! 🙂

Happy Valentine’s Day Loves!

XOXO,

Joy

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Out Of The Woods

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I grew up reading fairy tales — maybe that’s why sometimes I feel like my imagination is always traveling to another land. And because of this, I’ve also always believed in the good defeating evil, romance and true love. We didn’t have Disney Channel in the Philippines so  I learned about Cinderella, Aladdin, the Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, The Emperor’s New Clothes, Alice in Wonderland through books. Reading fairy tales and imagining to be in a another land was probably one of my favorite things to do when I was a child. Twenty something years later, I still love the idea of what fairy tales teach us —although now I am more well aware that not everything has a happy ending.

It was probably a few years ago when I first fell in love and got my heart broken that I experienced one of the most magical things I’ve ever felt in my life. It really did feel like the whole world was spinning and butterflies were living in my stomach. Everything happened so fast and so passionately and then boom —all of a sudden, it was over. The next thing I knew was— I felt like there was actual hole in my heart and it was shattered in a million pieces and I didn’t know how to mend it or to glue it back together. Days, weeks, months passed by and I still felt so empty, so broken —so not good enough. Eventually, with the help of my friends, family and my faith in God, I pushed myself to get out of bed again, to stop crying, to move forward, to live in the middle of the pain, to try new things I never thought I could do, to face my biggest fears (heck, I even jumped out of an airplane), to reinvent myself, to fight to be the best person I could be. There were still days that I would unexpectedly cry out of nowhere or feel insecure why it didn’t work out or the infamous question of “what’s wrong with me?” conversations with myself. But I learned that —that was okay, it’s all part of the healing process. It’s completely okay to be human and to be broken so you can be whole again.

As I look back now, I never thought I’d say this to myself but it was actually a very beautiful process. I can honestly say that I am proud of the person I’ve become and when people from my past tell me that I’ve changed – I say thank you —because I fought to be the person that I am now. So for those ladies, who are single this Valentine’s Day or even heartbroken — I am here to tell you that you will be okay. I know that’s the last thing you probably would like to hear right now but you will be, I promise. Everything will make sense in no time. Just allow yourself to feel, to break, to cry (but don’t stay there), to move in progress until you can feel again, smile again and love again.

There’s going to come a time that you will fall for someone again —and when that happens, you’ll be scared again but this time around you’ll be braver and know that if my heart gets broken again – I know I’m going to be okay because I’ve already survived, went through hell and back and got my life back together but better. You’ll know that it’s always going to hurt but this time it will be a little bit easier because you’ve been there and done that. You’ll also know yourself more and will fight for your worth this time around. And just because you love them, it doesn’t mean that you have to love yourself less.

If there’s one thing that I gained from losing my first love, it’s self-love. And yes, I would do it all over again because it lead me to the person that I am now.

Now that I’m out of the woods, I found that there was more to life than the small world I lived in at that time. There’s other genuine, beautiful people out there deserving of my love and just because one person broke my heart into pieces, it doesn’t mean that nobody is going to come around and love me the way I deserve to be loved. Sometimes the next person even helps set you free from the chains you’ve been holding on to for all these years, or shows you different side of you that you’ve never seen before or ends up proving to you that not everyone is out here to get you. When you meet that person, let them in, love them and thank them even if things also don’t work out in the end.

I didn’t mean this to be a sentimental post, babes! But it turned out to be. Eeeeekkkkk. Well, this shoot reminded me of the song “Out of the Woods” by Taylor Swift. The lyrics and the music video felt so real in my life in so many ways. This post has a Part II so stay posted in the next few weeks. I made two outfits and got to work with @_256k Thank you for making me look like I’m coming out of a very dark, magical land in a fairy tale. It’s everything I imagined and more.

Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone! Know that you are loved and you are worth it!

XOXO,

Joy

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