Hey there dear Hivers, how are you guys doing? I hope you guys are doing exceptionally well! Anyway, I'm here to talk about "success" and what it means for a teenager like me.

In dictionaries and in people, there are a lot of different renditions when it comes to defining the word "success". It is often associated with the word: achievement. But for me, success is a feeling you have when you think that you've leveled up on a thing that you are passionate about. I feel it every time I do great in my hobbies and in school.

HOBBIES

I have a lot of hobbies, but my two main hobbies are instruments (ukulele & guitar) and crocheting hehe

INSTRUMENTS

We'll start with the instruments! Having an instrument for the first time in your entire life is always exciting but also a bit frustrating. Expectations of becoming good at playing the instrument become your fuel but it also leads to your own dismay. I remember buying my first ukulele ever and I was so ecstatic about it. With the ukulele being a small instrument, I thought that it would be so easy to play, even if it was my first time playing it. I was dead wrong HAHAHA. I had trouble playing simple chords and my fingers were hurting from pressing the strings with all my strength. If I'm being honest, I wanted to give up so badly. But I had my cousin with me who was also a newbie when it came to playing the ukulele.

I was quite relieved knowing that I was not alone in that particular journey. So my cousin and I kept going with practicing, even when it was difficult and frustrating. After a month of playing the ukulele, we were able to correct our hand placements and sing while playing the instrument.

That sense of achievement and success after learning the ukulele gave me so much happiness. I've learned that having your own support system when it comes to even the littlest things in life, is quite important. Some things are hard to achieve but maybe it would be a tad less hard if you had someone by your side who is also struggling with you <3

CROCHETING

This hobby is a little bit different because I learned it all on my own. I had someone as my inspiration and motivation for my work back then and that really helped me big time (emphasis on the word: had). But all the passion I had and gave into crocheting came from me. The thrill of knowing that you can make something out of your own hands with just a hook and yarn really pumped me up (it still does, to be honest 🤷🏽‍♀️🤭).

I never once thought about quitting crocheting. It is simply something that I want to do in my free time, even though I wish I could crochet all the time lol. The amount of time and work I put into crocheting is something that I never regret because I always find the results worthwhile.

Every time I finish a crochet project, I get filled with pride and huge feelings of accomplishment. I still surprise myself every time a crochet project I make ends up looking incredible.

SCHOOL/ACADEMICS

Remember those recognition days that all of us have probably attended? Don't you guys find it amazing that they do those at the end of almost every school here in the Philippines? Every school in the world should have those, to be honest.

Giving recognition to students and commending them for their hard work is something that students actually look forward to. The school basically says "I see you and I'm proud of you" on every recognition day that happens. Students seeing that all their hard work and sleepless nights have finally been made worth it gives them a sense of hope to keep going with their education.

CONTESTS
I was timid as a child and never really had the desire to join any type of competition. Ever since I was a kid just starting school, I've always been thrown into different competitions in my life. I guess it's the way of life as a student who was always in the "science class".

Oddly enough, the first competition I joined wasn't a quiz bowl or anything of the sort, but it was a pageant. As I mentioned in my last post, I wasn't interested in that being the tomboy that I was lol.

Now that I'm a senior high student, I've been given too many opportunities to join contests. The more I get to represent my class in academic contests, the more I feel empowered and encouraged. For most of my life, I never really felt like I was that smart since I was always surrounded by the smartest people I know.

Now here's the thing, after joining 3 contests in our school, I was never placed in anything. It's not that I'm stupid or anything, but students in our school get thrown into contests UNPREPARED. So I really feel flattered that my classmates think that I can go into contests unprepared huhuhu.

Now that I've finished discussing the times when I felt successful, I'm not discussing the importance of having that feeling. Having success and a sense of achievement is crucial when it comes to growing up as a person. That feeling you get when you do something right builds up your self-esteem and you get to believe in your abilities more.

Success in small things like in school and hobbies can become our source of passion. It encourages us to continue enjoying life to the fullest. Being able to do something right from time to time is what keeps us going with our dreams and this life we have.

"Failure is not something that you describe yourself as a whole when you fail at something, it is simply an event. It happens. It is only an event, so we must keep moving forward to lead ourselves to success." Those are words I heard from a person I look up to and is currently a teacher of mine.

Happy Friday my dear Hivers! If you've reached this part of my blog, I'd like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I hope that you are having a good day so far!

“Failure is not the opposite of success; it's a stepping stone to success” -Ariana Huffington