Beyond the Paths of Almosts

When you have set the precedent, you become a name built on expectation.

Mataas ang pangarap ko dahil mataas din ang pangarap ng iba para sa akin.

Some people grow up chasing dreams. I grew up carrying them.

For as long as I can remember, my life has been measured by numbers-grades, rankings, achievements, and all the things that made people believe I was destined for something greater. I became the girl who always knew the answer, the daughter who never caused trouble, the student everyone expected to succeed.

Failure was never an option. Rest was never enough. And being "good" was never something I got to define for myself; it was something I had to maintain.

But somewhere between being everyone's investment and everyone's hope, I forgot how to become my own person.

Then life gave me something that was never part of the plan.

Something they warned me about.

Something they called a distraction.

A risk.

A mistake.

Pero ang tawag ko roon ay... pagmamahal.

Sabi nila, "lason ang pag-ibig sa babaeng mataas ang pangarap."

That love will make you lose focus, lose direction, lose everything you've worked for.

But tell me... if love is poison to ambition, why does it feel like the only thing that ever made me forget I was surviving instead of living?

And if that's true...

Why does losing it feel like I lost the only reason I ever wanted to succeed at all?