I mentioned in my previous post I was going to write about my experience in the two workshops I attended in Q3 and Q4. However, I just didn’t feel called to write about it in detail. Instead, I’ll just add a quick segment below about my experience of the two workshops before writing the real reason for this blog haha.

Q3 and Q4 Workshops: A Summary

As part of my 2024 goals to attend workshops quarterly, I attended a soap-making workshop and a healing mandala workshop.

The first one is a soap-making workshop from Crafter’s Marketplace. It was held in Makati, where my bestie and I participated yay! I felt like an actual chemist being in the workshop since we had to deal with (I’ll have to say…) solutions or chemicals. LOL. I forgot what they were called! We had safety goggles and aprons on. I forgot if we had gloves, but most likely we had one to protect our hands, too. Additionally, we had jackets on. 

But yeah, there were various ingredients in making soap, and it was so cool to see and experience making it. I wish I had taken pictures but I was so immersed in making soap lol. Plus, it was a short experience in making it since the facilitator demonstrated to you how to make soap, which you could do on your own!

You can find our group pic here LOL.

Unfortunately, post-workshop, my soap spilled LOL, I didn’t notice until I came back from the washroom. Plus, I didn’t store it properly. D: Hahaha. But I came for the experience and learning what ingredients make up soap!

Moving on, I attended the Loving Kindness Mandala workshop by Mary Malikhain. Upon arrival, they were preparing the materials on what you can use to draw inside the mandala. The participants are given multiple drawing instruments or materials, which is nice since people will have preferences on what they’ll add to their mandalas.

Then, the workshop started. Mary gave us a quick intro to what a mandala is and how the healing workshop would go. I’m not going to spoil the experience for future participants, but it felt wonderful to tap into the hurt and pain I’ve experienced this year and translate it into abstract drawings. In turn, these drawings remind you of the loving kindness you can apply to yourself and others! One thing I can say is that it’s a guided experience, so you’ll know what to put in your mandala.

When it ended, I felt some form of relief. But I know I still have to process this pain and hurt.

Follow Crafter’s Marketplace here and Mary Malikhain here!

Anyway, I also enjoyed this workshop, and while I didn’t connect with the other participants, I feel honored to be part of the group and learn more about what others shared in drawing their mandalas.

Parting Message

Now that I’ve summarized my experience with the last two workshops, here’s my parting message for 2024.

Oh, 2024, you’ve taught me a lot this year. Damn. Honestly, I still hold a lot of pain and hurt. But I don’t want to paint myself as the victim. However, I do have to take accountability for some things, and I know I’m not the only one who hurt someone. It has taken a toll on my mental health that I went back to my 2014 self; a self I don’t want to return to, to be honest. I wish I could leave this behind, but there are ways for me to handle this in 2025. I just need to be strategic about it and talk to my counselor.

But as I said in the header, this is a parting message hahaha.

I do want to say goodbye. I want to say farewell to a passive version of me. I would like to enter 2025 more confident and more assertive. I’m working on this.

I want to say to the fragments of pain and hurt I’ve felt and thought. I’d like to think of the hurt as a broken mirror, still etched in my brain. Some of them fell to the ground, leaving shards in my wake.

Jesus fucking Christ, how did I do this LOL

Anyway, I leave those behind. It no longer serves me, and those would further contribute to my pain and suffering in the next year. I’m done crying and hating.

However, not everything is bitter in 2024. I say goodbye to the year itself, for what it’s done and what I’ve done and accomplished this year, too.

That said, I’ll connect this to my next point.

Giving Thanks

As I say goodbye, I also want to say thank you. Funny, this small phrase is what got me into trouble this year, too. LOL. For not saying it, apparently. But yeah, I’m learning to say more of it, even for the smallest of things.

I want to say thank you to the people around me, my family (mom, dad, and brother). They’ve done so much for me, and this year has made me realize I think I need to do more next year. I know I’ve not done enough, and I would like to repay the kindness you’ve given me.

I want to say thank you to my high school friends (N, B, and K). I’m super happy that we had our Boracay trip this year. It was super fun to spend days in Boracay with you guys. Plus, of course, to all our lakad[s]. I enjoyed every single moment with you all. Plus, thanks for the memes and the laughs. ❤

Hello Bestie Bella Dyosa. You get a quick special segment here haha. Thank you for this year. For the laughs, for trusting me, believing in me, and supporting me. I love you always. You da best ❤

Even though we didn’t spend a lot of time talking and hanging out, thank you, also, college friends. You taught me an important lesson actually; I won’t share it publicly. But thank you nonetheless.

I want to thank Uplift (again haha). I learned how to code and build websites. It’s super fun. I think of myself as a game character that leveled up. LOL. Out of level 69420 in life (LMAO I tend to say this as a number; yeah I’m immature sometimes), I’m probably at level 50 with the added learning. Plus, thank you, classmates. Mga lodi ko kayo.

I also want to thank the workshop facilitators and participants I met this year LOL. Even though I didn’t connect much with fellow participants, there’s one workshop facilitator (hello Kakayanin!), I want to say thanks. I appreciated candles more this year and knowing how to make one, too. Thank you!

I also want to thank others I might have missed, whether we hung out briefly, reconnected, or spent some time and I might have forgotten. I appreciate the time you’ve given me. ❤

Finally, I want to say thank you for this year. I want to thank 2024 for the joy it brought me. Whether it was through traveling or meeting new people, I am happy to leave part of my comfort zone. I will do this more next year. I also thank it for trials and tribulations. I think I cried more than most this year. I’ve experienced a lot of pain and hurt, and I think it’s normal in life. There’s just a lot more emphasis this year. But 2024 would be an average year. It’s not great or bad. It had its ups and downs.

I am proud of my journey this year and I hope to move forward in 2025 with a better outlook, attitude, and mindset.