Of Being Loveless

"At one point in our life, we've all experienced what it's like to be alone. How it feels to be without someone beside you. There are times when we can get by with this feeling and life seems to go on the way it should.

But there are days when the longing is just so bad you end up in self-pity, crying in one corner of your room. You begin to recall past loves and try to figure out what went wrong.

The day starts and ends like a boring routine. Upon waking up, you check on your cellfone to see if there was any message sent the night before and as usual there's none. You get yourself ready for work; pick out anything from the closet without even looking if they match. A stroke of brush on your hair, a dab of color on your lips and you're off to work.

At work, friends ask you if you're ok. The empty look on your face makes them think you're not feeling well. Your cellfone lies dead on your desk - no ring, no beep, and no nothing. You can't help but glance at the wall clock every 30 minutes and for some reason the hands of the clock seem to move so lazily. And just when the girls are busy retouching their make-up, getting ready to be picked up by their respective boyfriends, you get yourself ready for a long ride home....alone.

You're home by 6 o'clock. There's nothing interesting on the boob tube so you decide to go to bed early. By your bedside, you stare at the telephone wishing there's someone you could make telebabad with. Burning phone lines, exchanging sweet nothings are the stuff you sorely miss.

Being loveless to the hopelessly romantic is like eating pancakes without maple syrup, Kentucky Fried Chicken without gravy or manggang hilaw without bagoong. But hold o n! It's just one of those days. It's normal to experience low days. Even the prettiest, smartest of girls and hunky, cutie guys have their own share of low days and loveless seasons at that. If you have seen Joyce Jimenez' interview at Jullie Yap Daza's talk show, you'll be surprised to know that this pantasia ng bayan is not only loveless but also "suitorless"! So dear readers, it's not the way you look.

Stop thinking that there is something wrong with you. Stop starving yourself to death just to lose that 5 pounds you've been dying to get rid off. Stop wishing you had skin as white as the models of whitening creams and lotions. Love won't come rushing in just because you've finally reached your ideal weight or after a visit at an expensive derma clinic. Come to think of it, we really can't tell what triggers cupid's arrow to come flying our way. Love is mysterious indeed and I think that's what makes it wonderful. The popular cliché is true - love comes from the most unexpected places.

Live each day to the fullest. Walk with your head up, full of confidence and keep that smile on your face. Yes, smile even to people you don't know. A smile won't cost you anything. It takes only a few face muscles to smile. There is so much to gain - friends, friends, friends! - and nothing to lose. So what if the smile wasn't returned? You did a polite gesture. Smiling is not cheap and definitely not weird. Before you know it love will come smelling in the air with hardly an effort. You probably won't even remember it was actually love you were searching for.

Confidence and a cheerful attitude are very attractive. Refuse to allow your gloomy feeling to show with the way you fix yourself up and with the way you relate to people. Sometimes it starts with a little pretending that you're ok and soon enough you'll realize you're not pretending anymore and you're actually in a bright mood! Just remember that when the one-of-those-days syndrome strikes again, just think that tomorrow is another day."

written by ..... someone