mental-health – artsytravellerph

Believe in Your Travel Dreams: A Journey of Possibility

Even I couldn’t believe it too. Of how I do not have anything back then. My Dad and our family is struggling financially. But I still hold on to the idea that there is something that I really like to do. And that is to travel to another country. Back then, 2017. Not a lot in my peers are open about travelling because of one main reason why. It’s expensive.

Travelling doesn’t have to be expensive. There are ways to travel without having any money. I hold on to this idea in my heart that I want to travel for free.

From getting someone to believe in me and sponsoring my ticket.

Did you know that I only have 5000 PhP (120 CAD ) pesos pocket money that time and additional 2000 PhP ( 50 CAD ) because I ran out of my hygiene supply. And this is all in a span of 6 weeks.

Honestly, I didn’t know how I survived too.

Holding on to your silent wishes.

The most valuable lesson that this trip taught me. Is that everything is possible. You just need a new mind programming. Travelling is not just for the rich. It’s for everyone that wants to see the world with their own eyes.

My journey there. I do not know what to say. But I know that back then, I want to prove something for myself. To expose myself to an uncomfortable place where I only have myself. I made some friends. And it is really possible to live a life that you dream of.

You know it’s true, I can still remember vividly of the experience that I did get. After 8 years. And thinking about it makes me smile.

I was single that time and I am not in any relationship. During those times, it gave me another silent wish that I hold into my heart dearly. To have a partner that is going to share the experience with me as I travel the world. One place at a time.

Hold on to that dream in your heart. Universe will help you to make it happen. Also, you need to do your part too. Prepare yourself so that once opportunity presents itself, you are ready to take it.

1. YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IT.

In order to believe it. Hold on to it. Visualize and list the experiences you’d like to experience once you’re there.

2. KEEP IT AS A LITTLE SECRET TO YOURSELF

A lot of your friends and family will think of it as a crazy idea. One thing you can keep in mind so that you won’t be swayed is to stick to the plan. Only announce it if you’re already there. You should learn to decide for yourself.

3. BE HONEST TO YOUR PARENTS

All it takes is a little courage. To face our parents and tell them what we want. For my case, my father is not sure about it because he didn’t get to decide this on himself too. I acknowledge that during that time, we are not doing well financially. And spending money on me is not practical even, I have 3 brothers that time still studying. I told my Dad of how much I really wanted it and explained it to him.

4. TO START, YOU ONLY NEED ONE PERSON TO BELIEVE IN YOU

Tell your story. You never know if the person infront of you will support your idea. You only need one person to start anyways. And it did happen.

5. YOU HAVE TO BE READY AND HONEST TO YOURSELF

Part of it is accepting that there are things beyond your control. You do your part. And let universe do its part too. Delayed doesn’t mean denied. And closed doors doesn’t mean you failed. You have to prepare your heart. That no matter how much we want something we need to ask for guidance from above too. You have to learn to surrender.

I hope that this blog gave you a little bit of encouragement about travel. You can also visit AIESEC about Global Volunteer program or their internship programs. Good luck! Have a beautiful travel journey.

Feel free to ask me anything about my journey in Vietnam. 🙂

-Micah B.

The Fire Within: My Creative Struggles as a Writer

( LONG POST AHEAD ) There are nights like this, that I honestly do not know what to do. Just like everyone else. I am entering this phase. For a week now, I am having an inner battle with myself. I am embracing my creative side and at the same time I also want to know more of what is my style.

Freestyle writing has been one for me. Like I can write down for hours. Just give me a pen and paper. I can entertain myself just by doing that. What do you do with these raging fire within you. Not knowing how to tame this inside me, I just can’t sit back and relax. Especially wait.

I know that there is no right answer. As I am doing more things out of my comfort zone, I am becoming more scared but I feel alive at the same time. I do not know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. They say, stick to one thing and become so good at it that they couldn’t ignore you. I hope that this would absolutely help me for the better too.

Diving deep down within myself, asking what do I really want in life. And what does feel natural to me? It’s writing freely. Just letting all these thoughts flow.

This week, I have published contents here on my blog. Of course, I do not have any solid base. On the other side, I have 3 subscribers already. There are times that you know it’s so hard to keep going especially when you doubt yourself if this will even lead to a greater cause. And no matter how much positive thinking you have, it doesn’t even do the trick. You feel stuck and powerless.

Nonetheless, you continue to press keys. Take action while doubting yourself. Because one day, you’ll look back on days like these and read that this is how it felt like starting. With no support, no connection, and not knowing what is going to happen.

Someday, this post will be a bookmark of how I started my blogging journey. It’s hard because I am now starting to question myself and there I need to give myself a deeper why in order to keep going. I am doing this for myself and for other people. Because not everybody wants to listen to a video, some would rather read an article like this. Excuse my wrong grammar and punctuation, this is unfiltered stuff, not even AI can even copy.

Maybe that perfection comes from the technology too that puts pressure on people like us. And I hope that we will conquer being perfect and continue creating crafts that we really love about life. And this is mostly my hobby, I am reflecting on my thoughts. To be really clear on what I want in life.

Is it true that when people doesn’t give up on their dreams, it will come true? I am looking forward for the day that I will get to answer and repost this post about me struggling to sleep at night, not knowing what to do about the fire that I kept inside me for too long. I need to keep creating because it’s the only way to ease this feeling.

When I discovered that I love to write, I even contemplated if I should go back to school. Learn different styles. But also, I am scared that it would take away my natural style because I do not want to go to a cookie cutter system.

I know that thinking hard is not the only way to discover. We have to do things and learn from it. Or is it just me, being to impatient. Wanting to skip the process and arrive to the destination desired right away.

They said, “Dream big.” But as I am getting older, these dreams makes me so scared and right now I am taking action to chase after them. I do not want to wait anymore years, that time will come, I will regret of not seeing what it’s like to experience how it’s going to feel accomplishing things. More than accomplishment, I am so crazy about the idea of building something. Especially business from scratch and doing it daily. Make overs and renovation. These are some of my core.

I read a lot of books last year. Most of them are self-help books. Personal development, through those books I know that I am also lacking the most important thing. Taking action. Without taking action. There’s nothing out of it too. I hope that I am not pressuring myself so much right now again.

It’s true starting is really hard. Especially when you are alone.

I hope that my heart will still carry on as I figure things out for myself. I know that I have delayed a lot of things in the past and that’s the reason why I am here right now. I am prioritizing myself to embrace the truest highest version of myself.

Micah, I also need to remind you that there is beauty in waiting. You have to remind yourself that trees don’t grow in a week, in a month, in a year. It will take many years to see that tree, with strong roots as it’s foundations.

Cultivating the land is part of that too. Don’t be too focused on the fruits that you wanted to bear, but rather prepare yourself to the person you really wanted to become. You have to be really clear to yourself what you want to become. Avoid hitting random goals. Set a clear one for yourself.

To tell you, when I was in my early 20s, all I wanted was attention and recognition. Then I choose to be silent because there are too many voices that I couldn’t avoid to listen. Most of their voices will tell me to stop and be practical. Most of them, think that I am not grateful for the life that I have right now for wanting more in life.

This drive inside me that doesn’t want to sit still in one place and wants to really do something about my dreams. I think this is the time, the perfect time that I have been always been waiting for. Is the time that I decide that I will take a step toward my goal.

I exhaled a deep breath. While I feel the goosebumps around my shoulders and my back. I do not want to be comfortable. Most of the advice I received here is playing it safe and just be grateful with what you have. I have to embrace uncertainty and this journey in front of me. With all my strength. It will pass Micah. You just need to go through this season of transformation. Aligned with that, you need to answer these questions too.

WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?

AND HOW WILL YOU GET THERE?

For writers and creators out there, how did you overcome this phase?

-Micah B.

March 30, 2025 | 3:37 AM | Fort St John | British Columbia

Navigating the Oilfield: A Woman’s Perspective

Ever experienced walking barefoot? This is how I feel when I entered this industry. Every step I take, or move I make, is being watched and I can feel every eye looking at me. Let me describe the environment and other factors you might want to know to prepare yourself before going into this industry.

As a female working in this kind of industry, a short girl, Asian, and with a smiling face wherever I go, I was wrong. Because this attitude doesn’t work here. Well, the environment doesn’t have any drama. But the ego of some of the men working here are topnotch.

Some of men doesn’t like to be watch by someone while working and that’s totally understandable. But as a safety, that’s our job to observe and keep the workers safe as well. And even remind them of things they should be aware especially when they are working.

I worked at a Sulfur Plant on my first job. I am asked to run and supply oxygen for the workers as they enter vessels. This is just a precaution in case any toxic air kill a worker. To be honest, I embraced this role with all my heart. I knew that a life depended on me. I am the extra eyes and extra limb to call for rescue.

Here I learned the balance of not being too friendly to do your job. Because if you smile most of the time, they think that you are not serious enough about your job. And I look like, I am just a kid with my height and being the person on standby for rescue.

This job requires you to climb towers and go to dark confined spaces without panicking. Staying calm is the most vital to this job. It is because when a person is rushing and emotions took over, it often leads them to a complicated scenario. Here you are required to be calm and act fast with a clear mind.

Here it became clear to me. Being a woman has some disadvantages. Due to my physical form, they expect me to carry a 200-lbs person in times of rescue. To tell you the truth, we are a standby person. It means we are the person who runs and asks for help. Make sure we know who to call. Whether it’s medic or rescue people. That’s why we are safety watch.

Most of the workers hate safety. That’s the honest truth. They commonly think that bypassing some safety rules will help them get their job done efficiently. However, that is not the case. That’s the opposite.

Often times, when we rush to do our work for the sake of going home earlier will risk our safety at work. In the next blog, I’ll focus more on the importance of safety in our daily lives.

-Micah

artsytravellerph | March 26, 2025 | 4:01 PM |

Fort St. John || British Columbia

How keeping a journal can change you too?

Don’t know where to start?

Browsing through information after information doesn’t really help me.

I grabbed my journal and my gel ink pen. And just let all my thoughts flow.

I started writing in my journal again. Website by the way. It’s an unfamiliar feeling to press the keyboards as I type. I have been scribbling in my journal for the past years instead.

I am more free when it comes to pen and paper. Of how my hand controls my penmanship and observe how my thoughts get transferred to a piece of paper. I started doing my journal in my first year of college. This was back in my University days.

1. HELPS YOU NAVIGATE AND TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR EMOTIONS

It helped me navigate through the emotions that I am going through. It’s like dissecting why do I feel a certain emotion in the moment. And slowly discover the factors that triggered it and how will I sued this emotion for the better.
( Self-examination )

2. GIVES YOU YOUR OWN SELF CRITIC FOR THE BETTER

Also, keeping a journal helped me reflect on how I reacted and handled the things that I did. Asking myself if I handled it the right way or if there’s another way of dealing with a certain situation.

Making sure that in every experience, I will always value the lesson so that I can live my life for the better. I acknowledge that through journal, I know where to pick myself from. ( Self Observation )

3. ASSESSING WHICH OPTION IS THE BEST FOR YOURSELF.

Another thing that it gave me is how to make a decision that I will definitely not regret and suffer from. It helped me to ask more questions based on what I value more than the other.

If there is a situation that I feel that I needed to decide. I just need a quiet place or put some earphones in and face my journal with coffee and water by my side. What are the trade offs for this decision? Am I willing to accept the resources that I need to give up in order to choose a valid decision? How will it affect my over all well-being? My mental health most especially.

My guide to decision making now changed because before I decide on what is right for most people around me that I forgot to include myself in the picture. Please do not do this. I do not want you to burn yourself out, just like I did. But it’s still up to you. It’s your life anyway.

What I learned when in comes to decision making. It’s completely okay to think of yourself first and are you willing to accept the consequences of that decision. Own your decision and be responsible for it.

4. IT'S THE BEST COACH AND THERAPY AVAILABLE. ALSO, IT'S FREE.

Venting without hurting other people and yourself is healthy through self expression. You can also do this through other forms. I have different views about artists. They are capable of turning their pain into power creating something beautiful and inspiring out of it. Some create music, art through drawing or painting, sculpting, writing, dancing, and singing. Find what works for you.

Writing on your journal can help you let go of unwanted emotions. These are the emotions that can drag you down. After releasing this unwanted emotions, it can help you focus more to achieve your dream. What happened in the past stay in the past and through learning from it gives you strength as you paused to take time to learn from it.

Through it, you now think of ideas of how to make yourself better and stronger and on your own to brainstorm of what is your game plan for your own life.

” See it for yourself. Grab a pen and paper now. 🩷 “ – Micah B.

artsytravellerph || March 26, 2025 ||1:52 PM || Fort St. John, British Columbia

Break Free: Overcoming Doubts in Your Creative Journey

Ever felt like nothing will work out even if you are putting in the effort to make it happen?

This is just another day to get better and focus on your own craft. But you felt like you are walking on a rope that it’s going to make or break you as well. You are thinking of not giving up but still you feel uneasy in the middle of the night asking yourself to give more. And you know that you need rest too.

You are getting impatient. And it’s up to you to turn that weakness into strength. You can use that feeling of impatience to give more into the day and set healthy boundaries to stop and rest. Because if you rest, the more productive you can be to giving it your all.

As for me, I am getting impatient too. Because I wanted to see the results already when I haven’t committed long enough still. I have to remind myself that I am doing this not for the intention to be liked but for me to embrace and express myself more.

Browsing suggestions and watching videos online are truly confusing. It leads you one thing to another and then after you know it, you already fed yourself a lot of information that you don’t even know what to process.

There’s no perfect route. You do your own thing. Get better on it every day. Put in the hours and you have to stay at the moment to enjoy the journey.

Play one song that connects to you and feel the feeling. Start living by being truly present. My wish is that we listen to our hearts more than our minds. With the healthy balance of heart and mind, we can come up with an idea of which to take.

I know that you are being practical about earning money. But what is money if you lost yourself. These are things that money can buy.

Yes, to self expression. Yes to creating. I think that’s one of the antidote of overthinking. Wherever you are, I hope that your heart starts to say things that you want to do again.

I hope that it will give you the spark to do the things you’ve always wanted to do that you you always tell yourself not now. The time is now, do it in simple ways.

” Get started and start living the life you want. Break free! “

That sense of relief. You need to discipline your thoughts.

This is battle with yourself. Only you can free from those chains.

Stay on course.

It’s You vs. You.

-Micah

Artsytravellerph | March 24, 2025 | 6:58 PM | FSJ | British Columbia

Overcoming Life’s Crossroads: Choose Yourself First

artsytravellerph || March 23, 2025 || 8:28PM ||
Fort St. John, British Columbia

Just like I used to believe that Romeo will come and save me in this small town. My dear, I’ve done that path. It drained me out. Took me a lot to get back on my feet once again. I thought giving was the only way. I thought that the only way to sharpen my skills is to give it away, but no. You are draining yourself that way, you should learn what serves you and things that you need to let go.

I could even describe it in my own words as ‘work hopping’. If there is such a word. Haha. For me, I thought the new job, or the new environment would serve me. I said maybe, let’s do it once again. Like find a new job and see if I could stick out to it. No matter how ideal I associate myself skills I could be learning to that specific job, I ended up not in a crossroads but rather than a corner of two walls. If you know what I mean.

Then days, feel like so slow. I know that I am alive but I lost the sense of living. It’s empty and it’s suffocating. Don’t wait for the day that you couldn’t remember all the food you crave every now and then. Don’t set aside what made you feel alive just because it wasn’t practical financially.

Delaying that dream is like shaking up at soda until it will burst since it can’t contain the pressure already. And before you know it, you’ll hit the corner wall that I am telling you about. Until you don’t have any choice to confront yourself.

God planted that dream in your heart and unless you do something about it, that uneasy feeling will never go away. Just because it’s out of reach right now doesn’t mean it is not possible.

“You were created by God to reach your highest potential. Don’t let fear or doubt stop you from stepping into the future He has planned for you.”
Unknown

But have you heard a beautiful word that is most often understood as being selfish? Starts with ‘B’ and ends with ‘S’

Boundaries. You need yourself too.

It’s healthy.

Don’t wait for the perfect timing. The best bet you can do is work on what you have. Choose yourself this time before you end up losing yourself.

Take care! And let’s weave our dreams!

– Micah