Merry Christmas Steemians! A Greeting of Love and Gratefulness

Merry Christmas Steemians!

Let me quote my tweet lately to start my Christmas story and year-end review (sort of) of what has been into me:

A year of roller coaster ride. When I look back, I was always reminded of how blessed I am. Let's move forward with positivity and good spirit.

This year is officially my year as an adult. Although I started my first and current job on October 2016, I considered the 3 months as my transition period since I'm still on probation and training. I was regularized on January this year, so I considered that as the official milestone of my life.

The start of being considered as part of the labor force is not easy. Sometimes I contemplated on going back to the life as a student.

_{WITH THESIS MATES.When we graduated last October 2015. Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. This might have contributed to our idealistic perception of the industry.}

As a chemical engineering student, together with my classmates, we always perceived the idealized state of the industry. Little did we know that we were slowly trapping ourselves into the illusion we have created. Personally, I could not blame our younger and naive selves because that's what we saw in the images of the ones ahead of us. Perhaps our mishap is that we did not realize that they reached their current position by slowly climbing into the corporate ladder they were in.

When we started to work in our chosen industries, that's when our illusory perceptions were shattered. We were slapped by the reality that the industry is not what we perceived it to be. Bureaucratic and often convoluted systems are always present, even in prestigious institutions. We thought that when we were able to escape that hell of a department, we will be free from the grasp of a biased and discriminatory structure.

Yes, we escaped that department. No, we didn't. We were transferred to another department called "real world".

As the cliché goes: "The world is harsh, the world is unfair". What I observed is its subtlety. You wouldn't know that you have suffered a blow until you are knocked out. Back into the industry I thought I deserved, everything I envisioned was wrong. In the macrocosm of organizational structures, I realized two things:

1. There will always be people who will claim and take advantage of your work.
2. There will always be people who will lecture you on something they don't even understand.

I have to make things clear that my issues are with the system, not with the people in the system.

I ended up frustrated because my idealistic nature was strained. I signaled my distress, but I know that no one will ever listen because they also have their distress to resolve. One thing I can attribute to myself is that I never stopped. I just continued and learned to go with the flow.

_{BYE-BYE DINNER. This taught me that nothing is permanent. We all go our separate ways.}
In my work experience, I encountered what I now called 3 Phases of Perception:

1. Idealistic Phase - This is the phase of my perception when I tend to see and compare situations with their ideal state. I will always look at how things should behave and it should behave that way to achieve order.
2. Frustration Phase - This is the phase when I was confronted with the idea that there is no such thing as ideal. Since there's no ideal state, there's no order. Everything has its own mess and I should deal with it. In this phase, I take everything to myself seriously and started whining.
3. Acceptance Phase - This is the phase where I am right now. I realized that if I will not accept things on how they are, I should wrestle and topple down the greater forces behind them. I knew I would never win, so I settled down and rest my case.

Okay, enough with the whining, this year has been a year of emotions. I vented out everything and chose embrace what's left with me and for me.

Here comes steemit!

To all who hated me, at one time I hated myself, too. Now I choose to love unconditionally, even for myself.

_{TEAM LRS CHRISTMAS. While I have some issues with being idealistic, this awesome team keeps me going.}
While the first 3 quarters of 2017 has been rough for me, the last quarter is drastically different. Aside from the fact that it's the start of my Acceptance Phase, it's also the introduction of steemit into my life. I made a post about the community with its acceptance and inclusiveness. I also made a post about what it means to be in this community. All of it goes to show how I feel about this platform. I am grateful of what it has imparted to me. To show you, here's what I also tweeted lately:

What steemit has given to me more than the monetary value is the chance to be bigger than myself; to be the first wave of the Ripple Effect and to be seed of the Butterfly Effect.

And also this one:

I know I had set a higher standard for myself. I did that to be a step ahead and survive. What I realized lately is that I don't have to be so hard on myself. Not in a narcissistic way, but I should consider myself first before anyone. This drastic re-branding was surprising.

People Who Made an Impact to Me

_{FIRST STEEMIT MEETUP. This is when @wandergirl discussed about steemit to us @legendarryll, @thegaillery, and Ivana at Cafe Brown.}
With this post, I would like to mention a few people who made a mark on my steemit life:

1. @legendarryll - Thank you for introducing steemit to me at the time I needed it the most. Steemit became my outlet and my medium.
2. @wandergirl - Thank you for your time and effort in teaching us how steemit works during our early stages.
3. @themanualbot - Thank you for your wisdom and patience. As what I already told you, you are way beyond your age. Also, thank you for teaching us that you don't have to be recognized in order to feel the fulfillment of helping someone.
4. @surpassinggoogle - We haven't met in person yet, but you implicitly taught me how to love unconditionally; even to ourselves and to those who chose to go against us. I would love to meet you in person soon!
5. @thegaillery - Your life has been an inspiration. You taught me how to be genuine in everything we do. In our discussions, you also taught me things in life I never thought possible.

_{CHRISTMAS/YEAR-END DINNER. Meet-up with @thegaillery, @brokenmancode, @wandergirl, @babybear, and @themanualbot. Dinner and discussion full of cryptocurrencies, courtesy of @themanualbot.}
While I only mention a few, my gratitude doesn't exclusively extends to those mentioned only. Thank you everyone who interacted with me, directly or indirectly.

_{@steemph.cebu's CORE LEADERS. You guys were awesome! Please continue to support the development of the community here in Cebu.}
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

To full steem ahead!

Best Regards,
@ybanezkim26