With each waking moment of your student life, the stressful hardships co-exist with the sublime happiness of spending time with people that matter. Difficult, yes, but you could endure together. And then it suddenly stops. Not that you want it, sometimes it has to. Everything will be a memory: something you can forget or something you can forge into better blessings.

From seeing each other’s faces as a daily routine to becoming mere thumbnails in your social media accounts as a daily afterthought, how? How do you count the days between the distance?

In between, there are hours, minutes and split seconds. It’s mathematics, something we should discuss another day. Maybe we shouldn’t count the days. Life will keep us busy, offering plot twists that will make Dr. Kwak-Kwak look like an amateur. As we carry on with each challenge, we can always bring with us those who are close to our hearts. May not see each other much. May not hear each other’s stories as often as we’d like. But what’s real will never die. If it matters, distance will make it stronger.

Along the way, there are certain lessons from the master set that will remain as you venture towards the horrors and hallmarks of real life. There are situations you may encounter in the future that you have already surmounted with +2 points as students:

When there was stress, there was the field.

When there was misunderstanding, there was the debate.

When there is the need to speak up, there was the newscast.

When no one bothers with reality, there was the documentary.

And when you’re not ready to say goodbye, the heart keeps insisting it’s not meant to end. When you follow your heart, nothing has to.

[Entry 254, The SubSelfie Blog]

About the Author:

Bam Alegre is the founder of SubSelfie.com and writes from time to time as a guest contributor. He is a Senior News Correspondent for GMA News (2012) and a Special Lecturer for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of the East (2015). He was also part of the team that won GMA News the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for the news coverage of super typhoon Yolanda (2013). Previously, he worked behind the scenes as a Segment Producer for State of the Nation with Jessica Soho and 24 Oras (2009-2012). He is also the vocalist and guitarist of the band No Parking (2005). BA Broadcast Communication 2007, UP Diliman. Read more of his articles here.