carltivation

[carltivation]

When life gets out of control

One of my favorite courses back when I was in college was ES 11: Statics of Rigid Bodies. What I really liked about the course was that unlike most subjects, we only had to remember a single universal formula for the rest of the semester, and that is Σ F = 0. Basically, the formula states that for a system to remain in mechanical equilibrium, the sum of the forces acting on the system must be zero. For instance, when you place an object on a table, say a book, the downward gravitational force acting upon the object is counteracted by an equivalent upward normal force exerted by the table, making the book stay in place. The object will not move until such a time that an external force acts upon the object, say a person displaces the object, or a strong wind acts upon it, making the total net force upon the object not equal to zero.

Relating this scientific concept to life, we all want our lives to remain in equilibrium. As long as we are able to pay our bills, maintain a healthy lifestyle, and build healthy and peaceful relationships, we are going to be fine. However, we all know that life sometimes gets out of control because of external forces affecting life’s stability. This can be an inflicted illness, a sudden unemployment, or a dysfunctional relationship. Everything suddenly crumbles and we cannot do anything about these external forces because they are beyond our control.

As you may already know, I have a chronic skin disease called Psoriasis that has affected my life for the past 15 years. All my doctors said that there is no cure on the disease and I just have to learn to live with it for the rest of my life. How encouraging those medical consultations were! True enough, I learned to face life having this sickness amidst the negative impact it had on me. 

Last year, out of the blue, the disorder had flared up to at least 95% of my whole body, and even affected my joints, which apparently is an additional effect of the auto-immune disorder, leading me almost immobile. The experience caught me by surprise since it flared up despite the fact that I was maintaining an active lifestyle, i.e. working out at least four times a week and eating a healthy diet (sometimes 😂). Suddenly, I can’t even raise my hands up in the air, or even rise up from bed effortlessly because of the joint pains. On top of that, I became very conscious going outdoors since my entire skin was gravely irritated, and I just felt like all the world was looking on me with eyes of pity. 

My ultimate question that time was: Why?

The experience certainly humbled me and reminded me that I am not in total control of my life. Yes, there are things that we can control and keep in tact, but there will always be circumstances nudging our lives unexpectedly. There were times when I just lay down on bed because of the pain, leaving my PhD dissertation unattended and missing most of my work meetings. It was like my life went to a complete stop that time, and I could not do anything except to ask God for help. 

If you feel like your life is going out of control right now, I want to encourage you with these three simple truths that sustained me during those dark times.

God hears

Truth be told, when we pray to God sometimes we feel that our prayers are just words spoken into thin air. We sometimes feel like our prayers are just a waste of our time, especially when all of our prayers remain unanswered. I can certainly relate with that feeling after having prayed for healing over and over again for the past 15 years, yet the answer of God seems to be the opposite. 

But the truth is that God hears all of our prayers even when we don’t feel it. God hears all of our cries, all of our frustrations, and all of our rants. And God does not turn a blind eye from our prayers. He responds to them. There will be times when we cannot understand why God has been silent, or why God’s timing had been so late. And that is okay. We do not need to obtain all the answers to our questions at the moment, but we just have to obey Him, to follow Him, and to trust Him for His ultimate plan for our lives. The important thing is that our prayers were all heard and they were not wasted.

God helps

Have you ever experienced burnout? Have you ever felt that the work you’re doing seems pointless and empty? Have you ever felt a sense of purposelessness in life? If yes, I want you to know that you are not alone in having these thoughts. These feelings are valid since it is part of our human nature to get tired from doing the same work over and over again. 

We all know the term fatigue by common definition, but did you know that there is actually a more technical definition of fatigue from the course Strength of Materials which is very much related to what we already know? Fatigue, from the engineering definition, is the tendency of a material to break under repeated stress. This happens mostly on structures subjected under continual stress such as railways, and bridges. Sounds familiar?

If you are also experiencing continual stress from work and school, perhaps you are undergoing fatigue. The reality is that we will all get tired at some point. But God invites us to come to Him so that we may find rest in His presence (Matthew 11:28). If the load you are carrying right now seems very heavy for you to handle alone, know that God helps us carry the weight for us. That is, if we will allow Him to. So if you are feeling restless in your current situation, I encourage you to take a pause and offer your cares unto God, because He cares for you.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. - Matthew 11:28 (ESV)

God holds

In Thermodynamics, the Kinetic Molecular Theory states that matter is composed of microscopic particles that are in constant rapid random motion and colliding between themselves within the matter. Imagine the chaos happening inside matter, despite the seemingly stable nature we observe from the outside. Furthermore, as matter is subjected to higher temperatures, the degree of motion inside, referred to as the kinetic energy, intensifies. 

There is definitely no equilibrium in that kind of system! In the same manner, we recognize that life is not an equilibrium, but consists of problems after problems after problems, and it only gets more difficult as we grow older. That is true, if we only look within ourselves. 

Freedom happens when we recognize that it is not ourselves who hold our lives but God. The forces within ourselves do not compare with the external force that holds all things together in equilibrium. And the fascinating thing about the sovereign hand of God is that He is not just a distant omnipotent God who holds things together just for the sake of it, but He knows you full well. He is a loving God who knows every specific detail of our lives and works together everything for our own good.

To sum it up

These are truths that I hold on to, among others, whenever I face life in the midst of circumstances. I may not understand everything that is happening around me, but I held on to the truth that God understands everything and I just have to trust in Him and His ultimate plan in my life. Just to give you an update, I was able to move past the season of intense flare ups as God slowly heals me in the process. I can now go outdoors with more confidence and I can also workout at least four times a week! Yes, there are still times that the flare ups come haunting me back again. But this I believe with all of my heart. That one day God will heal me completely from my sickness, even when the world says otherwise.

And even if He does not answer my prayers, I still believe that God is sovereign and He has great plans in my life. And that is my faith also to whoever you are reading this article. So just keep the faith because God is in control!

P.S. If you are also undergoing a personal struggle in your life, you may send me a message so that I can also stand with you in prayer. Kapit lang tayo sa Panginoon. 🙏

[carltivation]

How to start working when work is overwhelming

We all experience those times when we hit a roadblock in our work and in our studies while all the responsibilities and the requirements are just piling up in our lives excessively. We come to a point where our work becomes overwhelming and all we want to do is to just sit around in our corner wondering how we are able to accomplish all our tasks. Especially now that we are on lockdown, it is very hard to be productive with our cozy mattresses right within our reach. In this article, I hope to encourage you on how to get past through this roadblock.

Take a breather.

Problem sets. Exams. Reports. Deadlines. Name it all. Once they all pile up, we are choked. It is during these times when it is best to take a breather. Try to stop thinking first about the tasks that are left unchecked in your to-do list. Take a deep breath first and compose yourself. Remember that your health is more important than your accomplishments.

As an instructor, I desire more for my students that they themselves are well-off and okay first before I could see their work in their academics. That is why I decided to include a motivational message before the actual learning materials in my modules. It is important that before you dive into work, your physical and mental health is well.

This may sound really simple but oftentimes we neglect it. It is so hard to pause when the pace of the world is so fast. Especially now that social media is part of our everyday life, we cannot help but compare to others about how productive our day went. Stop thinking about productivity first. It is important to pause every once in a while and to meditate and breathe before you dive in to your work.

Set realistic and concrete goals.

Once you have composed yourself, try to write down some goals that you can do for a specific day or a specific week. Consider that the goals you set are realistic, i.e., goals that are not too difficult, but also not that very easy. A very easy goal would lead to apathy and boredom, while a very difficult goal would lead to frustration and anxiety.

Try to set goals that you think you are able to achieve within a certain amount of time. Start with the tasks that you are already familiar with. For example, if you were tasked to solve the output current on a circuit involving a bipolar transistor or a field-effect transistor, start off first on a circuit with an operational amplifier instead or a simple RLC circuit in which you are more familiar with. The idea here is to find the rhythm first with what you are familiar with before jumping into unfamiliar territory.

Finally, the goals that you have set should be concrete. You have a goal of finishing EEE 123 this week? Good. But that seems a bit vague and overwhelming as a goal. A more specific goal would be something like: "Okay for today I will answer 5 problems from chapter 3 of this book. And then tomorrow, I will start answering the problem set for EEE 123." In our minds, these goals may be relatively more achievable, and the good thing here is that these goals collectively achieve your weekly goal which is to finish EEE 123. Once again, this is relative depending on how you evaluate yourself with respect to the tasks at hand.

Another thing that I want to point out is that you must also be flexible. It is important that we set our goals for the week so that we can plot our course towards the destination. But it is also important that we do not obsess on finishing our goals within our specified deadlines. The goals are just there to get you to start moving from one place to another, but there will be times when we are not able to finish the goal within our timeline. That is completely fine. The important thing here is the progress that you have made. Which brings me to my final point.

Take small steps instead of a giant leap.

Take it one step at a time. Engineering is not one giant leap from answering algebraic expressions to eventually solving differential equations. It takes time.

A good example here is finishing your thesis. I am currently finishing my graduate studies, and ever since I started on my journey, which was four years ago, I already started working on my dissertation. The dissertation is one big final output for a graduate student and it is seemingly overwhelming at the start of one's journey. But right now I am in my fourth year and I am starting to see how I could get to the finish line. I am far from over yet, even after those four years, but taking small steps instead of one giant leap helped me move from nothing to something, and will eventually help me get to the finish line.

The take away.

We all have big goals in life. I want to finish college and help my family. I want to build the next Iron Man. I want to help the community. I want to teach engineering. But to get to those goals, we have to start somewhere. The main take away from this article is to start taking small steps. To start, evaluate yourself first. Am I mentally and physically okay? Take deep breaths before you start diving into work once again. After self-evaluation, plot out the course by setting realistic and concrete goals. And then once you start working, always be reminded that that one step already makes a big difference.

[carltivation]

A message for students during quarantine season

It has been days since the global pandemic has affected our normal lives. If you are like me, you may have been frustrated at how it interrupted all the plans we have for the year. However, if we look beyond ourselves, we see how it devastated the lives of other people who are directly affected by the virus, some even bringing an end to human life. Truth be told, regardless of the gravity of the effect of the virus in our lives, it has brought a great plague in our world.

There are two types of people coping in this global pandemic: those who are waiting and those who are fighting. The people waiting are those who have been stuck at the comfort of their homes waiting for the pandemic to be over. I myself am a part of this group of people. On the other hand, those who are fighting are the frontliners: the medical personnel, public security, scientists, researchers, etc. These are the heroes of our quarantine season. Included also in those who are fighting are the people directly affected by the virus who are fighting life over death. To those who are fighting in the frontlines, I sincerely sympathize with the hardships you are all going through. I had hoped once to be able to be a part of this group in whatever way I can (I wanted to help provide innovative engineering solutions to help frontliners), but I did not know how to proceed unfortunately. And for those who are directly affected or have been defeated by the virus or people who have close ties with these people, I honestly do not know how to speak to you since I know it must have been a really difficult time for you and here I am in a comfortable situation. But I pray that I can help in whatever way I can and that you would eventually overcome these challenges. We are all in this fight together.

With that aside, I have written this article for the former group of people as myself who are patiently waiting for the pandemic to be over. I can understand your impatience especially for the extroverted people who are stuck in their homes. We all miss the outside world: going into our class, hanging out with our friends, shopping in the malls, etc. If you are studious, you can’t stand just lying on your bed all day long without getting to learn anything. Some of us like me hate being unproductive in these days. Others are still completing academic requirements from the past sem despite the pandemic. In whatever state you are in, I hope to encourage you with these messages.

Do not force productivity

We all want to make the most of every day of our lives. During the normal days, we have our everyday to-do lists to accomplish. Once we tick all the boxes from our lists, we sit back and relax and claim that it has been a good day. But during these days, we do not have these lists. Hence, we always feel guilty of not being able to do anything during these days. I feel for you but I hope we do not feel this guilt. It is okay to be unproductive while waiting for the pandemic to be over. Remember that our lives are more important than the work we are doing. So it is fine to not be productive since we are all prioritizing our health in this trying time.

If you are able to become productive like learning a new hobby or being consistent in a workout program, then you are doing a great job being disciplined. But if you do not have any of those productive activities, then you are also doing just fine. Doing nothing at all is also doing something, and it is called resting. If you are like me who are also completing some academic requirements, I know it is really hard for us to adapt to the new means of blended learning so it is okay to not have the same pace as from the normal ways of learning. It is fine to slow down your pace of productivity. Just remember that we must not learn just for the sake of completing the requirements, but we learn the materials by heart. It may take us days, weeks, or months to complete the requirements, but at the end of the day what really matters is what changed in our lives after completing these requirements. Will we be able to apply what we have learned in our lives or is it just another passing grade in our transcript? I hope we learn with the goal of the former. So take it slow and always remember to learn wholeheartedly.

I suppose the main point here is to take care of yourself most importantly. If playing video games, binge watching netflix, reading books, or just lying down in your bed help you maintain a healthy mental and emotional state, then by all means do it. We are already doing a great job if we take care of ourselves since our lives are more important than our work.

Be socially connected and cognizant

During the pandemic, I am sure that most of our attention is towards our smartphones. It is a great tool where we can stay connected in the outside world virtually. I hope that you stay connected with your close friends and that you subscribe to the current affairs as we await for the pandemic to be over.

I am proud of my students who are taking a stand in social media against the injustices in our country’s government. I myself am not a person who voices out one’s personal grievances against the government but I do get angry for all the injustices. Whatever political stance you are in, I hope we are not ignorant of what is happening in the world around us since we are living not just for our own survival but for the survival of our neighbors as well. The main point here is to have compassion not just for ourselves but for other people as well.

Be hopeful for a brighter tomorrow

The days ahead are filled with uncertainty. We see from the news the increasing impact of the virus which leaves us with feeling the anxiety. All we can do now is to wait for the numbers to drop and to trust in the efforts of our respected frontliners. I understand that this is a very difficult time for all of us, especially for those who are directly affected by the virus. But just like every problem that comes in our way, it will eventually meet its end. That is our hope for everyday. We may not see how far we are from the finish line, but we can be certain that we would arrive there eventually. What we can do now is to keep on persevering, adjusting to this new normal that we have, and to continue to hope for a brighter tomorrow.

[carltivation]

A vision for my institute

Perhaps the most favorite carltivation I shared in class in the past semester was this one. I asked them to write their own carltivation for the class as I passed around the attendance sheet. Instead of the teacher encouraging the class, the class gets to encourage one another. I realized the beauty of this scenario as I read the entries of my students during this activity, and I recalled from my undergraduate years a vision implanted in my heart.

During my undergraduate life, I constantly hear the following remarks around the institute. — “So are your subjects getting more difficult now? Brace yourselves for that is nothing compared to what you will experience in the future.” — “It is normal to fail that exam. Better luck next year. Students don’t pass that subject in the first take anyway.” — “So are you ready to stay here in this institute forever?” — Back then we laughed it all off and just went through with life, but deep down inside I began to feel anxious and fearful of the future in store for me. This was still during my freshman years, and I began to have second thoughts about my course. Nevertheless, I shoved off all these thoughts and just moved on with the difficult journey.

How I wished the atmosphere around the institute would be a little more encouraging and hopeful rather than discouraging and degrading. But I still felt the heavy atmosphere and the deafening screams of discouragement and hopelessness as I walked through the hallways of the institute. And it seems like all students feel the same way and just survive everyday through it. What seems to be the problem? I did not know but all I knew was that I wanted to eradicate that heaviness. However, I was just a nobody who went along the tides and just survived my way through what people might refer to as “hell”.

Through the grace of God I was able to survive the gruesome challenges posed by the institute and I was able to graduate from there. Surprisingly, after graduation I was offered a job to teach in the institute. Knowing full well the challenges I have been through, I gladly took the offer of being a teacher in the institute. Some terror professors who experienced severe hardships back in college give back to students and give them the “hell” they themselves have experienced, or even worse. But I thought differently, for I do not want my students to believe that they were in hell. I recalled my vision and told myself that I want to help in turning the tides and rebuilding an institute that students would call as “home” and not “hell”. Instead of degrading remarks to scare the freshmen from pursuing their dreams, I had hoped that I would eventually hear these kinds of voices around the institute. — “Don’t worry about your subjects now. We have been there, but I know that you would also arrive here, and even do better.” — “Hang in there. You’ll graduate in time!” — “It’s okay if you failed that exam. I know you can still pass it! I’ll help you!”

This is one of the reasons why I started carltivation. I wanted to be that voice that would silence the fears and doubts my students are facing. And I know that my small voice would be drowned by the deafening screams of the institute, but I would continue screaming for the sake of even a single student who is mentally and emotionally exhausted to deliver that small voice saying “Hang in there. We can do this together.”

And now, seeing the remarks my students have written from the carltivation, I started to see small steps toward that vision. I want to see the day where students would encourage one another not just because of a required activity, but on a daily basis. I want to see the day where students enter the institute not with a heart of fear and anxiety but with a heart of passionate expectancy. I want to see the day where walking through the halls of the institute would incite passion and eagerness instead of doubt and discouragement.

And I know that the institute right now is still one of the most renowned “pressure cookers” in the university. But I would live everyday to see the vision unfold eventually. To my students, would you also dream with me?

[carltivation]

Carltivation #4: Your life is beautiful

In this article, I want to talk about a character flaw that is really personal to me. I think that most students also experience this character issue since the university is a performance-oriented environment. We compare our performance from other people and define our identity based on this, which is a dangerous stepping stone towards anxiety and depression. We begin to feel hopeless in our situation and as a result we settle for mediocrity. What I am talking about is the issue of insecurity.

Personally, I have been in a long-term battle against insecurity, even up to date. During the carltivation session, I shared briefly to my class a personal experience that led me to become an insecure person. Let me share it also in this blog briefly, despite my hesitation to share my personal life 😂.

Sharing this carltivation in class. This is now the fourth carltivation! (c) @anianicete

Personal experience

The main root of all my insecurities comes from my skin condition known as Psoriasis. It is not necessarily a serious condition, but it led me at one point in life to believing that I am not normal. I am not really a vain person so I can just imagine the intense struggle of people with the same condition who are more vain than I am, but I can somehow empathize with these people since it is not that easy to walk this earth where the people around you look at you as if you are not ordinary. I acquired the disease when I was still a young kid of 11 years, so it was fine for me back then but as I grew older I began to realize the repercussions of having such a condition.

I began to define myself as “different” compared to the people around me. My self-esteem began to deteriorate even as people around me noticed the “difference” and asked me about my condition, some in a concerned manner, others in a curious manner, others still in a condescending manner, but I didn’t really care about the manner back then. All I knew was that I was different. Some of my friends have even said hurting words regarding my condition that had left me feeling unaccepted by them.

Okay that’s enough drama now haha. I am not really used to emphasizing the negative experiences I had but I always make it a point that in every bad thing springs forth a good thing which I would also like to share. Those hurtful experiences may have left a scar in my life but it did not stop me from pursuing the dreams I have in life. Eventually, I met real friends that accepted me for who I am and believed that I am meant for something. I may be “different” from other people but it did not stop me from pursuing my dream in engineering and academia. Who would have thought that an insecure person would pursue a career of being a teacher, a job that places you in a pedestal where people can see you and your flaws? I thank God for students that accepted me and respected me for who I am and it inspires me to continue on in this career that I have gone.

To the reader, I encourage you that you are also meant for great things regardless of the “difference” you see in yourself compared to other people. What I learned from this experience is that you just have to be yourself, plain and simple. I did not have to hide my skin condition from other people to feel accepted and to continue my career in teaching. In the same manner, you just have to be yourself without imitating other people as you pursue your dreams in life.

Here are three further encouragements to help you battle the insecurity in your life.

1. You are not defined by your past failures.

In every failure we experience in life, we rise up and move on. These past experiences may haunt us along the journey, but we must not let it define who we are. We can always turn our failures into successes through persistence and determination. But even then, we should not let our successes define who we are, since on this extreme we might become too conceited. Just be who you are as you continue pursuing your dreams, without thinking too high nor too low about yourself.

2. You are not defined by the world.

The world might dictate what you have to become in order to feel accepted, but you must not yield to these utter lies. You are “you” and you are not what the world tells you to be. Screw them if they do not accept you for who you are but never force yourself to become someone else. Furthermore, do not compare yourself to other people. We have been bombarded with attacks on our self-esteem through our social media since we have let ourselves be defined by the success of other people. I encourage you to drop your smartphone whenever this attack persists and reflect on the truth that we have our own preordained purpose that we undertake in life and we should not steer away from this path just to follow the ways of other people.

3. You are defined by your creator.

This final point may seem religious and spiritual for some of us but please bare with me as this is the most important point in this article. So far, we have defined what we are not, but how can we truly define ourselves for who we truly are? You may argue that you are the only one who can define yourself, but do we truly know ourselves? How can we define our ultimate purpose in living? I cannot answer that question on your behalf, but all I know is that we can find the answer to life’s greatest questions from the creator of life himself.

All of us have our own personal view of this creator of life, whether it is a divine being, a scientific phenomenon, random chance, etc., and I respect all sorts of belief. I won’t force you to believe in my God, but what I want you to believe in is that your life is no accident. And since your life is no accident, you have an ultimate purpose in life that you yourself would have to discover.

And I believe that your life is beautiful since the creator of this life is beautiful. We have beheld at some point in our life the beauty of the creation around us: the vastness of the sky, the depths of the sea, the wonderful nature, etc. We know that these wonders were created by a beautiful divine being. And I believe that He also created you, that is why I can say to you that your life is beautiful. In fact, you are more beautiful than the vastness of the world around you. And we do not need to obtain the acceptance of other people because we have already been accepted by our creator in the first place. 

From this belief can I obtain my confidence from. I may not be the best person I feel that I can be since I have my own flaws in life, but I know that the creator of life knows me best and from this I can be secured of my identity. So, I encourage you to lay a firm hold on this truth: despite the flaws you see in your own life, despite what the world would tell you, despite your past circumstances, know that your life is beautiful. 🤗

[carltivation]

Carltivation #3: You are not alone

Somewhere along our journey we have all felt the need for companionship. Some of us may have easily accessed our social needs through the friendships we maintain. But truth be told, some of us have felt the loneliness in this journey we are undertaking. We felt like we do not have a person to cling to when we are undergoing trials. And in this article, I would like to reach out to those people who have felt lonely throughout their academic lives.

We can all understand the feeling of facing your battles alone, whether you are an extrovert or an introvert. We feel like no one can understand us better than ourselves, and that mindset has led us one way or another into battling our way into life alone. We feel like asking for help would be a burden to other people so we carry the burden alone. There are times where this mindset of independence is helpful in our character development. However, there are moments where we would need someone to help us carry the heavy load placed unto us.

So let me share to you three important truths to encourage you that you are not alone in this battle.

Sharing this carltivation in class. My students are now taking photos in support of carltivation! (c) @anianicete

1. You are not alone in your personal struggles.

We creep into our corner as usual in the same classroom we attend, observe the carefree smiles and laughs of the people around us, and tell ourselves “Am I the only one in this room undergoing this extreme testing?”. Little did you know that underneath the pleasantries portrayed by your classmates are the same thoughts you are experiencing now. We have mastered the art of building a facade in our lives that we have created a world where you always have to be “okay”.

However, the truth is that each individual has his own personal struggles. Knowing this simple truth would lead us to seeing through the facades in people and engaging with deep conversations. Always remember that it is okay to not be okay. We have to demolish the walls we have built in our lives and be vulnerable to the people around us. It does not have to be everyone, but I hope you have those few people wherein you share your life with. And you will be amazed of the similar responses of your friends and you can truly say that, yes I am not alone in my personal struggle.

2. You are not alone in your character development.

Another aspect in life where we feel we are facing alone is our own character. You feel like no one would understand your situation since no one is like you. While there is some truth in this statement since we are all unique individuals, there is a danger of isolating yourself from the crowd to the point of loneliness and depression.

We may all have unique traits and personalities but it should not be a barrier to understanding one another. As the saying goes, we strive for unity in diversity and we uphold that unity by connecting with one another. The other person may not completely understand your whole situation, but the important thing is we try to communicate it. You may be the only “you” in this world, but you are not alone in trying to become a better “you”, that is why we help one another in becoming better versions of ourselves despite our differences.

3. You are not alone in your journey.

Finally, this academic journey is not meant to be undertaken alone. We are all fighting this daily battle together so why not be there for one another. If you think you are left behind by the class, stop shouldering the burden on yourself and start asking help from your classmates. You are not alone in that struggle and we just have to muster up the courage to initiate a conversation with the person next to us and discover that we truly are not alone. Likewise, if you think you are able to help other people, I implore you to stop doing things only for your own sake but start helping your struggling seatmate. I hope we can create an atmosphere in the university where no student is left behind.

So to sum it up, I encourage you to start connecting with people if you are struggling with loneliness. Exterminate the utter lie that you are alone in your struggle, your character development, and your journey since we all feel the same way. If you feel like you do not really need help, start being the one to help others in need. Stop building up walls in your life and start engaging with deep conversations with the people around you. For some of us, it may seem difficult to connect to other people, but you will realize how fulfilling academia life is when we go through it together. So I encourage you with this simple truth: you are not alone. 😊

[carltivation]

Carltivation #2: Do not worry

I am sure you have heard of this imperative countless times and you may have thought that this phrase is easier said than done. I completely agree that it is not that easy to omit the worries and anxieties we face in our everyday lives because as humans we all have that survival instinct. “When am I going to graduate?”. “How can I be able to pay for my education?”. “How will I pass the courses this semester when I barely passed the prerequisites last semester?”. These may be some of the questions that you faced in your academic life. These questions, while they may seem valid and harmless, add up to the anxiety we face in our daily lives.

In our world today, anxiety is the greatest threat to our mental health. It is quite known that the main harbinger of anxiety is the internet. We see from social media how our friends succeed in life and we compare our lives to it. Because of this, we entertain harmful thoughts such as “Will I be able to amount to something like this guy?” or “Why is he blessed while I am not?”. And now the anxiety engulfs us that will lead us to worry every single day since we always check on our social media.

Some of us may even have been clinically diagnosed with mental health conditions. I know that this is a more serious issue and I am not in the position to discuss how to deal with this more difficult situation since I am not a mental health expert. But if you are undergoing such problems, please talk to someone. May it be a close friend of yours, a mental health expert, or someone you trust. This article may not necessarily deal with that problem but I hope to be able to speak life and encourage you through the words I put in this article.

1. Acknowledge the anxiety

The first step in overcoming the anxiety is acknowledging it. This applies to all problems that we face in our lives. If we run away from our problems, the problems will always come and chase after us. But if we face our problems we are able to know how to defeat it. We do not run away from anxiety but we face it headlong and defeat it. Here is an example to further that discussion.

Suppose you have an examination next week on a subject that you know you are not very good at. You have tried a lot of times to study hard on your previous examinations but still you obtain a failing grade. And then you become anxious on failing this subject. Running away from the anxiety means you will not study for this exam and just go with your everyday life and when examination time comes you just say to yourself “I won’t pass this exam either way so why bother”. Facing the anxiety means you will do your best to study hard for this examination, regardless of the thoughts and circumstances.

Truth be told, the outcome of the examination may be the same for both scenarios, i.e. a failing grade on both, but the latter one I should say surpasses the character of the former one. I always remind my students that it is not always the outcome that really matters but the character that we built throughout the process. I would rather have my students get a barely passing grade that they really worked hard for than they have a perfect grade where they did not have any character development.

The same concept applies for anxiety. There might be no changes in the circumstances of our daily lives, but once we face the anxiety headlong and decide to defeat it, we have already taken a great step in overcoming it. And my hope is that we do not give up in overcoming anxiety everyday until the moment when the circumstances turn into successes. It takes time but I hope we persevere until the end.

2. Recall victories from the past.

The person we are today is the result of the past circumstances that we have overcome. The circumstances we are facing today may not be as difficult as our past circumstances, but recalling how we were able to survive and overcome our past problems will inspire and motivate us in our present. Looking back, I did not think I would be able to overcome the past trials on my own yet here I am, a different person compared before, and facing a completely new trial that is far greater than the previous trial.

That is just the reality of life. It is an endless and ruthless cycle of overcoming circumstances. We face circumstances all our lives and the circumstances we face may be seemingly more difficult than the previous ones. But our hope is that because we were able to overcome from the past, we are also able to overcome the present. And we are able to overcome the future circumstances as long as we are alive and kicking.

3. Hope for the future

In line with the previous carltivation, we all have a hope for the future of our lives. These are goals that we want to achieve that’s why we wake up in the morning and face our everyday battles. So I implore you to replace the anxiety with this future hope that you have. Instead of thinking if you are able to amount to anything, think about your dream of having a great family. Instead of thinking if you will be able to graduate, think about your dream of becoming a great engineer. We all have our own dreams in life and we must all keep on dreaming about that future instead of fearing about the future.

4. Live in the present

Finally, I would like to end this article with a very important teaching from the Bible.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself...” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:34‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This was the teaching of Jesus to his disciples in the sermon of the mount thousands of years ago but it very much applies to our present reality. The verse discusses about how to overcome anxiety and it teaches us a really simple truth: “do not worry”. Worrying does not really contribute to eliminating our present circumstances. If anything, it contributes to our anxiety.

So I encourage you to embrace this simple truth of not worrying about the future. Live in the present and not just survive the daily life. Live in the sense of enjoying your life and facing the present circumstances with determination. You have your whole life ahead of you and you don’t have to think about all the circumstances ahead of you and be overwhelmed by anxiety. Just live your life in the present and be surprised of the future blessings that will go your way.

[carltivation]

Carltivation #1: One step at a time

In a world where everything seems to be in a hurry, we tend to be swept away by the rushing current, a current that gushes through our lives as we wake up in the morning and face our everyday battles. We come to school, attend our classes, study for our exams, come home, do our homeworks, and go to sleep for yet another day of endless routine. And if we stop and pause for a moment in our lives, we feel like we are now left behind by the world and feel hopeless in our situations. We feel like life is a train that goes on and on without ever stopping. In our world today, it has now become a sin to rest.

We all need a “pause” button every once in a while in our lives. In this article, I want to encourage you to pause for a bit and reflect on our lives as we continue our academic journey.

Let me share to you the first carltivation I ever shared in class. Since it was the first day of classes and we all feel the excitement and passion to attend our classes and start the semester, I thought I should encourage my students to first slow down and take one step at a time. It is a simple encouragement yet we often forget to do especially towards the middle of the semester where we are pressured by the required deliverables of our subjects. It is also very practical since it not only applies to our academic lives but also to our everyday lives.

How are we able to start doing something one step at a time? Here are three practical tips to consider.

1. Define your goal

Ever since I started teaching in the university, the first question that I want my students to reflect upon at the start of the semester is “what motivates you in life?”. I wanted them to reflect on the question and write their answers on an index card, which is also my way of acquainting with my students.

“I want to give back to my parents”. “I want to serve the nation”. “I want to build a good family”. Those are some of the answers that my students wrote. All of these are really great motivations in life and I told them to stick up to these until the end so that when circumstances and trials in life come along the semester, they are able to reflect back on these motivations and realign their focus accordingly.

This is what I mean by defining our goals. It is our main driving force to act on the simplest and smallest matters such as doing our homeworks or attending our classes. It is towards these greater causes that we are able to commit to these mundane tasks of our everyday life. We may experience burnout along the way but once we define our ultimate destination, we are able to endure and carry on with our journey since we know where we are going. Hence, we have to define that destination. 

2. Devote yourself to the goal

Once we know our goal, the next step is to take a step. It sounds really simple, but it really is not. The first step is always the most difficult step in our journey. But we have to take it to be able to start the journey.

It is the step to not deliberately cut your classes. It is the step to prioritize your academics above the extra-curriculars. It is the step to put honor before excellence while taking your examinations. These commitments may be seemingly difficult and impossible for some of us, but as the carltivation says, we take one step at a time. We may not be able to come to our classes with perfect attendance this semester, but being able to improve from three absences per semester to just two absences per semester is already a great step. It does not really happen in just one big leap of faith, but through baby steps. The outcome of our commitments may not be close to our expectations, but as long as we remain devoted towards the goal, we are on the right track.

3. Delight in your journey

Most importantly, we take delight in the journey we are undertaking. This one is really tricky since we cannot tell ourselves to delight into something we are not really delighted to in the first place. Delight is a natural state of joy and satisfaction and it is not something that can be forced or manufactured. So in line with that, how can we take delight in our journey?

To be honest, I cannot really answer that question on your behalf since you are the only one who could answer that question. It is ultimately up to the person undertaking the journey to discover that “thing” which they are delighted into. To help you find that delight, ask yourself the following question: “when did I ever find that joy and satisfaction in my academic life?”. Perhaps you could start from that small experience you have had in your life so that you may be able to find your way back to that delight. If you still fail to find even that smallest hint of delight in your journey, which I hope not, maybe it is time for you to reflect if the course you are taking right now is really the course you want to finish. Do not be afraid to shift courses if you do not feel it anymore, since it is more important to start on something you are delighted into than to finish something you are not delighted into.

Finally, it is completely fine to undertake the journey with a slow pace. Taking one step at a time is not a sprint but it is more like a walk. And taking delight in the journey means you are not in a rush to finish the course but you are enjoying the process. The academic life is not a race where the first ones to finish are the winners. We all have our own unique pace in life and you just have to find your own pace. No matter how slow or fast you are in your academic journey, as long as you are in the right track, you are fine.

So with that, I hope you are encouraged to continue on with your academic journey and to start walking towards your goal one step at a time. 😊

[carltivation]

What’s up with the word Carltivation?

You may have noticed the word in the domain name of this blog. If it is your first time to encounter the word, I would understand your feeling of it being a very “corny” made-up word by yours truly. Obviously, it is a combination of my first name (Carl) and the word “motivation”. As lame as the word may seem, I have now fully embraced the word as a part of me thanks to the support of my students. Let me just share a brief back story of the word.

Back story of Carltivation

The concept began to surface when I read my students’ evaluation of my teaching (SET) from the past semester. I was sincerely touched by the evaluation of my students and it really inspired me to continue on improving my pedagogy. As I read my SET, I realized what kind of teacher I am to my students. Basically, the students evaluated me as being a motivational, an inspirational, and an encouraging teacher to them. I honestly did not realize that I was that kind of professor to them until I read those evaluations. What a joy I felt in those days.

Eventually, I began to reflect on these thoughts and told myself that I want to live up to this character. Prior to that, I occasionally express myself to my students and encourage them from time to time but I have not really done it on a regular basis. I began thinking that maybe I should encourage them with a motivational quote at the end of every class session. Of course, I was skeptical at first since, number one, I thought it was such a hassle, and number two, I usually go over time with my classes and putting up these supposedly two-minute encouraging sessions would eat up a lot in the class period.

Nevertheless, I told myself to just try it out for one semester and see if it would work out. All of these simulations were now running in my head as I was taking a shower when the word “carltivation” just popped in. I cringed at the word as it first entered my mind and thought I would just stick with the simple “motivation of the day”. But then, I struggled with these conflicting thoughts until the first day of classes came along.

First day of class: I introduced myself to class, gave a short lecture about the course, and was now prepared with my encouragement. “For this semester, I will share some encouragements at the end of every class period...”, I said, and then I wrote the following words in the whiteboard: “Carltivation: One step at a time”. Believe me, I struggled up to that moment but when the word was now written on the board there was no turning back now!

So that’s how it all came to be. A simple story yet it changed my academia life like never before. Come to think of it, it’s not really that bad since I told myself that I would live up to that character. So sticking my name up with the word motivation would reinforce that character. Honestly, I sometimes thought that the word was too self-centered since it has my name on it, but then I realized that the word gives an idea of what kind of teacher I am called to be and that my future students would have that assurance that I am there to be an encouragement and a motivation to their academic lives.

Carltivation as a part of my academia life

Now, I am embracing the word as a part of me being a teacher. I am relieved that I was able to muster up the courage to introduce it to my students and now I am amazed at the warm reception of the concept by my current students. I would just be inspired when my students would tell me how the encouragements uplift their spirits as they face the daily battles of the academia.

In this blog, I would also like to share to you the encouragements, or carltivations if you may, that I shared to my class during the semester. Since I just recently decided to put up this blog, there will be a series of articles that I will be posting in line with the carltivations I shared during the semester. I hope to be able to finish writing these articles by the end of the month and to commit to writing in this blog. So help me God. 😂

Without further ado, here is a preview of the articles that I would be writing.

Carltivation #1: One step at a time.

Carltivation #2: Do not worry

Carltivation #3: You are not alone.

Carltivation #4: Your life is beautiful.

Carltivation #5: Be grateful always.

Carltivation #6: Trials make us stronger.

Carltivation #7: Encourage one another.

Carltivation #8: Huwag kang matakot (Do not fear)

[carltivation]

Living the Academia Life

Before I introduce to you what this blog is all about, let me introduce a little bit of myself first. I am Carl Timothy and I have been teaching in the University of the Philippines for three years now. Aside from my teaching job, I am also in my third year of completing my PhD degree, majoring in Electrical Engineering, in the same university. I believe that I am called to stay in the academia for the rest of my life hence the title of this blog.

This is not about my academia life.

First and foremost, this blog is not about my academia life. This is not a personal blog where I recollect my experiences in my academic life and share it with the public. I may occasionally share a bit of my experiences in line with the posts that I would make, but this blog is not entirely about me. I am a very private person so I prefer not to divulge every specific detail about my life. This blog is primarily intended for my past, present, and future students.

I have always told my students every start of the semester that the center of the classroom is not the teacher but the student. In the same manner, I believe that this blog is not about the blogger but for the reader. Whether you are a student of mine, a friend of mine, or someone who is struggling and surviving the academia life, this blog is for you. I hope that through the words and thoughts I put in this blog, as imperfect as a writer as I am, it would bring hope and encouragement to your life as you continue on in this academic journey we have.

This is about the academia life.

We all know how difficult it is to survive the academia, whether you are a college student, a master student, a PhD student, a post-doctoral student, or even a professor. A lot of times, anxiety cripples our academic lives and our mental health suffers as the pressure forced to us by our university creeps in. As an instructor in the university, I am not oblivious to these present realities faced by my students especially in this generation where life is so fast-paced.

Nevertheless, living, and not merely surviving, the academia life is possible. I believe that through constant encouragements and messages of hope, we are able to live out our academic lives and not just survive for the sake of it. What I mean about living the academia life is that we are able to enjoy every moment despite the unending challenges it may pose to us. It is not just about obtaining that "3.00" or passing grade to be able to graduate in the end since that would be just mere survival. This is about embracing the gift of learning without thinking too much about what grade we would be able to obtain.

When was the last time that we actually sat down in class and appreciate the knowledge that is being passed down to us by our professors? Maybe most of us are all bogged down by all the complicated formulas, theories, papers, etc. I understand that feeling of trying to understand the seemingly unnecessary complications of all these stuff. However, I hope we could still have that eyes of wonder about how these complications collectively point out to a wonderful creation we are all living in. Just like when we go out on a vacation with our family or friends and enjoy the natural wonders of the beach or the mountains, I hope we can also obtain the eyes to see the wonder of the knowledge being passed down to us by our professors.

Living the academia life.

This blog is mainly about that kind of academia life. Life in the sense that we are living and not merely surviving. I hope that through this blog you would be able to appreciate the academic life you currently have. This blog consists of messages of hope and encouragements for students struggling in the academia.

I hope you would have a wonderful academic life ahead. :)