Just Love Yourself – Learning Life Lessons from Maine Mendoza

{Taken from her blog post, "NICOMAINE-CHELLA," written by Maine Mendoza. (mainemendoza.com)} "We are all together in this rollercoaster-ride-kind-of-journey; through ups and downs, through thick and thin. No matter how hard things may seem and get, we are all in this together. I love you all." – Maine Mendoza on her message to her fans and to you My Points Today's generation, Mostly known as "The Millennials," always thinks of something that actually just for themselves, and only for themselves. Not for the others whom they care and cherished for a long time. So when I read Maine Mendoza's recent blog post that's posted on their Facebook page of AlDub fans club (facebook.com/aldenandyayadub) about her surprise #Mainechella birthday party, most including in the part where she shared her self-anxiety and deep shyness in her 18th birthday, my thoughts in my mind were like, "Kaya pala ganito si Menggay, Hindi niya na-achieve dati ang 18th birthday na ganito dahil ang baba ng self-esteem niya sa sarili niya. Now, look at what she faced today. She had experienced not just a simple party, but a party full of unexpected surprises. Yet she is still down-to-earth and happy as she also does on camera." Her lesson to all of us is to not just "Love our neighbors," (as it was clearly said to the Bible.) Nor friends or your close members of your family, or even your crush or your boyfriend or even your husband (as you get older, of course.) The best, and I think a better way to be the new you is just Love yourself. I repeat, LOVE YOURSELF COMPLETELY. Why you need to love yourself completely? Because the scars, the pain, the hurt, the shame, the guiltness, and the poor confidence that you had when you're a child still keeps you haunted until you grow older. When your find something that will make your dimmed heart begin to lighten up, You increase your all-around confidence, you will boost up the self-esteem that you once lost. And you will find the courage, the strength, the positivity, and the faith to show to the world who you are today. No matter what they try to say to you, Be at rest to know that you are now Restored. Healed. Braver. Stronger. Brighter. More Shining than ever before. And as what our Miss Universe 2015, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach say,You can be "Confidently Beautiful with a Heart." :-* Maine's Real Story "Until now I still could not believe that I just had an incredible birthday celebration. Never in my life have I ever imagined that someone would throw a grand party for me. I have always desired to have a birthday party as fancy and grandiose like this. It was something that I thought I’d never experience my whole life- unless I become terribly rich or a celebrity. I don’t know but for some reason I want some events in my life to be grand, considering the fact that I hate big celebrations. Perhaps it’s because I want to experience some things that I only see on television and prove that it could also happen in reality my life." "Just a quick story.. When I celebrated my 18th debut party, it wasn’t as fancy as I wanted it to be. Honestly, it was not the kind of debut I truly wanted. I was not satisfied with how things turned out, but during that time there was nothing I could do- I was wishing for something very impractical. Although my desired candy land theme was achieved, there was something more than I wanted. I wanted everything to be spectacular; the invitations, the food, the gown I am wearing, the venue set-up etc. I wanted everything to be epic; I wanted everything to turn out exactly the way I imagined it to be. But no, we were not able to carry out my 18th-birthday-party-desires. Still and all, I absolutely had a blast during my party." "Can you imagine how lucky I am to be where I am right now? I don’t think what happened to me and my life 8 months ago commonly happens in real life- no, it doesn’t. I actually sometimes think if someone else-out of 7 billion people in this world- have experienced magical like this. (I need to Google it!) Seriously though, what happened to me was phenomenal. Again I repeat, I am talking about what happened to me, and not me. God must be working His magic on me and I must be very lucky; not because of the fame or the money, but because aside from making my ultimate dream come true, He bestowed me with great people who will join me along my journey." "Let me confess this to all of you, before the surprise party I honestly didn’t think that I have that much supporters. Believe me or not, the number of avid supporters I used to have in my mind was more or less than 25. (I am not kidding!) Perhaps it is because I was always-and will always be-in denial that there are actually people who admires and supports me wholeheartedly for I truly am. It is something that’s hard for me to believe.. I mean, why would people like me? When I, myself, see nothing to like about. Ewan ko.. I feel like nothing can really change the way I look at myself. I used feel like a useless piece of crap-I felt like there is nothing good I could do- and it made me feel awful at time. (That could be the reason why I am not affected by all the bashing I get, because they look at me exactly the way I look at myself.) For the past twenty years, I’ve always been clouded with negativity. I’ve always hit life back with “No, I can’t” more than “I can and I will”. I can’t blame myself, I got used to seeing the dark side of things which made me cycnical. It’s hard for me to explain as to why I became like this for I never really experienced something terrible in my life. I think it is safe to say that it’s all about mindset and perspective. No matter how hard I try to uplift myself, I always ended up failing and sulking. And it’s just now that I am slowly beginning to switch to being optimistic. I am training my mind to look at the bright side of things (though I still fail at times!) That’s the best thing I could do to keep up with this life. I’d say it’s not me who makes me feel good about myself but the people around me; the people who love and care for me yes, they exist, and they are not just twenty five." Her Say to the Bashers? "Always keep in mind, just because this certain basher’s Twitter name has the initials of any group does not mean they are a member of it. Anybody could make an account and pretend to be the “biggest fan” of somebody then start saying bad things and make up bad stories about other people. Starting a fight with those kind of individuals would never be worthwhile-save your time and ignore them-never give them the attention they thirst for and the satisfaction they itch for. Save your skin from the damaging acids from the mouths of these toxic people. Some haters even claim to be a fan of who they are hating on, then they’ll go start talking sh** on social media accounts, for they know that the way they conduct themselves would reflect on their “idol’s” character. Demolition is as easy and simple as that. Do not be achieved." “The only thing more frustrating than slanderers is those foolish enough to listen to them.” – Criss Jami "It’s not everyday you meet people who’d appreciate your existence. It’s not everyday you meet people who’d proudly shout to the world how much they love and admire you." – Maine Mendoza "When times are good, be happy; when times are bad consider this: God has made the one as well as the other." – Ecclesiastes 7:14 "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." – Joshua 1:9 "Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins." – 1 Peter 4:8 "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." – 1 Corinthians 13:7