Merry Christmas to everyone! The year is nearly coming to a close and it forces me to think back at the life I've lived so far. It seems that this year is all about changes - adding some, taking away some. Although I really can't seem to smile over everything, I imagine that everything has a purpose in life. I think of it as Santa Claus' gift for me. He gave a gift or realizations which comes to me in three sayings: What doesn't kill you will make you stronger, growing pains, and change is constant.

Perhaps, it is really true; What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Scientifically, it has been proven that cockroaches have developed immunity over insecticides. When they don't die from the first exposure, they develop an immunity to it and pass it on to their offsprings. Could this be true for human beings? Surely, if it comes to insecticides, it might not really be true. However, emotionally, the idea seems to hold water. I thought that there are some things that are so irreplaceable that I'd die without it but I am still here. I have lost more than things but I am still breathing. My heart still beats strongly. I still smile and laugh a lot. For that, I am truly thankful. I am even thankful for the pain.

Recognizing pain might actually be a good sign. This brings me to growing pains. Once again, scientifically, and this is true for humans, there are two kinds of bone cells: osteoblasts and osteoclasts. One breaks down bones and the other deposits more calcium to make our bone matrix bigger, longer or stronger. It is part of growing. Although it might not really be painful, it is still part of the cycle of creation and destruction. The same thing can be said, perhaps, about our emotional growth. There are some things that we need to undergo so that we may grow. I'd always say, "I am a work in progress." Sometimes, it means that I'd have to get really hurt to learn new lessons about life. This year, I have learned to face those kinds of events and treat them as a lesson from life. It's just a matter of learning it soon enough; if not, life tends to teach us one lesson over and over again until we learn. The pain might just be a marker that we must remember to do the right things or else...

In the end, it all boils down to change - Evolution, as Darwin might put it. Everyday is a new day. Everyday holds something good and bad. I just concentrate on the good most of the time now. As for the bad, I've learned that we must use them and not let it use us. Otherwise, we change into terrible shapes and do terrible deeds; Paulo Coelho said something similar. In a paraphrase, I think he said that when we change for the good, we also change everything around us in the same direction. That is how the Alchemist is able to transform regular metals into gold. I am just thankful for it.

This year, today, Christmas day, I think that I have been given a great gift; more than the Nativity, I received realizations that can help me and life I touch. I am still alive and I am stronger. What did not kill me made me stronger. Painful as it is, pain is a part of growing and in the simplest sense, we change. Hopefully, it is for the better. Change is constant and I just hope that I constantly change to become good, happy, and alive, in every sense of the word. Here's to Christmas. Here's to what Santa brought me this year! Merry Christmas, everyone.