10/06/2026
| LITERARY
The streets are busy. People keep getting on and off the ride. The city lights blur against the glass. The stoplight has 45 seconds left before it turns green. And somehow, in the middle of all that noise, there’s this silence inside your chest — enough for you to hear the questions you cannot even say out loud.
“Saan ba talaga ako papunta?”
“Tama pa ba ’tong pinasok ko?”
“Ito ba talaga gusto ko?”
“Kaya ko pa ba?”
Have you ever ridden a jeepney, a bus, or a tricycle, quietly staring outside the window with no idea where exactly life is taking you?
Sometimes, college feels exactly like that — a long, exhausting ride toward a destination we once dreamed of reaching.
At first, the journey feels exciting. You carry your dreams lightly in your hands as you enter a new environment. You walk through unfamiliar hallways, imagining the future version of yourself — successful, fulfilled, and proud of who you became.
But no one warns you about what happens in the middle of the ride.
No one talks about the nights when exhaustion becomes heavier than motivation. The moments when you sit silently in front of unfinished projects, too tired to continue but too afraid to stop. The days when self-doubt sits beside you like an unwanted passenger. And the terrifying pressure of trying not to disappoint the people waiting for us at the finish line.
The hardest part is that life does not pause for you just because you are tired.
The deadlines continue. The expectations remain. The journey moves forward even when your heart feels left behind.
Ngunit sa gitna nito, hindi ka pa pwedeng pumara sa gitna ng biyahe dahil hindi pa rito ang iyong patutunguhan.
People often romanticize dreams because maybe they only see the destination. They see the diploma, the applause, the title after your name, the achievements posted online. But they never see the person quietly breaking themselves apart just to get there. The fear of becoming a disappointment. The guilt of resting. The loneliness of carrying burdens no one else notices because you learned how to smile through it all.
Students are brave for choosing to continue the ride even when they no longer know how far the destination is. Even when the road becomes bumpy. Even when they silently question if the dream is still worth chasing.
Because deep inside every student is a small, fragile hope whispering —
“Sige lang. Konting tiis pa. Darating din tayo roon.”
So to everyone silently staring outside the window of their own journey, carrying battles nobody knows about…
Tara, sakay.
Kumapit nang mahigpit.
Byaheng patungo sa pangarap.
Mapagod man.
Maligaw man.
Huminto man sandali.
Basta huwag kalimutang magpatuloy, at higit sa lahat, huwag bumaba sa gitna ng daan.
Written by K-Ann Lim, Sinag Staffer
Art by Alfred Aguilar, Sinag Staffer
