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Regina Peralta 🇵🇭's avatar

Hi Ria!! So happy seeing this out in the wild, yay! Thank you for sharing the gift that is your writing. :) And belated happy birthday!

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Ria Tagulinao's avatar

Thanks so much Reg for helping me with this!!

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Bea Policarpio's avatar

GIIIIRL

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Ria Tagulinao's avatar

IKR

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Marie C's avatar

I recently went through a similar (if, in many ways that I know and can't possibly know, of course, vastly different) story and have been replaying it in my head, letting it churn out whatever lessons it can while I am still so close to it all. One of them that keeps showing up and is hard for me to accept is the one you just described. It helps to hear it, as many times and through as many stories as possible, as I work to integrate it.

The alchemy of your writing and my experience reading it exemplifies the importance of sharing our words. Thank you, Ria.

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Ria Tagulinao's avatar

It really was a hard, HARD-earned lesson. Forcing myself to revisit it and write about it helped, but at one point I realized that what I needed most to make sense of it all were time and distance from it.

I trust you’ll find your peace, too!

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chrmry's avatar

Oh god I can’t even remember how I woke up, grabbed my ipad, and came across this but I’m still in bed rn, and in a few hours I’ll be meeting my “soulmate.” A meet up I pre-arranged (uncharacteristic of me) cos I’m fully convinced I will never find another man who can sorta meet the most of me? Appreciate the nuances. Felt like your writing found me. Guess I’ll be going on our first meet up a lil more sober lol. A little less eager for affirmation. More presence to see as much as be seen. Thank you so much!

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Ria Tagulinao's avatar

Good luck! The tldr of this piece, the other takeaway that merits its own essay is: someone is not your soulmate if he’s not on the same page as you.

In any case, have faith in your gut and what brings you joy!

Thanks so much for reading :)

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