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Using the same picture from MIL because its the only one picture I ever took of myself. Woopsies

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My name is Marc Rafael S. Dela Cruz. You can call me Marc, Rafael, Rafi, or Raf, or just whatever you prefer. I was born on May 25, 2008, and am currently 17, turning 18 next year.

The picture above is me. I apologize if I don't have a shirt in the picture, but this was the only picture I ever took of myself. I don't like to take pictures of myself due to personal reasons.

A fact about me is that I don't have any talents, unfortunately. I never really found anything that I excelled in and have a passion towards.

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A Quote I Live By

"Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one." – Bruce Lee

This quote has had a powerful impact on my life. I live by these words every day; in fact, I wear them engraved on a dog tag around my neck. It's more than just a quote to me; it’s a reminder that challenges are not obstacles, but opportunities for growth. Whenever I’m going through tough times, this quote grounds me and helps me push forward. It has shaped the way I view struggle and strength, and it continues to inspire me to become a stronger, more resilient person.

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Becoming a Reserve Lieutenant in the Army

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Embark on the journey of becoming a reserve lieutenant in the army. Take the first step towards a fulfilling and honorable career. #military #army #reservelieutenant

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I don't like studying, it's really boring and it often gives me headaches. It's really annoying, but obviously I still gotta do it. When it comes to group work, I try to do my best and give the best output. I may not like studying, but that doesn't really mean that I'm irresponsible.

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AHGXG Graph Paper Notebook 3 Pack - A5 Grid Spiral Notebook, 100gsm Thick Graph Paper, Transparent Hardcover, for Women School Artist Writing Drawing, 80 Sheets… | Studying math, Study motivation inspiration, School study ideas

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Oct 11, 2024 - Amazon.com : AHGXG Graph Paper Notebook 3 Pack - A5 Grid Spiral Notebook, 100gsm Thick Graph Paper, Transparent Hardcover, for Women School Artist Writing Drawing, 80 Sheets, 5.7"x 8.3", Yellow, Green, Pink : Office Products

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The gym is my only real hobby right now. I don’t go because I particularly want to, I go because I have to. It’s what keeps me grounded. Without it, I honestly don’t know who I’d be today. It gives me structure, purpose, and a sense of control when things feel overwhelming.

I’ve never really considered myself talented. But there was a time when I found something I truly loved: track. I wasn’t the best, but I worked hard and genuinely enjoyed it. I pushed myself to improve and found meaning in the effort. I don’t run anymore, but the drive I had back then still sticks with me in different ways, especially in the gym.

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24 apr 2025 - Questo Pin è stato scoperto da Shaima Bazara. Scopri (e salva) i tuoi Pin su Pinterest.

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There’s a reason I wear a dog tag — and it’s not to look cool. It’s a symbol of the path I want to take. I’m planning to join the Philippine Military Academy (PMA). The discipline, purpose, and service that come with it deeply resonate with me.

To be honest, part of me grew up wanting to be like John Wick — not in the violent sense, but in the way he moves with purpose and strength. I’ve always been drawn to doing things for the right reasons, to stand for something greater than myself.

Whatever God’s plan is for me, I’m ready to follow it with all my heart. If PMA doesn’t work out, I’ll pursue psychology, another path where I can still serve and make a difference in people’s lives.

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I am just a person doing my best to live in God’s image. I strive every day to become the best version of myself — not for recognition, but out of love and obedience to Him. I want to walk away from sin, even when it’s difficult, and choose what is right over what is easy. I don’t have it all figured out, but I’ve made my choice:

I am a soldier of Christ, and I will follow Him for the rest of my life.

"We are made strong not to boast, but to carry what others can’t. I trust God’s plan — even when it’s heavy."

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Jun 21, 2025 - This Pin was discovered by 𝕱𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖆𝖘𝖞ᵀᵐ. Discover (and save!) your own Pins on Pinterest

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Learning to Stand Alone
I’ve always been alone, and I still am. But I’m not afraid to admit it, because being alone has brought me peace.

Am I happy this way? Yes. Right now, I only have a few close friends, maybe three. But that’s enough. I’ve faced every challenge, every experience, and every hardship on my own. I didn’t have a pillar to lean on, no one to turn to — so I became my own.

Through solitude, I found strength. I learned how to rely on myself, how to stay grounded, and most importantly, how to be truly happy even when I’m alone.

" If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company."

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I am an ISTP - T. I have mixed feelings about the personality type I got, which is ISTP. I always thought I was an INTP because I would scroll through Pinterest, and the MBTI personality type that stood out to me and resonated with me was INTP. I do think that ISTP and INTP have similarities, such as relying on oneself, being logical with decisions, being very adaptable in situations, and being introverted, but I really do think that I am an INTP. The reason why I am leaning more towards being an INTP is because, in the past, I did lots of research about this personality type, and I found out that these types tend to be analytical, very disconnected, kind of overthinkers, the way they are with friendships, and being rational with decisions. These detailed descriptions align remarkably well with my self-perception and personal tendencies. It's not that I have a personality disorder; I do think that your personality or your MBTI specifically changes depending on the people around you or the people you're with. Furthermore, it's very important to note that MBTI should not be taken to heart because it's not one’s whole personality. It's something that makes one discover themselves, such as why the way they are and other things. In conclusion, I agree that I am an ISTP-T but also an INTP-T, which may alternate or switch randomly or depending on the people I am with

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Hello future Marc Rafael,

I hope you graduated from SHS even college if you are reading this at a later time in the future. You look like you have grown a lot. It must have been an interesting experience full of ups and downs but I know you handled it yourself. I bet you still go workout, after all it wasn't just a physical thing, it was more of spiritual thing for us. You look stronger and, after bulking for so many years, did you get what you want? Do you still go through everything alone? If you still do, remember the promise you made to yourself, you are the strongest person I know, you went through all this way without anybody and because of this, you found out how to stand alone. You became independent. I am proud, whoever you are now, whatever you may be, wherever you are, I am always proud of you. Be strong and achieve your dreams, I want you to become a person who can love and be proud of himself.

Sincerely yours, Rafi 2025.

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PT1: My Senior High School Journey (My Developmental Stages)

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PT1: My Senior High School Journey (My Developmental Stages)

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I was born at May 25, 2008. I think it was around 8pm that day, at least that is what my mother said. To be honest, I don't really remember anything during this stage. All I could remember was me eating lots of food. I selected this photo I got from pinterest because I think it resonates with how all of us experienced infancy, its not like we saw nothing, but we saw a light that took care of us always, fed us, and made us happy. The light symbolizes our parents in a world where everything we did, we did not know.

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Well, as you know, I did state that I ate lots of food. Well this was me when I was around 2-3 years old. I was a very fat kid. I remember loving toys and specially loving that mini car that moves when you swerve it side to side. I loved playing toys during this stage. I also learned how to talk during this stage since my parents taught me. I was a very curious child and I always tried to explore everything especially food.

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I was a quite jolly kid during this time. I loved kid movies and me and my brother would always rewatch them like 5-10 times. I wasnt like a kid that had a phone so I had no idea those stuff actually existed. To be honest, I didnt really go out of the house because there was no one to play with outside so it was just and me and my brother playing with toys inside the house. One of the best times of my life.

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In this stage from around Grade 1 to Grade 4, I was very clingy with my mom. Since she was a teacher in our school, I would always just stay at the faculty. Because of this, I barely had any friends except the kids in the faculty. But when I started with Grade 5, I started to become more sociable, I opened up to people and then during Grade 6, thats when I met one of my best friends who although were not that close now, I still appreciate that guy a lot. I was a very smart kid, always the only boy that is honor in my classes. I loved math a lot because it was just so interesting and very fun to understand. I also really loved boy scouts, it was one of my passions since I loved camping outside and just connecting with nature without any gadgets. The picture I am showing above is me in the track and field team in elementary. Before I found out about this passion, I loved racing my friends in the faculty and I realized that I was kind of fast. With this, I went to the tryouts to join the team, and to no surprise I got in. I continued this passion from Grade 5 to Grade 6 until the pandemic hit.

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This was when the pandemic hit. I was very alone during the earlier stage of my adolescence. This was when I explored the beliefs I wanted to follow, this was when I truly tried to understand myself. The earlier stages were very dark for me as it caused me to understand the reality of things and truly delve into each corner of my mind. The image shown above is part of my middle adolescence where althought I didnt understand myself that much, I had made a lot of progress in it. I made a lot of friends, and met another one of my best friends who actually stayed until now and is one of the people whom I trust the most. Lastly is the late stage of my adolescence which is now in SHS. I learned a lot about mysel and finally understood the environment I wanted to be in. I let go of people whom I think wouldnt be logical to be with, I specially didnt like people who like to gossip a lot, I didnt like people who didnt try to make progress for their future, and lastly, I didnt like people who were fake on the outside. I let go of those specific people. And because of this, I met my girlfriend whom I love very much and gave me a lot of growth. The people that stayed with me during this stage was my bestfriend, my girlfriend, and just a couple of friends outside and inside of the classroom. I finally understood myself and it gave me a lot of growth especially in the values and beliefs I follow now.

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The stressors that contribute to the level of stress I have, which is 4, are mostly due to academic and interpersonal problems. Academics and school projects can be very stressful for me because I tend to have no time to do them due to my having a set schedule that involves my extracurricular and outside activities, and our home being very far away from the school, which causes me to lose 2 hours dedicated to studying. Next, interpersonal relationships tend to be very stressful because I have a girlfriend, and because of this, I have to balance everything from my academics to talking with her, etc. Overall, my level of stress is kind of low because I am not really affected by these stressors due to my being calm most of the time. I try to get rid of the stress immediately when I encounter it, which makes it easier for me to manage stress.

PHYSICAL

-For physical, I usually get more acne and pimples on my face and body

-But I get stronger in performance for exercise

MENTAL/EMOTIONAL

-Mentally, I am not really affected because when I am stressed, all I can think about is how to get rid of that stress, so;

-I will look for solutions regarding that specific stressor

BEHAVIORAL

-For behavioral effects, I think my focus in classes or paying attention decreases due to me being bothered on how to solve that stressor

COPING STRATEGIES

Firstly, I go exercise every other day, such as going to the gym or going for a run, this helps me empty my mind so that I can think clearly on how to get rid of specific stressors. Next, I also like to play games, especially when I get bored with studying or just generally bored. I usually play Roblox and just chill so that I won't have to think about that stressor. It's not really negative to me because I regulate my playtime.. Lastly, I accept things I cannot change. Accepting things that we can not change makes it very easy to get rid of that stress, unless there is a possible solution to it. For strategies, I want to be able to manage my time efficiently because I am a procrastinating person; this makes it easier for me to manage all my stressors.

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1. When I encounter conflict, I try to respond by getting rid of the specific conflict that has been bothering me.

2. When I feel anxious or nervous, it helps me better if I control what is on my mind and get rid of the thoughts that make me anxious or nervous.

3. I find it challenging to manage my emotions when I am distracted, so I cannot focus on what is bothering me.

4. When someone shares their feelings with me, I feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed, as I am not the type of person who gives advice well.

5. One way I practice empathy is by trying my best to understand someone who is sharing their feelings with me. 6. A time when I recognized someone else's emotions was when I had certain conversations with my parents or relationships that were kind of deep.

7. Emotional intelligence helps me understand my emotions when I feel overwhelmed when I do not understand my feelings.

8. I can improve my emotional regulation by being calm when trying to control or regulate my emotions, and try to think rationally and logically at all times.

9. I think emotional intelligence is important because it is one of the foundations of life and one of the most important things to live a stable and happy life.

10. I believe that developing emotional intelligence can lead to a better understanding of myself and others.

When I went through a difficult time, my emotions affected me, and at some point, they controlled me, where I couldn't manage them anymore. It affected my situation, making it worse, since it felt like I was self-sabotaging myself. At some point, I found out how to manage my emotions when I finally understood what was causing that uneasy feeling. When I understood, I got rid of that feeling and tried to be more productive and happy, and that was when I finally learned how to manage my emotions. With understanding my emotions, I wasn't swayed by the negative things that were happening to me, and I always tried to be positive and happy.

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Creating this mind map made me reflect on what things benefit me, especially regarding studying. This can make me better care for my growth as a whole person because it makes me understand myself better. Through this visual presentation of my studying habits and other factors that may affect my learning, I am able to use this information to factor out things I do not want to have in the most optimal learning environment. Overall, this can make me grow as a whole person because it helps me understand myself and makes me learn about factors that I should have to be good at studying and learning overall.

I can apply what I have discovered about my thinking style, so I can pursue MAGIS in my study habits by improving this and understanding specifically how I can improve it. For example, I have a designated time for myself and studying. To pursue MAGIS, I must make sure that I have the time to actually finish all my assignments and study everything I need. This pursues MAGIS in my daily habits because I ensure that my life is balanced. This also helps in my responsibilities as an Atenean because, through this, I can help my community or group to have the best output because I can do my work responsibly and on time.

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Purple and White Simple Page Border Double-Sided Poster A3 Landscape

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Well, for my family, obviously, you already love them since the day you were born; they were the ones who took care of me, and I actually just feel generally comfortable being with them. I love my girlfriend, she is the person I talk to the most, she listens to my yappings a lot, and I actually just love spending time with her, I feel very fulfilled when we spend time together. And lastly, my best friend, he is my best friend, still in grade 9, we rarely talk, but I know we still have that bond together because he is just like a brother to me. I would say that they all hold a special place in my heart, and although I feel a different type of love for each of them, that is still love.

I learned the basics of love and relationships from my family, such as what to look for in a relationship, and finding my meaning of love. My family was the one who helped me develop that perspective on love and relationships. My best friend taught me that love isn't really about just attraction and intimacy stuff, but sometimes it can actually be because you guys share the same mindset, share the same perspective on life. Lastly, my girlfriend taught me about love in general, how it truly feels to love someone, how it feels to share that same feeling with someone, how it is to truly care for someone, and how they also care for you back. She was the one who solidified my meaning of love.

The type of love, according to Robert Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love I have for my family and best friend is companionate love. I say this because I have a strong bond with these people, and we are also committed to each other in a way that we maintain the relationship we have. The type of love I have for my girlfriend, I would say, is definitely gonna be consummate love. I say this because all three components exist, we have a strong bond together and mutual liking, I am attracted to her physically and emotionally, and we have a decision to stay together and maintain the relationship we have.

The emotions I usually feel when I am with these people are generally happy. I enjoy being with them. I am usually not the type of person to speak that much unless I'm really in the mood, but they respect that preference of mine. I feel comfortable with their presence, and I like spending quality time with them, talking and doing things together. With these people, I feel loved and valued.

These people were able to influence me into the person I am now by developing my mindset. Firstly, my family taught me the things I need to follow and gave me the values I uphold today, such as avoiding vices and my perspective on life. My best friend taught me that my interests were normal and I could actually find someone with literally just the same interests as me. Me and him are basically just the same person, just with a different name and appearance. And lastly, my girlfriend truly helped me understand that although we have some differences, you don't need similarities to truly love someone. She taught me the meaning of love since I really didn't understand it. I thought love was just a word that people say, but I found the meaning of it being with her. All of these people have helped me grow into the person I am now, they have helped me build my values and helped me establish my meaning of life.

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To be completely honest, I don't have anything that I wish my family would stop doing because I think of everything they make me do as part of my growth. My parents have established this type of thinking ever since I was a child, they always made me try and do new things, hard or easy. I have set this mindset already in my head, so instead of thinking of it as something negative, I always try to look at the positive side and tell myself that doing these things may help me grow and find something I can be passionate about.

The things my family has done that I am grateful for are that sometimes these new things that they make me and my brother try to become a little bit forceful. I am obviously grateful for the new experience, but sometimes that thing just does not align with me, and if I really like it. For example, taking PMA or PNPA tests, I am not quite sure if I really want to get in there or but maybe it was because my mind was molded ever since that I have to get in there to live a successful life. I am not sure if I want to pursue a life in the military or live a college life pursuing psychology which I also am quite unsure of. I am grateful that they give opportunities but sometimes those opportunities, I am not really sure about.

I am grateful for all the support that they have given me, it's something I am very grateful for and want to keep forever. My parents always supported what I wanted to do, may it be my sports, my passions, or what I want to do. They let me try new things because they think that it is something that I can find as fun and something that I want to pursue. They are very open to opportunities and they always want me to take it, if I want to. My family truly wants me to become the best version of myself and wants to make a me into a better person than them.

Recognizing both the challenges and blessings with my family helps me grow as a person by giving me a stronger mentality for the future. This stronger mentality gives me the ability to be able to handle anything I encounter and makes me aim to become the best version of myself or someone who strives for MAGIS. It prepares me to face the future on my own, becoming a person who pursues the greater good always. I believe the way they raised me strengthened my conscience, as even when I encounter a chance to cheat or gain an advantage in the wrong way, I never take that chance because I think going through hard work truly builds me into a better person mentally, and that hard work is something I can learn from. Also, these challenges and blessings can help me practice cura personalis with my family because understanding these, I can cherish my family members by showing them care and compassion. I understand that people are imperfect and flawed but even with that I always try to see the best in my family because I become a better person from it. I am very grateful for the challenges and blessings that they have given me because I was able to grow in the person I am now.

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Overall Reflection of Personal Development

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Overall Reflection of Personal Development

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The subject of personal development was actually very helpful for me, to the point that I would say it is necessary in today's education. It helped me understand what I needed and what I didn't need, made me appreciate things I have right now, and made me really open my eyes to reality. My key takeaways are that you have to prioritize yourself always, love yourself because that way everything will come your way, and understand everything much better. My two favorite topics were probably mental health and personal and social relationships. These topics were very fun and interesting but also quite relateable.