New Day, New Blog: A Story Close to My Heart an Introductory Post

Hello, Hive family!

I’m Seth, and I’m so excited (and a little nervous) to finally be here. I may be new — but my heart is full of stories I’ve been waiting to share.

Let me start with the one that shaped everything:

The story of where I come from, and why I keep going.

I wasn’t raised by my biological parents.

When I was just a month old, they entrusted me to my grandparents — not because they didn’t love me, but because their jobs left them with no time to care for a newborn.

That’s when my lola and lolo stepped in… and became my world.

I grew up in a small town, in a simple house, living a quiet life — but one filled with love, purpose, and dreams much bigger than our walls.

It wasn’t a life of luxury — but it was a life of warmth, values, and grace.

My grandparents raised me with patience, prayer, and all the love they had.

They weren’t just my guardians.
They were, and still are, my home.

As a kid, I was always chasing one thing: their smile.

I studied hard and gave my best — not to impress the world, but to make them proud.

🏅 I graduated as Salutatorian
📜 Placed 3rd in Filipino Feature Writing
🎖️ Consistently earned High Honors

Each medal wasn’t just an award — it was a thank-you note I couldn’t say out loud.

Now, I’m in college, taking BS in Applied Mathematics.

Far from home.

Living alone.

Still chasing that dream… but stumbling more than I expected.

College hit me hard.

My hands ache from solving endless problem sets.

My eyes blur reading slides from a small phone screen.

My back hurts. My mind spins.
And the confidence I used to have? Sometimes it disappears without warning.

There are days I feel like the “achiever” in me is slipping away. Like I’m slowly losing the version of me that once made people proud.

But I’m still here. Still fighting.

When I was at my lowest — mentally, emotionally, spiritually — God whispered to my heart:

“This is not the end of you.”

That changed everything.

Even through the heartbreaks, failures, and silent battles, He kept filling me with just enough strength to stand.

He reminded me:

“You have a purpose. Don’t stop.”

Though I live far from my grandparents now, I carry them with me in every step.

When I feel like giving up, I think of my lola’s white hair, my lolo’s wrinkled hands, their tired but loving eyes…

And I remember:

I am their hope.

I don’t just fight for myself anymore.

I fight for the two people who gave me a chance at life.

Yes, my biological parents are alive.

No, we’re not a broken family. They support us financially, and I hold no bitterness toward them.

I also have a sister, but we were raised separately — she with our parents, me with our grandparents. Still, we’re family. And I love them all the same.

I don’t live a grand life.

But I live with faith, fire, and fierce love.

Even though I come from a small place,I believe God is writing something big for me.

With His guidance — and my grandparents’ love as my light — I’ll keep going. I’ll succeed. I’ll make them proud.

I first learned about Hive through @antonette’s post.

Something about it just clicked with me — a space to express myself freely and connect with real people? That’s all I’ve ever wanted.

I reached out to her, and she patiently walked me through the platform — from the rules to the culture, and how things work. One thing that really stuck with me was Hive’s stand on authenticity.

I now understand that AI-generated content is strictly prohibited, and I respect that completely.

This blog, and every blog I post after this, comes genuinely from me — my thoughts, my heart, and my story.

While I do enhance my images using Canva, all photos I use are either personally taken or edited by me to improve presentation — nothing more.

Thank you for reading, Hive.

If you connected with this story or have one of your own — I’d love to hear it.

Let’s grow together in this journey of real stories and real people. 💛