It was that humid, after-rain type of morning when I left our house to go to the second BDJ Rendezvous that I’ll be attending as a Bella last August 23rd. After series of consultation with my sister on what footwear should I match my red and white sweater top and checkered pleated skirt, I hurried to the van stop to SM Megamall.

I have had such great times attending previous BDJ events that I know I would go home with my mind full of new ideas and knowledge and if lucky enough a loot bag in my hand. Indeed I didn’t go home empty handed this time, thanks to BDJ and their partner brands. Most especially, I went home inspired and the artsy side of me fired up.

From BDJ Rendezvous: Art of Now to anyone reading this blog post, I hope to use my perks of being a Bella to share what inspired me most during the event. To give justice to my fired up artsy self, I have prepared simple posters showing the ideas of each talk.

1st Talk: Art of Creativity
Speakers: Maan Agsalud and Roma Agsalud of Common Room PH

“If you want to start today, you won’t be successful tomorrow.”

My most favorite word of wisdom from the event and the most striking as well. Maan and Roma are sisters and they founded Common Room PH which is an art and craft business that took years in the making. The thought may seem negative in the surface. In fact, at the instance I heard it, I got quite confused. Oftentimes we associate “START” with “SUCCESS” and this quote negates it. But as Roma further explained, “TODAY” and “TOMORROW” came to clearer view. Success does not happen overnight. Hence, even if we want to start today, we will face a lot of challenges along the way before we reach success and it will take a lot of tomorrows. We just have to focus on the most important aspect, “Start!” Sooner or later, success will follow. We just have to start and keep going. Failed? Start again. Failed multiple times? Only you can limit yourself. Learn from mistakes and move on. The harder the work, the greater the victory.

“Why?” Why not?

Another striking remark. Sometimes I would have ideas that for me were so great but when I tell people about it, they’d think it’s impossible or I was joking. Making me think like so too. Those three words made me realized that the fault is on me this time. All these ideas wasted because I let other people’s opinions affect my mindset just like that. I so easily lose grip on the things I spent nights contemplating on just because other people thought it won’t work.This time I know better, I’ll gather all my ideas in a journal no matter how impossible or funny or great they may seem, and whatever remark I may receive, I won’t let them slip away that easily now. Instead, I’ll take their opinions as suggestions and additional details to making my ideas work. Because if we really want something, we must make all means to achieve it. Take criticisms constructively and strive to improve. After all, we need to step backward before we can take a leap.

“Learn what you need to learn to make this life work.”

As starters with no entrepreneurial/accounting/fine arts background, Roma and Maan had their family as inspiration to start their business. They are the two eldest of their parents’ children so when they finally started working, they had to help their parents provide for the younger, studying ones. Life is tough most of the time and having a job doesn’t automatically guarantee an easy life. That’s when they founded their first online shop Pop.Junk.Love as a sideline to get extra income. With P5,000.00 as their starting budget, they took the leap and started this journey called online selling. It was not easy, especially to someone who have no background in business. But they know they have to do it. So despite the challenges, they managed to make their little business grow. They researched on latest trends, studied which age bracket they sell to most and aligned their products to these people’s demands. They also used their mistakes as guides to their following steps which for me is very important because in business — and in life as well— experience teaches us more than schoolbooks and mistakes are part of those experience. Whatever you have now, use it to your potential and make the most out of it.

2nd Talk: Quest to Wellness
Speaker: Nikki Torres of PrettyDartFit.com

“Life happens everyday, and it is a journey.”

Often we would decide to get into shape or eat healthy because we’re either preparing for a special event in our life, preparing to get in shape for summer or wants to rock that crop top that is currently on trend. Forgetting that the most special event that we have to prepare for happens everyday and that is our life. We must aim to be healthy as a lifestyle and not just for a short-term period. And getting fit and healthy must be part of our life journey.

“Pay attention to things you love doing.”

As much as we would like to discipline ourselves from getting too much calories and whatnot, it is also important that we enjoy choosing the healthy lifestyle and not feel forced to do it. Our quest to wellness must not be too boring that we eventually lose interest in it. Enjoy your usual habits while observing your wellness condition. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Listen to music during workout, have a reasonable cheat day, jog to hunt a Pokemon, replace chips with fruits and veggies as snacks while playing online games. Just because we chose to live a healthier life doesn’t mean we have to let go of the things that we enjoy.

3rd Talk: Brand You-nique
Speakers: Isa Garcia and Bea Vergara

“What do I value? What are the things that are important to me?”

This is one of the 3 questions presented by as they talk about being oneself genuinely.
For me, I value my family and closest friends most. I can live on an island with them and still be content and happy. I live for my family and I aspire to give them an easy life. My closest friends are few but I know they are the realest. They inspire me in so many aspects.

“Do I want to be liked or do I want to be authentic?”

At first I was “Of course, I want to be authentic. All of us do, right?” During this portion though, at the back of my mind I saw myself laying on my bed browsing through Facebook and Instagram, I want to post something but I struggle to think of a witty caption. I carefully choose from my bunch of selfies and food porn pics which ones looks most likely to gain more likes. I realized then, that a part of me, though I initially want to be authentic, wanted to be liked as well. During the talk, I realized that it’s not so bad. But still, our life must not be dictated by the likes and approval of others. Just like the old saying, “Dance as if no one is watching.”“What kind of person do I want to become?”

And again, I saw an image in my head at the appearance of this question. But this time it’s not me but my younger sister. She’s 14 and I want to be the person that will serve as a role model for her. Flawed, stubborn at times, shy at first, not that smart but honest with what she feels, values herself and chooses the right friends to be with. I admit that as of this writing, I have yet to unfold what the future holds for me but this one is certain, I want to become the person that my family would be happy to have.

4th Talk: Style that Defines
Speaker: Nicole Andersson

“Don’t dress to pretend to be someone else.”

This one punched my cosplay self in the face too hard. I actually literally dress to pretend to be someone else when I cosplay. But I know that’s a different story so let’s just say that I just really want to mention that I’m a cosplayer and I’ve mentioned it already so let’s move on. Among the four talks, I enjoyed Nicole’s the most. With her sitting comfortably in a chair at the stage, a simple Powerpoint presentation as guide to her topics, it seemed as if she’s just that leader-type girl of the squad and all of us Bellas are her BFF’s willing to listen to whatever she has to say. I really enjoyed her talk I forgot to jot down her statements. To actually only afford two. This one really stuck to me because like I’ve said, I’ve been dressing as another person for fun that is cosplay but in real life, I think I only strive to do so for a few times but gave up easily because I was achieving a style in between a Korean and Japanese girly outfits while I’m a fat girl with big boobs and large eyes. I’m not degrading my looks or anyone with the same characteristics as mine, okay? I’m just saying that there really are some pegs that won’t go with a certain body type and I learned more of that at Art of Now. Also, even though I can’t achieve that look, I can say that I am comfortable with my clothes now compared to when I was hoarding floral, above the knee length dresses and lolita shoes. The most important thing still is that we should be comfortable with what we are wearing and not to force a style just because it’s trendy. Other styles might look cute on someone but unflattering to you. Same goes with your own style might not be suitable for somebody else. Now, the key is to know your body type, research, make a mood board, know what really is stylish yet comfortable for you. And work from there. But don’t forget to experiment on new looks as well so won’t get stuck in a single or a couple styles only.“Find your strengths.”

Know what type of clothing best fits you and use that as base to explore other combinations. And of course, if you know your body type, you’ll know which part to flaunt and which ones to hide while still being comfortable in it. Document your most GGSS* looks for reference. Enhance what needed to be enhanced and work on what to be improved. Find inspiration on people with the same body type and style as yours. Feel beautiful inside and out!

Now, that’s all for my TL;DR post. I hope I was able to impart what I’ve learned through BDJ Rendezvous: Art of Now. To more BDJ events! <3

The speaker’s photos used are from BDJ’s Official Facebook Page.

*GGSS = Gandang Ganda Sa Sarili; that moment when your overall outfit looks and feels so right that you feel so beautiful than the usual 😀