The Mark Experience: Insights, Experiences, and More

There was a time when luxury meant acquiring something new. A new phone. A new gadget. A new car. A new upgrade. Like many people, I once associated progress with accumulation. The latest device wasn't just a device. It felt like a milestone. A symbol of growth. Proof that life was moving forward. And for a while, that made sense. When we're younger, many of our purchases carry meanings far beyond their actual function. They represent achievement. Identity. Belonging. Possibility. We don't just buy things—we buy what they seem to say about our lives. But somewhere along the way, something changed. These days, when I look at my phone, I don't find myself wondering what the next model can do. My first question is much simpler: Does this still do what I need it to do? If the answer is yes, then I'm perfectly fine keeping it. What surprised me wasn't that I stopped getting excited about new things. What surprised me was discovering what excites me now. For years, I...

The call came earlier than most calls do. It was around eight in the morning—too early for casual conversation, too early for small talk. When I saw my ex’s name appear on my phone, I was surprised. We still speak from time to time. Not often, not regularly. But enough to know that life had moved us into a quieter, more mature kind of connection. We had once shared a life. Now we shared occasional conversations. I missed the call, so I sent a message instead. “Ang aga naman. What’s going on?” Seconds later, the phone rang again. I answered, half-expecting a familiar request—perhaps a question about insurance, maybe a proposal he needed help with. That was the kind of practical reason I imagined for a morning call. But instead, I heard him crying. Through the tears he managed to say the words: “My mom passed away.” I froze for a moment and asked him what happened. He told me quietly, almost in disbelief, that his mother had just passed away earlier that morning—around six o’...