Only a Handful

I am Kevinn Chan and I’m a hoarder. Ideas, experiences, TED Talks, podcasts, books, films, lessons, they all find their place in my cluttered mind. As a result, I would spend most of my free time under what I call “productive overthinking,” in an attempt to collect and organize all these thoughts in my head. I’m sure many people could relate. For me, however, it had come to the point where there was so much I tried to keep in my head that it felt less painful to spend hours putting them down on paper than to keep them unwritten, bouncing around in my brain.

A year ago, I decided that I needed another place to relocate all these thoughts. My conscious mind was getting full. I needed a medium and I knew I wanted to write. But the next question became, do I share them to the public? Do I reveal my thoughts to the rest of the world? At first, writing about my personal life felt like I was being full of myself. The world wouldn’t care, I thought. It felt narcissistic. Maybe it was. But it also felt brave. 

It may have been foolish of me to think that the entire world would care about my life, but it was even more foolish to think that no one would. In the same way, we can admit to ourselves that our lives are more similar than we think, that we’re ordinary, but it takes courage to put this down on ink and to admit it to the rest of the world. And it was on this premise that OnlyAHandful.com (OH) was born. 

Essentially, OH is a personal blog and website dedicated to learning from the everyday and sharing the lessons to anyone who might need them. It is proud to be in partnership with the Daily Guardian, Western Visayas’ most read and respected. Sharing the same Ilonggo roots, it looks forward to contribute to the Guardian’s mission of sharing the Ilonggo story. 

Only A Handful believes in the little things and that real magic lies in seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. Despite the degree to which we can relate to one another and despite the normalcy of most of our days, there is still so much to learn, and the lessons are always worth sharing. These lessons then come in the form of lists (which I call Handfuls), essays, memoirs, short rants, Instagram posts, tweets, and now, entries on the Daily Guardian. 

Stay on the loop by following OH on Facebook (@OnlyAHandful), Instagram (@onlyahandful), and Twitter (@OnlyAHandful_). You may also subscribe via email through OnlyAHandful.com.

Enjoy the Handfuls!