Start. Again.

Dear 2022,

Ito na naman tayo...blog nanaman...sa panahon na hindi na uso ang blog. Hahaha!

But this time I am doing this for me. No intended audience - or maybe my kids when I pass.

This blog is for me so I can figure myself out. I know I will always be a work-in-progress but at 46 I should no longer feel lost. At midlife I should have figured out what I stand for and not be swayed so easily by others.

This blog is for me so I can write without no one peering over my shoulder or waiting for a draft or giving their opinion. I know I can write but I stopped writing - worse, I don't think I've enjoyed writing in the longest time. So this blog is so I can shake off the cobwebs and write - or at least write more than the usual emails and letters related to work.

There are no themes. Minsan magtatagalog ako. This will be a mess - but it's my mess. And in moving my mess from my mind onto these pages I hope that I gain clarity, intention, inspiration, and progress in my life.

Let's do this...

The 52 Book Club's 2021 Reading Challenge

 

Hey, Friend!

This is so exciting! The 52 Book Club just came out with the 2021 Reading Challenge and they have such interesting prompts! I have a few books listed already for some of them.

Oh but wait! I don't get to read a lot of books each year. Somehow I get lost in the rabbit hole of social media and streaming sites and I end up reading 4 books in the year...if I'm lucky. But that doesn't stop me from trying every single year to read more and to do better. That's just how it is.

So in 2021 am I going to read 52 books? Of course not! There's a lot of things that's going to happen next year (and I will share more as they actually start to happen) that I think will get in the way of reading but it's always a good thing to get excited over a TBR pile, right? 😁

Aside from that, this is a wonderful opportunity to tackle the many, many unread books that I have at home. And let's add my ebooks and audiobooks to that, shall we? Who knows, I might read more than four books in 2021. 😉

Looking forward to cozy reading...

'Tis the Night Before School Starts

Hey, Friend.

Tomorrow there will be five of us logged onto the internet. Jay and I logged on for work, and Iya, Sary, and Jesse logged on for their online class orientation. This is going to be a new experience for everyone and we are going to put our internet service provider to the test. And that's not the only thing that will be tested. Also to be challenged is our patience with technology, with each other, and with ourselves.

Yesterday I said I wanted August to be a month where I was more present, more mindful. Well, today wasn't one of those present and mindful days. Tomorrow might be better. Plus it's time to start reading again and walking at home. Exercising both mind and body seems to be essential these days in order to survive.

Tomorrow is a new day. Hopefully one that is better than today.

Here's hoping for the best...

August, Please Be Kind

Screenshot of one of my entries in
DayCount.

Hey, Friend.

It’s the first day of August. 145 days since the world stopped. At least that’s what it seemed to me. What we thought was a week of class and work suspension because of an unfamiliar virus has turned into almost five months of working at home due to a global pandemic. While some of my other friends have been busy and productive doing art, kid-friendly activities, cooking, baking…I think I’ve been running on auto-pilot.

Yes, I’ve cooked a bit, learned to make puto from a mix, done lots and lots of interpreting work, managed to keep things going with work, but if you ask me how I did it I don’t have any recollection. Auto-pilot. Mindfulness was not my thing these past months. Plus for every whatever I’ve done that you would think was productive, I’d have a list of tasks that I have yet to attend to. Even now just thinking about that list is starting to put me on edge.

But it’s the first day of August and I’d like to be more present this month. More deliberate with what I do with my time and where I put my energy into. Less of multitasking and more of concentrating on one task at a time. I know doing several things at the same time is something many people can do but it’s time for me to accept that I am not one of those people and when I decide I am going to be doing something then I need all my attention on that. This is my intention for this month.

Oh, and August, please cooperate with me on this one, it’s been an exhausting 145 days. Please be kind.

Trying to keep it together...

33 Days

Hey, Friend.

On the afternoon of March 9, a Monday, we were sent home and we were told that classes had been suspended for the rest of the week. The growing number of COVID-19 cases in the country had alarmed the Manila City Mayor, who was in London at that time, by the way, and this was the best course of action that he could think of. Well, maybe because that was what the other city mayors did earlier that day. We all hoped that things would get sorted out by the end of the week and that come Monday all would be back to normal. Well, it's been 33 days.

33 days of uncertainty. 33 days of anxiety. 33 days of "the new normal". Supposedly all the introverts are thriving in this environment. I doubt it. After all, this social distancing isn't happening on one's terms. It's being thrust onto us.

33 days. And truth to be told, no end in sight.

Let's just hang in there...