This & That (July 2020)

The past few days are crazily exhausting.

As we prepare for the opening of the school year, the pressure to deliver quality distance learning education tripled up for me. There were a lot of tears shed, but the good news here is that I’m still kickin’ alive and fighting.

My mantra: MAHIRAP, PERO KAYA MO. (It would be difficult, but you can do it)

The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t gotten any better for the PH 🇵🇭 and by this rate, we’ll surely reach the projected 85k cases by the end of the month (UPDATE: YES! We’ve reached that already). That SONA btw was predictably useless and irrelevant. And the series of rants and unnecessary stress about our country’s politics, incompetence, and indifference to the poor citizens, are totally adding to the emotional burden I’m feeling.

At work, I’m so preoccupied with this Students’ Orientation. I needed to prepare presentations, write scripts, and do voice overs, and then edit the videos so it will be ready for our live-streamed orientation for our school community. All the while, I’m starting to lose precious time in transitioning to provide my Guidance & Counseling services to a digital platform; and establishing a systematic and sustainable procedure in doing my work in a virtual Guidance Office. I needed to prepare a boatload of paper works (i.e. guidelines, guidelines, and more guidelines) that will make my work adhere to what’s best, effective, and ethical. I have been a school counselor for a couple of years now so this shouldn’t surprise me anymore, but this year is a WHOLE LOT different. (Back story: I’m a newcomer to the school I’m employed now, so I’m still adjusting.. and then, BOOM! This pandemic happened and the admin decided to lay off school personnel, including ALL my team mates. I KNOW I should be deeply grateful to still have a job, and I greatly, greatly, greatly, greatly feel thankful.. But working the job that is supposed to be handled by 4 people is no easy feat.. and it hurts to admit that it really is stressing me out.)

But then… my other mantra: You gotta do what you gotta do.

My workload now may be too much and I really, really hate the government, but still, life goes on- I have a daughter to raise and a family to provide for.

And in that note, let’s now talk about some more personal stuff:

To balance the work stress, I’m exercising now more regularly, and this app really helps me. I also stopped playing this game for the mean time, but I’m back to watching tv series in Netflix, and that show is really an oldie but goldie (yeah, I think I can now admit I’m a sucker for old American tv series about crimes and cops stories- whether drama or comedy). I’m also getting more artsy with my planner, and 2 days ago, I had checked out P400-worth of journal stickers and washi tapes from this store in Shopee. Fortunately, I had clicked on ‘Back’ next, rather than ‘Confirm’, so major marital issues averted just like that. You’re welcome, Daddy.

With all the busyness, I had also managed to squeeze in a speaking opportunity, as I gave this parenting webinar about developing literacy at home and managing the New Normal. I’m trying to think it’s not really a big deal, but I’m proud because that’s the first webinar I gave, and our neighborhood’s chickens, birds, and dogs were all energetically cheering for me while recording, so yeah, it should really be a big one. The hubby and I are also attending that online training for Couple Coordinators of Kids for Christ. Plus we are our chapter’s designated “technicals and media team”, so we are really onto computers, zoom meetings, and live-streaming during the weekends.

Being a Mom is still one of the best parts of my life (self: why still?!) and Ella is this constant ‘sunshine on a cloudy day’. We are entering that chatterbox phase, and I’m ALWAYS amused with her stories, dreams, and observations. Btw, she calls herself now “Appleberry Cat”. There were also some meltdowns, and I’m still thankful because these are opportunities to teach and impose discipline on our little lady.

July is really a crazily tiring month, but still a blessing in itself, nonetheless. I think we are all still grieving for our past lifestyles and detoured dreams, but are also starting to cope well with the new ‘normal’. Hey, this album even somehow redeemed 2020 and put smiles on our faces even just for a little while. There is hope, people. There is hope.