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Tag: updates

Welcome back

Hello WordPress! šŸ‘‹

True to my always-MIA style, here I am remembering and posting on my blog at the onset of the year again. And just like before, I would like to say that “life happened” and “hopefully I’ll be more active”, but I know that’s not convincing anyone anymore, so yeah, just welcome back to me. šŸ˜…

So kamusta na ba tayong lahat? 2022 na šŸ˜‚ It’s the third year of the pandemic, and though sometimes we feel that the Philippines is still a long way to go before we “go back” to “normal”, I want to acknowledge that at least we’ve already done a number of important things to make better the situation. Last year, I was finally able to go back to the office, got fully vaccinated alongside my family, learned an even bigger deal about online platforms and livestreaming, and got back on achieving dreams and making our detoured plans into actions. And with all that, I am deeply grateful.

I entered 2022 with a more hopeful and purposeful perspective. Well, I have a lot to prepare and look forward to this year- doing my thesis and taking the compre exam in Grad School, prepping for regularization (and hopefully salary raise) at work, paying for our own house and saving for its furnishing costs, and then enrolling my five-year old to Kindergarten. šŸ˜³ Yeah, I just felt a looooot older listing them all down here. And just like the years before, I lift all these into God and lay all my worries and fears into His hands. I know I can just do so much, but the rest is up to Him..

Now, January has just ended. Mag-31 na rin ako this February šŸ˜œšŸ˜‚ I honestly don’t feel like celebrating it. But whatever.. Bahala na. šŸ˜…

January biggest wins:

  • We already signed our Acceptance Form of our house. Already paid our Move in fee as well as the very first monthly amortization. Yipeeee!
  • Successfully attended and presented in our Thesis Colloquium. “Commendable” daw ang topic ko, huhuh, kilig!
  • Successfully prepared for a DIY virtual escape room for our PEER Team building. Grabe, thank you Canva talaga!
  • Got my booster shot.

January biggest challenges:

  • Tested positive with Covid 19, hahah. Pero I got no symptoms kaya tuloy tuloy lang ang trabaho. Mas nakakastress pa yung pang-aalaska ng mga kapamilya ko tsaka yung pagkuha ng mga certificates sa LGU. šŸ˜’
  • Laziness and feeling demotivated, kaya I feel that I wasn’t able to maximize my time last month. Sana this February wala na yung feeling demotivated.

January biggest lessons:

  • Rest and self-care are very very important, but these are not valid excuse for being lazy and irresponsible. šŸ˜’
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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 Iā€™m still kickinā€™ alive and fighting.

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

The COVID-19 pandemic hasnā€™t gotten any better for the PH šŸ‡µšŸ‡­ and by this rate, weā€™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 countryā€™s politics, incompetence, and indifference to the poor citizens, are totally adding to the emotional burden Iā€™m feeling.

At work, Iā€™m so preoccupied with this Studentsā€™ 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, Iā€™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 whatā€™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. Youā€™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. Iā€™m trying to think itā€™s not really a big deal, but Iā€™m proud because thatā€™s the first webinar I gave, and our neighborhoodā€™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 chapterā€™s designated ā€œtechnicals and media teamā€, 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 ā€˜sunshine on a cloudy dayā€™. We are entering that chatterbox phase, and Iā€™m ALWAYS amused with her stories, dreams, and observations. Btw, she calls herself now ā€œAppleberry Catā€. There were also some meltdowns, and Iā€™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 ā€˜normalā€™. 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.