Categories
life lessons

Finding A New Normal

Most of us don’t want to find a new normal. We just want to stay on the old ones….

There are really times when we don’t have the control to what is happening around us. But, we can’t do anything because this is not beyond our control. Life has been changed due to Covid-19.

Finding a new normal in this time of pandemic is so different to live the way we want.

We find ourselves lost in this time of the year. We  didn’t even know where to go and how to start all over again.

Some are liquidating their assets or anything to be disposed because they are depressed without any income anymore. Businesses have been closed.Jobs no more. A little cash on hand but still confused on how to start and roll the money…

We can’t control all the things that was happening now……but instead of focusing in this situation, we should try to exercise our senses and thoughts about what we really need to do in spite of many struggles in times of this unexpected situations. Take a deep breath and then dive into way of experiencing new life.

After moving away from the city to the province,we are still finding what to do and where will we be after this life shifts way of life.

Starting all over again is so difficult.

  • Need to begin again without any idea and how?
  • Luck of resources
  • Afraid on how to reset the starting button
  • Doubts on different things
  • Missing the old ways of life.
  • A lot of adjustments.
  • The way we socialize.
  • New routine.

It is very hard to adjust in a new normal way of life.

The New Normal life due to COVID-19 has been changed our way of life. Higher stress levels can bring out both the best and worst peoples attitude and behavior around us.

Different approach to new normal of socializing and connecting to our family, friends, relatives and to others is too different until the covid virus is still existing.

Everything around us has been changed so we need to accept and understand the fact that we are facing a different way of life and creating a life changing routine. Accept it as a big challenge and use it as a weapon in every aspect in our lives.

Remind ourselves that during this moment we will have a lot of adjustments.

All of us have different approach on how to deal with this new normal way of living. The important thing is we should take care of our own self. Let’s guard our mental and emotional needs. The sense of feeling peace and security.

Close your eyes and know that life is good and blessed by God. You need to feel that you are incredible and worth so the flow of everyday life will be more positive and productive.

Quotes by Wayne Dyer. Hill side, Province of Negros Oriental.

Be more vigilant and alert to our surroundings concerning to our health protection. We need to be more careful and strictly follow health protocols in order to avoid the spread of the virus.

Always apply physical distancing, proper handwashing, proper wearing of facemask, healthy lifestyle, maintain cleanliness, boosting immune system and follow government health advice to avoid the spread of the COVID19 virus. We need to support each other to stay safe, healthy and well.

COVID19 is beyond any single persons’ control, it really triggers mental and emotional anxiety.

We need to breath, relax, keep calm, stay connected with our family/friends and to others.

Engage more in healthy lifestyle, fun activities and need to take a break watching news about COVID19.

Goodshepherd Banawa Cebu City 🇵🇭

Watch movies and read inspirational books to divert our attention to different perspective in life and to fight the pandemic anxiety.

All the things we see and hear now a days have a very big impact on our life so focus on what makes us smile and feel good each day. Always feel positive and grateful. This is life but it is not the end but you always have the options on how to begin and make life ready to map out the strategy of how to live it out day by day.

Continue life in a fun way so you will accomplish a new vision what really life is. Each day you will likely see and experience different things along the way that make you realize that life is beautiful and it will help you to begin to develop a personalized action plans to get the results in every area of your life.

Life is beautiful…Goodshepherd Cebu City 🇵🇭

Seeing yourself productive will give you hope and make you more active and make you realize that a better life is possible and in fact is happening day by day.

“Life is hard but God is good.” Every hardship in our life, God always have a purpose. It might be pain in the past or current problems. This pressures in life could shapes us into a person of character and compassion.

“Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.”

Earl Nightingale

Categories
life lessons

The Pandemic Encounter

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Corona virus outbreak has been spreading all over the world and everyone is experiencing different effects on this epidemic. It can be physical, mental and emotional health effects in every individual or it can be pandemic fatigue. According to Healthy Living of erienewsnow.com, pandemic fatigue means a person is tired of the disruption the Coronavirus pandemic has caused to their daily life. Signs of pandemic fatigue are mainly frustration and the strong urge to break health and safety guidelines in place due to the pandemic. 

Quarantine life is so stressful and challenging experiences….

Three months of no income.Daily routine has been totally changed. It’s so distressful.

Savings are running out….No work. Staying at home. Unproductive. Confused. Worried……

With my partner, we decided moving away from the city and try to begin a new life in Negros Oriental, Philippines (part of Visayas region).

On our way to Negros Oriental

Due to covid-19 we need to sell everything we have in Cebu City (one of our jeepney was sold), we are blessed because when we posted on Facebook it catches the interest of some buyers (in a day a lot of prospect buyers – so first come first served basis). We didn’t expect that in this tough times someone can still afford to buy a car (it’s really a blessing because we desperately needed cash and want to move out from the city as soon as possible).

Our source of income was stopped and we have to make other options/ resources to survive on this pandemic.

Negros Oriental – it is where my partner was born and raised – just across the ocean rather than going back home in Baguio City (my hometown 1,092.2 km away from where we live).

Before travelling, we need to secure a lot of requirements:

  • Health certificate from the city health department certifying that we had a 14-day quarantine not contact with suspect, probable nor a confirmed covid19 case.
  • We are fit to travel
  • No influenza
  • Travel Authority from the PNP (Philippine National Police)-COVID SHIELD 9 (3 weeks waited for this COVID SHIELD)

Requirements done. Prepare and pack all our stuff and ready to go.

Before travelling, something went wrong to our car. The alternator belt has been damaged and broken. All shops are still closed due to lockdown (where can we buy that belt?). My partners brother in law tried to helped us to find one (using his motorcycle). I am hopeless that we can’t catch up the last trip of the ship going to Negros. We desperately needed to go. After an hour, (Thank God) he came back with the car belt bought in a no-holiday small auto shop nearby.

Everything was fixed and ready to travel.

While travelling, a lot of checkpoints. Police officers assigned checking all our travel documents before letting us pass. Every boarder’s…. checkpoints.

About 5 hours trip (with private car), at last we reached the seaport boarders. We’re the last person to enter the ship (last minute). Thank you to Mr. Navy officer who allowed us to enter and give us considerations, only one-person slot is allowed – two of us ( with private car).

I thank the Lord for guiding and keeping us safe on the road even a lot of struggles.

Entering the boarders of Tampi Negros Oriental, again we were instructed to wait the Local Government Units decision whether we will be home quarantined or go straight to the Government Quarantine Facility (Quarantine again? So sad, we were already home quarantined in Cebu for almost 2 months before travelling).

On the ship crossing the boarders of Tampi Negros Oriental

Waiting again (almost 30 minutes) for our convoy going to the Government Quarantine facility. We try to talk to the people assigned if we can just have our Home Quarantine but they did not allow us to do so (strictly following government protocols). No choice, need to follow strict safety protocols from Inter Agency Task Force IATF-Philippines.

We’re directed to go to the Government Quarantine Facility. They get our personal information, body temperatures and interview/ask some questions before entering their facility. Had to change all our clothes and washed hands, feet and every part of our body that was exposed. (They also sanitized our car before entering to their premises, so strict.).

 14 Days Quarantine At The Government Facility

  • Can’t sleep well – quarantined at the elementary public school
  • Can’t eat well- foods are rotational and sometimes my stomach can’t really take the way they cooked and served the food (sometimes OK but mostly not) …
  • Stressful- due to lack of sleep, can’t control everything sometimes feel self-pity
  • Fear and worry- panic attack, changes in body temperature, sometimes heartrate increases
  • Can’t go out- strictly no going out due to strict protocols but others are really hardheaded
  • Uncomfortable- due to the environment, no comfortable bed and the surroundings itself (not used to it)
  • Don’t know what to do – limited things/stuff to do.
  • Self-pity- I felt sorry for myself why I am in this place and I really have a hard time coping with this kind of routine.
  • Irritable- sometimes feel angry without any reason and feeling crying’
  • Unproductive- I felt useless doing nothing
  • Self-talk- talking to myself that this will end soon.Feeling OK but not really OK.
  • Making stupid things/ideas/behavior-can’t control my negative emotions, a lot was going on my mind
  • Anxiety- due to the pandemic especially that a lot of uncontrollable things are happening around us

After 14 days of quarantine is it really effective to prevent the spread of covid19 virus? 

According to the CEBM (Center for Evidence-Based Medicine), 14-days quarantine efforts are effective, the number of newly infected cases per day should slow two-weeks following the quarantine implementation. Current variation in testing practices, however, makes it impossible to understand if number of daily cases have peaked.

Viruses don’t travel, people do. So intuitively, expect that imposing physical space barriers will work to eradicate infection. However, the effectiveness of quarantine during a viral outbreak relies on the timing and accuracy of the quarantine period, as well as the ability of individuals and health care providers to follow quarantine procedures. The current evidence-base is limited, and COVID-19 infection trends raise critical questions about implementation effectiveness. ( Read more https://www.cebm.net )

After fourteen days in the quarantine facility gives a very big impact in our lives. It makes us realized that we should make life more meaningful and gives deeper insights on how to give importance to ourselves and to others including our surroundings while moving forward in our daily life.

It makes us stronger, patient, having healthy lifestyle, loving ourselves first before others (how can you love others if you don’t even love your own yourself) and make the most of your time.These experiences makes us realized that life is too short to make stupid things, to hate and destroy one’s life in unacceptable manner.

I realized that we need to slow down and focus on meaningful goals.

Be happy. Be contented. Be Grateful in everything, it can be small or big because small things can really make a big difference.

This pandemic inspires us more to find purpose in life and make deeper connections with our love ones.

Life is too short so we have to spend it wisely and make it more meaningful. In this time of crisis, I can’t even imagine how this Covid19 quickly changes our way of life in a blink. Resources was gone and you don’t know how to start all over again.

It’s so scary to restart the new normal life but we really have to move on and push the restart button again.

Life must go on to a new way of living where we still need to practice social distancing and make other behavioral changes.

Self- survival to overcome this situation is badly needed to maintain a positive attitude and keep moving forward, even you’re stressed and distressed.

We need to accept the fact that life can be changed every day at this moment. We don’t know what will be going to happen for the next day.

Every day is different and it’s up to us to make it productive, stress free, worried free and don’t panic. Stop complaining. Be happy. Celebrate life every day. Don’t give up. Find your meaning and purpose to gain success even in difficult and tough times.

Photo taken in Besao Mt. Province

Until the COVID 19 virus still exist around us, we will continually face with challenges, difficulties and setbacks. This is unavoidable so we just need to focused on our physical, mental and emotional health. Learning to manage stress and respond with a positive attitude on this challenges, grow as a person and start focusing good in life.

Every one of us have our own fears in our lives. It’s normal. We are humans. We need to break our fear barriers in order for us to focused on giving our best to whatever we are doing that will allow us to do amazing things.

If we really want to have a better quality of life after all this challenges, we have to take responsibility on our behavior and change can happens. Changes will bring remarkable results into our life and the flow would go smoothly in a way we like to happen.

Always pray to God to guide us, make us strong and healthy every day. Be blessed and be a blessing to others….

How about you?  

Share with us how did you deal with this unforgettable experiences during this pandemic?

Or any unexpected encounters in this tough times?

Have you experience to be quarantined?

Home quarantined?

Or isolated due to pandemic?

Categories
Local Travels

UNPLANNED PLANS

Have you experience to have a trip without any plans at all? You just decided to pack bags and go?

Unplanned plans will be one of the best memorable journeys. It is more challenging, it cures boredom, it could turn stress into happiness, expect the unexpected, you learn how to explore and discover new things/places and you can be more creative in different ways to survive on the road. Best memories happen when it’s unplanned.

You will be on the place you’ve never been before and you will experience things you never do in your entire life…. you will be lost but it will give you the feeling of satisfaction.

Philippines is known of its beautiful tourist attractions and one of the best to go to unwind is the beach. Visiting the beach is part of summer vacations for many people.

The vast ocean has its own beauty that we can never resist.The beach is one of the chance to be away from stress and to avoid unforeseen circumstances.

This is the chance to spend more time with friends, relatives, family and even neighbors that you hate the most who have the guts to join the trip (peace) haha!

A chance to enjoy the sand, water and sun rising and setting off the horizon. The beach has its own natural beauty, calming and peaceful effect on your mind. It also improves person’s mood, relieve stress and anxiety.

Before the CoVID-19 strikes we had an unforgettable memories and moments with friends. We never expect that this beach hopping (CORDING CORDING according to a friend going to the beach without paying entrance fees haha!) will be the last thing to do before the lock down due to CoVid pandemic.

We are still lucky to enjoy the summer of 2020, we had a good time in different beach nearby provinces of Cebu Philippines. Cebu was being known for its beautiful beaches but we just spent time nearby just to glimpse the local beautiful scenery of the province.

Travelling with friends is always a good idea to have fun, make memories together, more secure with numbers, more planning tips/ ideas to develop and contribute while on the road.

Every friends we have has individual differences. Some are funny, makes funny moments even the topic is serious and interrupts the conversation in a funny way. Serious one – well I think that’s me, but sometimes funny in corny way haha! Quiet person – a good listener, observant and just keep on smiling to give reactions on what you say. Talkative–a friend who talks too much without thinking of what is coming out on his/her mouth.(sometimes I’m irritated to this kind of people, peace) and others are just going with the flow.

Different behaviors and characters of every person when travelling will make the journey more memorable and memories unforgettable.

In a group of friends (we call it barkada) we always do sharing in expenses so we can buy foods, rent videoke box(we love singing even not in tune – sintonado in tagalog), gasoline bills – we usually use private car and other expenses.

COMPOSTELA BEACH

Our first destination. Feel and chill at compostela. According to the geography, Compostela is bordered on the north by the city of Danao, to the west by Cebu City. Estimated time is 1 hour from Cebu to compostela by private car (depends on traffic).

There’s a lot of private beach resorts in this area where you can break away get away from the city of Cebu. This place is one of the most visited beach becuase it is just an hour away from the busy and hectic life in the city. This is perfect for family bondings/outings, romantic get aways, or just a break/holiday.I will not recommend any beach resorts in this place because we just spent an hour and we didn’t have the chance to enter in this  resorts (we don’t want to pay entrance fees haha) but there’s a lot of beautiful resorts around the corner.

First thing we did when we reach compostela Beach, we eat our food packs “baon”. Had one hour swimming, run around the ground, take photos and videos, feel the beautiful and peaceful scenery of the place. Due to unlimited time we need to pack up so we can move and see other part of  Cebu province.

DANAO

Second destination, Danao, a third class in the province of Cebu. There’s a lot of things to do in this place just like climbing peaks, hiking mountains and others but we didn’t have a chance to do those adventures because this is not part of our trip. I hope someday we will have a chance and more time to do trekking for more experiences and fun.We have an unplanned plan so during the trip we are always in a hurry to see the different beaches on the province. I can say that this is the craziest things we did this 2020.We don’t even know how to spend and budget our time wisely.

CARMEN

Carmen is Home to famous Cebuanos during the Spanish period but I will not talk about history here haha. This popular place has its natural water resources including falls, streams and rivers. You can try to visit the place so you can enjoy its nature and attractions. We enjoyed the natural views of the sea and rest under the coconut tress. We had fun playing basketball under the shades of the coconut trees. This is one of the most unforgettable beach hopping because all of us had our own space.Spent time in our own. Do whatever we want to do in a limited hours.

Some are playing basketball, reading books, others listening music while talking to their friends/family on social media…… and don’t forget about me – enjoying the view  of the beautiful sea, feeling the sweet natural sounds around me,watching the waves of the ocean and playing stones/pebbles on the seashore.

This is what I call life-away from the noisy and busy city.

What a day trip.It is a time well spent. Before going back to the busy city of Cebu, we had a stopover at one of the selfie Corner on the top of the hills. We never expect that it’s too far from the route that we supposed to follow. One of our friend (driver) had a wrong turn so we just decided to proceed and see what’s on that place. It’s almost 2 hours on the wrong way and don’t know where to go. It’s good some locals helped us to reached that unknown destination. At last we’re here, yehey….. Selfie! Selfie! Selfie!

Collect beautiful memories everyday because we don’t know how much time we have left. It can be good or bad. Unpleasant or embarrassing ones, still a moments to remember and a moments to share. These memories makes us stronger, wiser and it inspired us to grow better and makes us more positive as we move forward in life.

Unplanned plans will always be the best way to make friendship grow, trust each other more  and that friends will become a family. We may encounter ups and down but if you find true friends that will stick around, then you are the luckiest one.

All the memories we had with true friends will be cherished as we go along our separate ways.

Categories
Local Travels

Great Beauty of the Outdoor

In every walk in with nature one receives far more than he seeks. – John Muir-

It’s more than two months of quarantine, I thank God that I am still alive and kicking.

I had a good walk with my buddy despite of bad weather at the Boy Scout of the Philippines camp. I love connecting with the nature. It deepens my spiritual relationship with it and it gives me more positive views on life despite of those hard times that the world is facing now.

Having connection with nature makes me feel healthier and more focused on positive sides of life. Despite of this negative news about what’s happening around us, we need to balance happiness, satisfaction and contentment.

All of us now are encountering difficulties in life but we should not focused to it. We need to be more positive by reflecting on nature.

According to Dr. Qing Li the author of the Forest Bathing, the sounds of the forest, the scent of the tress, the sunlight playing through the leaves, the fresh, clean air-these things gives us a sense of comfort. They ease our stress and worry, helps us to relax and to think more clearly.

Being with nature can restore our mood, give us back our energy and vitality, refresh and rejuvenate us.

Simple being with nature brings you closer to our spirit, relieve all the pain we feel, increases pleasant feelings and reduces anger, fear and stress.

Categories
Local Travels

OPPORTUNITY FOR A FRESH START:

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Moving away from the city to the province even you are not sure of your next step….

Need to begin a new life in this hard times and I know change can be scary but it doesn’t mean that it will be the endpoint.

Starting a new beginning is a big challenge for us especially in this hard times of pandemic.

I am hoping that this new life journey will agree on us so we can embrace a new perspective, a fresh look at the future and all the wonderful possibilities it holds.

I Always feel positive and grateful.

Never give up, focus on new things and make life more meaningful.

I always have a doubt in myself because of my mental and emotional anxiety but I need to be strong and keep going.

As I start the new chapter of my life,I need to be determined-keep moving foward and never look back to see the good side even though we are in tough situations.

I will make sure that this new beginning will be exciting and will never focus on the negative effect of this COVID-19 pandemic.

I dare myself to be ready, prepared and willing to accept all the challenges and difficulties in this tough times.

I believe that it will not be the end, just slow down and everything will be fine.

Focus in making priceless memories and do unforgettable moments to share even if we are facing crisis due to this epidemic.

A new chapter to begin and make it unforgettable photographic memories and experiences.

I will entrust everything to our Almighty God that he will guide me, give me more strength and lead me to the right directions, give me more knowledge and wisdom along the way.

I believe that life will be beautiful again soon.

“Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.” – Earl Nightingale –

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