Life brings tears, smiles, and memories. the tears dry, the smiles fade, but the memories last forever. ― Malik Faisal

The month of March passed by so fast. Writing this blog, it makes me feel like months seems like a day for me. It was just the beginning of the year, but now, we are on the fourth month of 2022 already. Within these months, a lot of things happened in my life. I achieved some of my goals while I’m still working for the rest. As I marked “achieved” those goals that I was just planning before, I feel proud of the journey that I’d been through. I never thought that I will be in this place where hopes and dreams become reality. In this period, I realized the importance of trusting yourself. People will come and go to your life; so, you need to be very strong in handling things alone. It will be very tough and your days will not be always perfect, but having in your mind that another day will come, it will bring you hope and chance again. This month, even I am now literally alone since one of my friends got an opportunity, I learned to make most out of my day and engage in productive things. Even though I’m doing it all alone, I have this feeling of calmness that I am ok doing everything by myself.

“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” – Lucille Ball

There’s a lot of things I realized this month. I apply it as much as possible in my life in order to achieve happiness which is now my ultimate goal. from the people I met and situations that I went through this month, I learned the following things:

1. There’s no such thing as limits. You are the one who’s making it in your life.
2. If you trust yourself and Him, no matter what happen in your surroundings, you will be at peace.
3. Stick to your plan, and work on silence.
4. Be positive within and you will see how it will reflect to others.
5. Be your own company. You don’t need to fit in just to exist.
6. You’re capable on things you don’t imagine achieving.
7. The small steps that you’re taking today will be your key to achieve your ultimate goal.
8. To be an inspiration, you need to reach out and be a blessing to the rest.
9. You are in the right place, right time and right moment.
10.  Start your day with a smile, it will define what kind of day you’ll have.

“If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life.” Marcus Garvey

In these coming months, I will see it as another great opportunity for me to develop myself more. I promise to make most out of my day and engage on things that will help me to be a better person. I will make more unforgettable memories and seize the day with a positive mindset. Although there will be challenges that awaits me, I will continue to strive and never give up on my dreams. These memories will be my key to move forward and continue what I started. By that time, I will look back again to where I started, these things will be my source of happiness and strength in life.

Now let’s see the things that happened in my life this March 2022. It will consist of both negative and positive things that I’d experienced and on how I was able to surpass it.

1. BANANA ISLAND INTERVIEW

After sending almost ten applications last month, I finally received an invitation for interview on the first week of March. I received that call when I was hanging out with my cousin and it is from Banana Island Luxury Collection Resort by Anantara. The position that I applied there is F&B/Kitchen Coordinator. Actually, that vacancy has been posted a month ago already but I just took my chance to apply for it knowing the property is famous for its luxury hospitality. Upon receiving that invitation, I hurriedly asked for Public Holiday on that day so I can prepare myself for the interview. The whole experience is really funny because I was worried that I will pay for my transport. Since it’s an island, I need to arrive there by a boat ride that will originate from Souq Port. Since I also have a limited cash with me, I kept thinking on where will I get the money just in case they’ll asked me to pay. That’s why, before going there I have one thing in my mind which is to only go there for interview and not on leisure purposes.

To tell you honestly, I was really nervous once I arrived in the port. Despite of that I successfully hide it beneath my sunglasses and act like a professional hotelier. In the end I was told to take the staff boat FOR FREE! I hurriedly take my seat and that’s the time I settled down. It took us 25 minutes to arrive in the Island, and as we started to get close, the only thing that I have in mind is I need to successfully done my interview and at the same time take aesthetic videos for my tiktok! The place is indeed majestic! It reminds me of Balesin Island which I’d done my first on the job training. There I met the In-room Dining manager and the F&B Manager Mr. Akil. He’s the one who interviewed me and also offer me to show me around the Island.

During that time, I can feel the excitement growing within me. I started to think the different scenarios if I’ll be working here. As the manager continue to share his plans on the Island, I feel so motivated and inspired to take a step in this career. I can say that I’d done a pretty good job in my interview and I feel like it’s more of a casual talk rather than a formal interview. I also asked him about the advices that he can give to me as I take this career. One statement that he told me that really impact my mindset is that,

“The only one who can limit yourself is you. It’s not about age, gender, qualifications, status etc. that will determine on how your life will be.”

Even though I won’t get this opportunity, I can count it as a very good experience. I met a lot of people that inspire me more to achieve the things that I’d been planning to aim. IT was another day full of realizations that I will never forget.

2. EDUCATION CITY TOUR

It has been two months since me and my cousin didn’t see each other. After our failed make over last December, we got busy on our job and it was just recently when we decided to meet up again. Since the weather is about to change, we took it as an opportunity to hang out so that we can take great pictures together again. We actually call it as our photoshoot session! Funny right? At first, I’d been thinking on the right place for us to check on. We are looking for somewhere close to our home and at the same time is a famous destination for the locals. I came across in an Instagram update of peopleandqatar, and there I found about Education City. I had my research and took note of all iconic spots that can be found there.

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”- T. S. Eliot

We first had our lunch on her place and went first in oxygen park. Luckily, I took some sample pictures of what I saw in Instagram because the place is so big. It took us time to arrive from each spot since it’s located quite far from each other.  It was around 5:30 pm when we finished our photoshoots, we bought some snacks and started to talk a lot of things about our plans in life. It was really an unforgettable moment because we are the only one staying in that big open space. There’s some benches and bean bag chairs on that place which is also ideal for picnics. Here are some pictures we took on that day.

As you can see in the pictures above, we really took each photo professionally. We even copied some of the pose we saw in the internet but ended up laughing on it since the pictures came out awkward and far from what we expected. It was really a fun day for both of us. We keep laughing with each other as soon as we check our photos together. Late that afternoon, we started to share advices to each other. We reminisce our lives way back when we are still a kid and couldn’t imagine the life that we have right now. Even though we still have current responsibilities, we realized how our life changed throughout the time. The efforts and sacrifices we invested slowly granted by our present situation. Who would have imagined that both of us will be working in the same country overseas and both an office worker? Isn’t it really amazing? Truly, God’s plan is way better that anyone!

For me to be able to choose the ideal option, I made a guideline for myself so that I can assess if the opportunity is good. By means of these things, I can carefully consider all the aspects and prevent me in making the wrong risk. As long as the opportunity meets the criteria below, I will go for it right away.

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” – Mark 11:24

3. KATARA VLOG SHOOT

“We are most alive when we are in love.”—John Updike

Since me and my partner is not staying in a same compound anymore, we just decided to see each other once a month. We both came up in this decision after considering his location which is quite far than his first accommodation. Gladly, we still have the same day off which helps us to easily plan our dates. For this month, we decided to go to Katara Cultural Village for us to shoot our 4^th Vlog. We went in that place around 2:30 in the afternoon and started to take videos and photos for our vlogs. The weather is still ideal at this moment, that’s why we really pursue to visit this place. It wasn’t that hot neither cold, so even we spend most of our time there outdoor, it was still a nice experience for both of us.

Here are some pictures that we took from that day:

In my travel blog last year, I already shared the spots that people can enjoy as they visit this place. Me and my cousin already visited this place last year, so I am quite familiar already on where to shoot our vlogs. From the amphitheater, The Golden Masjid, Galleries Lafayette, Boho restaurant, Katara Beach and Katara hills, we successfully shoot videos and photos from those places and it took us around three hours to finished everything. We took a rest for a while in Katara Hills and then we decide to eat in Shanghai Garden Buffet Restaurant in City Center. This is so funny because it was my partner’s decision to eat there upon discovering it on my last birthday. He first felt skeptical to eat somewhere he’s not familiar with, but now, he can’t get over it!

It was really a wonderful day for both of us. Even we were both tired walking all day long, the buffet foods that we ate really fueled us up again. After three years being together, we’d seen each other grow. We literally started below and we climb ourselves way up.   We’re still in the process of achieving our goals, but we already feel bless from all the things that we learned throughout this journey. As we continue to travel and discover more places together, we will for sure face more challenges in our lives. Despite of that, we believe that we will come out stronger and even better in the end.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world” – Mahatma Gandhi

4. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON MOVIE

In these couple of months, I’d been very hooked in watching animation movies. From Madagascar, Minions, Shrek, Toy story, Ice age and How to train your dragon, I feel like I came back to my childhood years again. I’m not a movie person to begin with, I usually watch Asian dramas more than movies. After watching the movie Encanto, I became into to animations and that’s when it started. I keep asking my partner every now and then for any good movies that he can recommend to me, and that’s when I watched one movie that made a great impact to me.

“What you’re searching for isn’t out there, Hiccup. It’s in here.”

How to train your dragon is a 2010 movie that tells a story of how people and dragon in that time reconcile to bring peace in their nation. The story starts with Hiccup who’s a son of the Viking Leader captured a very rare dragon. He names it Toothless, (a night fury which is one of the unknown dragons) and that’s when their friendship grows. They settled together every challenge in their lives until they both settle down in their own lives happily. That story really influenced me in a way that I realized that strength can be find within you. No matter how incompetent you are, you can always build your strength once you believe in yourself. That is the initial start of everything. You’re the team player of your own life. You must trust yourself in a way that all your flaws will be your source of strength. The way they tell the story is really amazing, especially on how hiccup and toothless continue their friendship even they already have their own lives.

Now I’m in a quest of looking for more movies that will inspire me like how this movie did.

5. HOUSE RENOVATION FINALLY DONE!

After years of saving and cost cutting of my expenses, finally I achieve one of my goals for this year which is to renovate one of our existing rental houses. Even up to this day, I can still believe that I saved up that big amount for this project. At first, I was quite hesitant to spend it since that’s the first time for me to have it. Thinking also of the sacrifices I did back then, it made me realized all the efforts and hardships I put just to achieve it. It has been my dream to invest in real estate. But given my situation before and my current financial responsibilities, it really took me years to fully commit to this. After I settle my long-term funds, I know that this is the right time for me to build multiple streams of income.

Upon starting this project, I only shared it on few people I trust. I believe that while in the process of achieving something, it is important that you need to keep it on your own to prevent negativity on things that you wanted to manifest. Through this period, I found it really nice to keep everything discreet, especially on your achievement. For me, you don’t need to brag everything about it. Not unless they’re the one who came to know it, you shouldn’t let it come from you first. This is for us to avoid any negative feelings that people around us may put to it.

In this project, I also feel thankful towards my parents because of their assistance and support. Since my budget is fixed, they’re the one who filled it up so that it can be finish on time. Although the property is owned by my parents, we decided to have 66.67% and 33.33% of share every month. We came up in this agreement since the renovation cost mostly came from me. As of mid of March, we are now working on putting it on rent so that it can be profitable starting April. With the help of my sister who knows how to take great pictures, we planned to post it in different Facebook groups within our area so that we can have immediate response from customers.

Here are the current updates of our First House Rental.

“My ultimate goal right now is to be happy.”

A lot of things happened in this month. As I write this blog, a sense of nostalgia suddenly embraces me. Isn’t it amazing how days passes by so fast? A sudden happening in our life can be a part of our past within a short period of time. With this thought in my mind, I realized how precious our time is. We won’t be here in this world for so long and that’s a fact. Now, it’s our choice if how we will spend our days in this world.

For me, I choose HAPPINESS.

I will continue to make memories that will be my treasure for the rest of my life.

I will continue to inspire others while I reach my goals in life.

I promise to be happy every single day and it starts today!

One day, I will look back again by reading my blogs and I hope that time I’m already in the right place. A place that I’d been dreaming for so long and working on right at this moment. 

So to you Lea Pearl who’s reading this blog again, I just wanted to tell you that even I am still not even halfway of our goals, I will never choose to give up. The right time will come for me, and I will continue to trust the destined journey for me.