Goodbye May!

Years of neglecting myself are now done. As I start this year focusing more on developing myself, I started to see the beauty of our everyday life. I started to assess my everyday life and challenge myself to do more every single day. For me, I wanted to end the day with a lot of activities that greatly help me. I don’t want to waste any single hour doing unnecessary things because I believe that there are things more worth than it. The reality of life is that, we don’t know what will happen next and even in our future. That’s why for me, I wanted to live my life to the fullest every single day. I want to do something for myself and focus on the things that makes me happy. Life is short and unpredictable. We can anytime die any day and at any moment. For me, I wanted to make most out of my day and never live with regrets. The earlier I achieved my goals, the earlier I can be with my family. The more eager I am to make it all possible, the more I can help others to be inspired at the same time.

I hope and pray that this success story that I’m currently working on will somehow guide others in their life. This is my way to share the endless possibilities that we have right now. I believe that as long as I fight for myself, someone out there will be motivated not to give up as well. We may have different route to take, we may have different plans in our life, we may have different likes and goals, but let us both achieve it together. No matter how long it will be and challenges that we’ll face, let’s promise that we will never give up.

“But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.” –2 Chronicles 15:7

In this fifth month of the year, I’m happy that I followed my routine and continued the things that I started. From the past months that I’d been doing a routine, planning my monthly goals and assessing it, my confidence started to boost at the same time. I felt like I was born again, but this time, she’s a better version. Glady, I realized everything as early as 20’s because at least, I still have enough time to make it up from the years that I neglected myself. This time it will be me. I’m excited to do a lot of things for myself because I know that I deserve so much more. Slowly but surely, I will be the ideal girl that I’d been dreaming to be when I was still a kid. I will continue to work on things that will help me and put myself first above anything else. I will not waste all the efforts and sacrifices I put into this selflove journey that I started this year.

“You are beautiful I know because I made you.” – God

I hope and pray that in the right time, my future self will be very proud of me. I hope that she will never live with regrets because I’d done all the things that she prayed for. This blog livingherownlife will be my life story that I can always look back when I grow old. I hope that I can influenced my future kids in this story that I’m working on. In this year 2022, I know that I still have more years to accomplished everything that I prayed for. One thing for sure is that I am very determined to make it happen.

“In making goals, assessment and feedback will greatly help you in motivating yourself more.” – Lea Pearl

Before assessing everything, let’s make a review on things that I planned for the month of May by checking out my previous blog about it:

Now that you have an idea on what this blog will be all about, let’s now check my progress and accomplishments for the month of May!

In the past five months taking care of myself more, I can see how I progress physically, mentally, spirituality and emotionally. I learned the importance of loving yourself by means of giving time every single day solely for you. No distractions, just you. As I start my career way back 2016, I’d seen how I neglected myself. I was blinded with goals and oftentimes failed to checked myself If I’m ok. I realized that it is possible to do both and I let my excuses win over me that time. Upon that realization, I started to work on myself this year and see to it that I will become way better than before. In order to make it happen, I came up with activities every month to address my self needs. I carefully assess myself first on the things that I need to develop and next look for activities that will be fit to it. That’s how I came up with a monthly routine so I can ensure that I’ll do all my targets for the month.

To assessed my activities this month, I can say that I successfully followed the plans that I set. Despite of the short available time compare to the last month; I am happy that I was able to adjust well and continue the good habits that I developed.

“If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” –Zig Ziglar

For the month of May, these are the three things that I set for myself. It comprises with things I need to work on for my own self, places I need to go and lastly the workout routine I’ll be focusing on. Now, let’s see its status and check if I achieved it.

UNHEALTHY HABITS FOCUS: AVOID TOXIC CONVERSATION ACHIEVED!

After focusing on myself the whole month, I was able to prevent myself in having conversation to the rest. Not like I’m excluding myself but it is just that, I spend more time in doing productive things such as exercise, meditation, yoga, praying the holy rosary and many more. Keeping busy with yourself truly will give you more benefits rather than spending it in negative talks. By doing this, I realized the importance of choosing what is good for yourself above anything else. People who mostly engage on those things are the ones who failed to realized what life is. It is not about how much you spend, money you make, friends you have, but it is all about how you choose to spend your day.

Will you waste the rest of your day talking negative behind that person’s back?

Will you spend it complaining about your work?

Will you choose to gossip on things that you’re not really sure of?

Once you choose to do these things and it went for a long run, it will be eventually a part of your life. It will become a habit that will be really hard to get rid of. You will find your day incomplete not unless you do these things and you will slowly devour by negativity. Once it became a part of your routine, it will reflect back on your personality and to your other friends as well. The chain will continue and all of you will have the same mindset. I refused to experience that. For me, it is better to be alone and focus on growth rather than to be in a wrong environment.

In this month, I can see that making time for my self indeed helped me to feel more confident. After my work, I always dedicate the next couple of hours for myself. I work out, do my journals, prepare a healthy snack at night and enjoy a movie before I sleep.  By doing this consistently for one month, I was able to focus on things that I’m in control. Rather than wasting my time on other stuffs, I found a way to be happy on my own. These hours gave me a kind of happiness that only me can define it.

TRAVEL: PLACE VENDOME MALL – MOVED TO 1^ST WEEK OF JUNE

Due to the dust storm on the last week of May, we decided to moved our visit in this place on the first week of June. Since me and my cousin’s aim is to have a photoshoot together, we need to have a perfect weather to get a nice shot. Sounds like a pro? Nah! Of course, we prefer to have a nice weather while hanging out so that we can enjoy the place. I also planned to bring my partner together with his friend so that we can eat on our favorite restaurant which is Shanghai Garden. Although we weren’t able to go this month, I still consider this plan successful since we will still do it anyway. I’ll just be sharing the photos soon once we visit the place. In these remaining three months before my vacation, I planned to hang out more so I can also update my social media accounts.

To sum up everything that me and my cousin successfully visited and our targets for this year, here are the list of it:

1. Education City- Done
2. Lusail City- 1^st week of June
3. Museum of Islamic Art/ MIA Park – July
4. Qatar National Museum/ Sheraton Park – December

Our road to influencer is on! These coming months will surely be very exciting for both of us.

HEALTH & FITNESS: 30 MINUTES HIIT & 20 MINUTES MEDITAION OR YOGA ALTERNATELY FOR FIVE DAYS ACHIEVED!

Given the short time that I have in this month, I thought that I will fail in being consistent with my 30- 40 minutes selfcare routine. Due to the Ramadan last April, I have more time to do everything with no rush, in this month I only have four hours to do everything in my routine. I have this thought in my mind that maybe I’ll fail it, but little did I know that the will opposite happen. I successfully followed the routine that I planned for this month! Amazing right? What I think is that since I was consistent last April, I developed a habit that helped me to be successful this month. I became so eager not to break my routine or else I will put into waste the efforts that I did last month. Now, I will continue what I started in these coming months and try to do new productive things such as breathing exercises, meditation and many more.

To give you the idea of what I did the whole month, here below are the video links that you can try for yourself as well:

“Use compliments to be more motivated and inspired. Don’t stop and be at ease. Choose to be consistent!” – Lea Pearl

In my blog May Financial Review, I shared my plans and status of my finances. There I assessed my performance and showed my expenses for the month. In that blog, I was able to see my progress and the things that I still need to work on. Despite of having a tight budget, proper disciplined helped me to achieved all of my success in these past few months. I may not have that much salary unlike others, I was still able to invest it on things that will help me in the future. At this age, I was able to secure two insurance, 1 retirement fund, one house rental that is currently earning profits and another house rental which is still on process. Within these six years that I started my career, I have four investments under my name and that makes me so proud and motivated. I promise not to let myself down and continue investing in these coming years. I will prove that there’s no such thing as excuse if you’re really determine to make all of your goals possible. Here below are the progress and status of my finances as of May:

1. [SECURED] 1^st Insurance. Long term savings intended for emergency and health concerns situation. Payment is ready.
2. [ON-GOING] 2^nd Insurance + Investment. Long term savings fund intended for business and kid’s insurance. One year payment will be settled on June.
3. [SECURED] SSS.  Long term savings fund intended for retirement purposes. One year payment is already ready.
4. [ACHIEVED] 1^st House Rental. . Intended for additional income stream. Achieved last April.
5. [ON PROCESS] 2^ND House Rental. Intended for additional income stream. Savings On Process.

“A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.”– Dave Ramsey

Now, here’s the status of my targets for the month of May!

IDEAL BUDGET GUIDELINES

For this month, I successfully achieved the budget that I set. I was able to secure my retirement and insurance payment this year, finally bought my target hair straightener and lastly enjoy my leisure time during Eid Holidays. Despite of having small budget for my expenses, I am happy that I can still balance everything out. Dividing my budget from needs and leisure gave me a clear insight on how I can spend it efficiently. Even though there’s a small challenge if ever I want to buy something for myself and I need to compromise one from it, this set up will only be applicable in this year. So, I only need to be patient in these coming seven months until I achieved my financial goals this year.

Given the new plan which is my vacation this year, I really need to stick to my budget in order to have my funds ready for it. Hopefully my next year will not be that short of budget so I can somehow buy things for myself..

“The habit of saving is itself an education; it fosters every virtue, teaches self-denial, cultivates the sense of order, trains to forethought, and so broadens the mind.” – T.T. Munger

DEBT COLLECTION: SECURE DEBT ACHIEVED!

This month of May, I received the third payment of the money that was borrowed to me. Now, the only balance amount is 640 qar which will be paid on the next month. Once settled, I can finally be free from waiting and expectation. Through this experienced, I greatly learned a lot from it. I learned the importance of securing yourself in your future to prevent the same thing to happen. Even though I understand that person’s current situation, I realized that there still loopholes in the way she mange her finances. That’s the reason why her family is living within their salary and there’s only a minimal savings for them. In her situation, God showed me the importance of saving for your future. As much as we can prevent ourselves from borrowing money, we should stay away from doing it.

Another point that I learned from successful people is, we should know the difference between good and bad debt. Good debts are those borrowed money for the sole purpose of investing in something that will give you an income like business and rental properties. Bad debts are those borrowed money for the sake of your wants and things that can be delayed like buying a car. In order to manage well your finances, you need to consider your present and future. The younger you are the more you are capable in building your funds, that’s why I am so eager to invest in passive income because that’s the way that I can financially secure myself.

FAMILY & LOVED ONES: MOM’S BIRTHDAY GIFT ACHIEVED!

Last month was my Mom’s 56^th birthday. They decided to visit our province to celebrate it there and at the same time have their high school reunion. Together with my Dad and sister, they spend five days in our province and visited our relatives. The pictures that they sent to our group chat really makes me feel excited to go home. It was last 2018 when I visited my relatives and it is now 2022! Can you imagine how time passed by so fast? I’m happy that they still can visit them every now and then in behalf of my and my brother that are both currently working overseas. From the pictures that they sent to us, they went to my grandmother’s home from both sides, went on a beach for my father’s reunion, had their lunch in a Halo Halo de Iloko, and a joint celebration for my cousin and my mom’s birthday on Sunday (May 22). Even though it was a short period, I can see how they spend it happily. Every single day of their visit was full of activities that are truly worth to remember.

Here below are the pictures that they took during their visit.

As I grow old, my priorities change at the same time. In order to achieve all of my goals, I need to double my effort in investing and developing my career. By doing both, I can achieve my goals as early as I can. The only catch is that, it will be very hard to do so. It needs patience, efforts, strength and sacrifices for me to work on it. The results also may vary since not all efforts are granted with what we are expecting. Despite of having a plan, our fate will always win. Like what I always tell to myself, “if it’s meant to be, it will be”. Rather than focusing on the results, I will trust the process thinking that I’ll be granted with the things that I deserve. I will continue to work for my career goals until I achieved a managerial position. It may sound impossible today but I know that that day will eventually come.

“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. “- Proverbs 16:3“

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT: PLAN VACATION 2022 ACHIEVED!

I shared in my May 2022 Recap blog about my plans in my upcoming vacation this October. After I decided to go for a break this year since it has been almost four years since I visited my family, I think that this is the right time for me to do it. Despite of the tight budget that I have right now, I came up with a certain amount that I can save up until that month. I planned to have a strictly P100,000.00 maximum budget for 30 days and I think that is more than enough to cover all activities that I’ll do on that month. Even though I still have four more months prior to October, I wanted to plan as early as possible so that I can ensure that all my priorities on that month will be cleared and at the same time arrange my budget so that I won’t overspend.

As of May, here are the things I prepared for my vacation this October which I also mentioned on my blog May 2022 Recap:

• Vacation Calendar – consist of the task and activities that I must do during the whole month.
• Vacation Budget – consist of the breakdown of my budget for each activity and other things that I must do like grocery, salon, reunion w/ friend etc.
• Bacolod Itinerary and Budget
• Davao Itinerary and Budget

I’m pretty sure that there will be more adjustment in these coming months since I also need to consider additional expense such as teeth cleaning. I will try to fit everything within the budget so that my savings for the next year’s payment won’t be affected. The only thing that is now finalized is our Davao Itinerary and the rest are still subject to change. Hopefully I can follow all of what I’d plan in this vacation. 

“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.'”- John 6:35

The Good News: Jesus tells that by dedicating yourself to Him, he will provide for you. Your spiritual needs will be fulfilled, as will some of your other tangible needs.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT: CONTINUE DIPLOMA/TRAINING CERTIFICATES (Every Saturday) ACHIEVED!

After following the daily routine that I set for this month, I finally achieved one of my goals for this year which is to have a diploma and food certification. What I did is to allocate an hour for one module every Saturday and Sunday (7:00pm-8:00pm). After doing this for two months, I gained two certifications and at the same time gain knowledge from it. Now that I officially finished this goal, I will allocate this hour to do something productive. I will make a new routine for the month of June so that I can develop myself more positively. The certifications that I gained this year are the following:

To give you a glimpse of the trainings I did here below are the status of it which you can find in Alison Free Online Learning website:

1. Alison – Human Resources in the Food Service and Hospitality Sector
2. Alison – Diploma in Food Industry Roles and Responsibilities

What I have in mind right now is to start learning basic languages such as Chinese. Korean and Spanish. To effectively work on this, I will look for applications, credible YouTube videos and some trainings online. Just by thinking this idea, really makes me feel excited. Hopefully I can work on this goal this year.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT: BE PROFESSIONAL – ACHIEVED!

Now that I’m on my six years industry, the people and experiences that I acquired gave me the confidence in this field. Upon starting my career, I keep telling this mantra to myself which is “First impression always last.”. Once we all graduate, life will never be the same again wherein the support of our parents is there. During these times, we are left with no choice but to grow and face the reality of life and prove ourselves that we can be responsible of our own actions. That’s the only way we can be strong and develop ourselves to face any challenge with confidence. During this time, I realized that the only way for me to see myself as a professional is to continuously invest on myself. The following things below are the activities I succeeded to do for myself in this month:

1. Engage less in negativity (colleagues and social media)
2. Make time for myself (Yoga/Hiit/Meditation)
3. See to it that everyday I will be contented on how I look
4. Develop positive self-talk
5. Make positive affirmation every day.

I believe that whatever you do within, will reflect back externally. As long as I keep developing myself for the better, I will gain positive results. I will continue to do this for the next month that will come while focusing on breaking bad habits.

YOUTUBE: WORK ON 4^TH TRAVEL VLOG ON PROGRESS

Another failed month in working for this vlog. This is so sad since due to the songs subscription that we still haven’t settled, I was left no choice but to not edit it. Now, I am planning to try the existing Go Pro music if ever it won’t be copyright in YouTube since we paid for its subscription. Hopefully I can work on it in this coming month.

Here’s the current status and progress of our vlogs:

1. CINEMATIC 4K | EXPLORE QATAR: Msheireb Downtown Doha –January
2. CINEMATIC 4K | EXPLORE QATAR: Aspire Park –January
3. CINEMATIC 4K | EXPLORE QATAR: Souq Waqif –February
4. CINEMATIC 4K | EXPLORE QATAR: Katara Cultural Village- May

HER INSTAGRAM: 4000 FOLLOWERS ACHIEVED!

My Instagram account has been doing great since last March when one of my posts went viral. After that I received a lot of engagements and my followers boost in just a couple of months. I gained at least 300 story views, at least 60 followers each day and a minimum of 120 likes each post. Isn’t it amazing? Even me, I still can’t imagine how I was able to increase my engagements in just short period of time. Knowing how Instagram platform works, I was able to enhance quality post updates that helps me to retain followers. I still have a lot of pictures left to upload and I think I can reach 10,000 followers before the end of this year. If I will have the same and consistent progress in these coming two months, I can finally reach that number followers before I will take my vacation on October.

I know that investing in social media requires time and effort. Since I’d been into to photography since before, I see it as a fun thing to do rather than a hassle work. By putting efforts into this, I can slowly use it as a means to be an influencer where I can reach out to inspire more individuals. I also think that this investment will greatly help me in the future if ever I’ll have my own business. Another thing is, I can be a real influencer and have a chance to promote places, products and many more. It can serve as a passive income for me in a long run as long as I keep quality content from it.

Here below are my current updates in my Instagram account.

HIS INSTAGRAM: NEW LAYOUT ACHIEVED!

For my partner’s Instagram, I succeeded to create a new layout for him so that it will be more uniform and creative. I used a one filter for every picture that I upload for him and at the same time use hashtags and quality caption. Since it’s his choice to have a private account, I will just continue to upload consistently with a quality picture so that at least it can retain its followers. Another thing that I did is to edit his Instagram Bio, Highlights and put some post in archive. As of now, the pictures that I uploaded to far are from past photos that we took. Since it’s a waste not to upload it, I will just use those pictures first until I can update the latest pictures that we took.

WORDPRESS:6-7 BLOGS ACHIEVED!

I’m happy that I was able to finished all the blogs that I planned for this month. Now, I decided to do everything alternately so that I can be prepared in making advance post. For this month, I successfully published six blogs and for the next month, I planned to published seven blogs. You can check all the blogs that I published in this month with the below links:

In terms of engagements, I’m experiencing a drop of readers since I failed to consistently share it in my other social media accounts. Because of this, I experienced a few visits on my website compare to the last year. In the beginning of the year, I shared that I will stop sharing my blogs in my Facebook account due to the reason that some may interfere and use it against me. But since it affects my engagement, I planned to make a new strategy for the next month in order to boost again my website. Hopefully it will be effective so that I can receive positive response from it.

TIKTOK: 1200 FOLLOWERS ON PROGRESS!

In this month, I wasn’t able to update consistently in TikTok since I don’t have remaining videos for upload. Due to the fact that I didn’t hang out this month, I wasn’t able to shoot videos and instead use the balance videos that I have in my phone. Once we visit Lusail City, I can somehow make more TikTok videos that I can upload here in this social media account.

During this period, I realized how influencers works. It really requires and efforts to do all of these things at the same time. Since I’m also working 8 hours a day for six days In a week, I only have one day to shoot and upload. Unlike Instagram where you can easily take a lot of pictures in one location, it’s not applicable in TikTok since it will cause less engagements. Audience will always prefer new videos from you and it will also be obvious if you keep uploading the same video theme. To be able to acquire consistent uploads, I planned to shoot more videos and just save it in advance. By doing that, I can have back up during those days that I don’t hang out. The other option is to upload dance videos that I usually do. The only catch is that I need to practice and at the same time shoot it in our villa which is not really ideal due to the presence of my flat mates. Nevertheless, I will continue to update here to keep special memories that I experience in this journey.

Now here are some of the Tiktok videos that I uploaded in the month of May.

Truly when you commit yourself into something with all your heart, you will be granted with a lot of positive things. Focusing on good things helps us grow and develop ourselves into a better a person. As I unlocked more months towards my goals this year, I believe that I’m getting closer towards it. Despite of not experiencing yet the outcome of my every sacrifice, I still trust this journey that it will guide me to be in that position close to my goals.

People around me may not see my worth right now, but I will choose to be ok. I know that I will be in the right place soon and I will get what I deserve. I just need to have faith in this path and eventually everything will make sense. Like how this month officially ends, God still gives me a chance to continue what I started. With that, I will never give up and seize every opportunity that comes my way. A productive month may end now, but I still have more months to make memories and achieve all of my goals.

“Jesus said to him, ‘If you can believe? All things are possible for one who believes.” -Mark 9:23