“The best things in life are the people we love, the places we’ve been, and all the memories we’ve made along the way.” – Unknown
Last September 1, I went for a 30 days’ vacation after almost four years of not going home. It was a sudden plan at first and I was a bit skeptical to do it. Gladly I pursued to make it happen because, I gain new inspirations that helped me to look forward. During my six years working overseas, I’d seen so many events on our family that I failed to experience. From Christmas, Birthday, New Year celebrations and other more important events, I was forced to celebrate it on my own. It was really hard at first but I got used to it as time goes by. To sum up everything, I got a chance to went for vacation three times, but this one really took almost four years to happen. This is due to the pandemic that happened during the year 2020 and 2021 where they required tons of requirements such as PCR test, 14 Days quarantine and a lot more other thing. This time, although there are still requirements, it is much better than before. Doing it together with my partner also helped me a lot in order not to feel stressed out about it. I am entitled for more than 45 days but I only used 30 days thinking that it will be more than enough to address my priorities and leisure plans. Because of that, I’d been planning beforehand so that I can make it sure that I will finish all of my task within 30 days. I also stop myself to feel so overwhelm with all of my plans and let my emotions at bay so that I won’t feel disappointed just in case something will not go based on my plans.
That 30 days went smoothly and every single day that I spent there was very productive. I am happy that all of my task was address for the first two weeks and I was able to follow the budget that I set for the whole month. It was actually a restless day while I start to process, but my Mom made it better since she guided me every step of the way. Compare to my previous vacation, I feel like this one is more memorable even though it is less days than what I used to applied before. There’s a lot of things happened every single day and for me to be reminded of it, I vlog all of the highlights of my day and shared it to my social media accounts. Truly, Philippines feels so different in any place I’d been. I feel like the time there is so slow which gives you a chance to do a lot of things. Compare overseas where my routine is fixed, I have a chance to do a lot of things there in my country. I FEEL AT PEACE. Everything feels a slow-mo for me. Even until now, every moment is still vividly there in my mind. I can still perfectly look back all the great moments I shared with my family and friends. Although there are days that are not that perfect, I still feel thankful of this opportunity that God gave to me.
This vacation is one of a kind because it made me feel brand new. A version of myself in which I feel more confident to move forward. Different plans and insights came across on my mind and I feel like I’m a few steps towards an ideal life that I’m wanting to have. I know that I won’t be able to make it happen if I will not fill my self with positive things. That’s what my vacation provided me. That 30 days was an incredible time to seek refuge after all the challenges and hardships that I’d been through. I believe that I deserve a break from all of it, and that vacation is the perfect way to make it happen. Life will give us a lot of things and we all deserve to relax and be on our safe place. As I had done it, I wanted to tell everyone that you also deserve it.
“The vacation we often need is freedom from our own mind.” – Jack Adam Weber
During my vacation, I never failed to write down all my thoughts in my journal. I wanted to keep all the memories I have there, that’s why I consistently take note of it. This would help me to be inspired and at the same time create new plans for myself. By doing that, I came up with new plans and goals that I planned to achieve for the next years that will come. I am confident that I’ll make it happen as long as I focus on it. Even if it will take time, I will patiently wait until I achieved my dreams. I will take everything slowly but surely and during that period, I will continuously work on myself. As I filled myself with inspiration and plans for myself and my family, I will keep trying to do my best and will not settle for less. Every minute of my days are essential on the vision that I have for my future. This will only be the beginning of everything. I will continue to share every step I’ll make in this blog hoping that I can somehow inspire others.
In this blog, I will share the things that I realized during my vacation. All of these are the things that makes me inspired nowadays. As I make a new set of plans, I will bring these inspirations with me along the way. At the same time, I will continue to seek things that would help me to feel motivated like how all of these made me feel. As I shared these here in this blog, I hope someday, someone will be enlightened with this.
For me, I have a long way ahead and in order not to live with regrets, I need to go beyond my limits. The truth is, the most challenging barrier that anyone can encounter is their own selves. We tend to stop ourselves from wanting something because we feel like we don’t deserve it. We are settled on our comfort zone and we don’t want to feel any fear anymore. Because of this, most of us live with regrets in life just because they were afraid of trying something new. I believe that everything requires something before we can have it. Efforts, hard work, time, faith and confidence are the things that worked together in order for someone to go beyond their limitation. I’d been there before but as I realized how big yet wonderful the world is, we can do so much more than we can imagine. It all starts with us. If we don’t take the initiative to look for opportunities, we will miss a lot of great things. During my vacation, I’d seen how most of the people I met settled in their life but still live with some regrets. Most of them hope that they still have a chance to do more before having their own family. And as I hear their own stories in life, it made me realized how important is to live the most before we settle. Everyone should choose to keep going towards their dreams as long as they don’t yet feel fulfilled in life. Yes, being grateful on what we have is success, but isn’t it more ideal if that kind success won’t bring any regrets after?
As soon as this realization marked my mind, I started to fixed my way of thinking and see the tons of opportunities in front of me. I made a plan right away and started to take an action little by little. I also started to look for more inspirations such as filling my days with things that will support me with that goal. Now, I’m happy that I already started everything. I made it sure that from taking an action towards the opportunities I’d seen for myself; I need to think that not all of it will be meant for me. I just need to keep trying and whatever meant for me will find its way. During this time, I will patiently wait for it while I continue to keep trying. Nobody even myself can stop me now. I’d seen how my future will unfold if I will not start this and I think that this will be the best time to work on it. I hope that when the time comes, my future self will thank me for being aggressive with my goals. I want my future self will be contented and proud of the person that she become. For now, I will support that dream so that it can happen.
As I spent six years overseas, I realized that the time I spent without my family are the period that I can’t repeat anymore. As I went back and saw them again, I felt how we all grow apart. I’d seen the fine lines that marked my parent’s faces, and some white hairs that they tried hard to cover. The time without them changed us so much and that made me realized that anything may happen in the future. I keep asking myself if it’s worth of the time that had lost but for me to remove all the negative thoughts, I just see it as an inspiration to achieve my goals faster and finally settle back home. I now dream to get a job that will help me to save more so that I can invest in businesses that will provide me a means to sustain my lifestyle. As what most famous people says “No one is getting rich from a nine hours job.”, I will see this as my sign to look for other means to make my money work for me. This may see as a joke but for those who knows about wealth management, they will easily know what it means.
The truth is, we all grow older as years goes by. Nobody is an exemption from it. That’s why, as much as I can spend time with them, I will choose to do it so. Time with them is the most important thing that I prioritized right now. I want to give the things that they deserve and provide them the happiness for the rest of their lives. I can only make it happen if I know that I’m secured already because I don’t want them to take responsibility of me in the end. I hope that in these couple of years, I can finally start my ideas so I can be at ease that everything will be ok. Not only my parents, I also want to make time for my relatives and friends. I can only do it so if I’m settled in my country and have the means to live.
Now, I just hope and pray that I will get an opportunity that will help me a lot with my goals. I will also look for other means of cash flow so that I can double my efforts in making all of my goals possible.
Last 2016 when I got a job overseas, that’s the time when I became independent. Being alone in another country away from home, I was forced to take care of myself and managed all the things. From finances, health, lifestyle, work, everything came up to me and I actually almost didn’t make it happen. I remember how many times I cried and been wanting to go home. The things that keep me going that time are my plans and goals in life. Every time I feel like I wanted to give up, all I did is to look all the things that I wrote on my journal and the picture of my family. These things gave me a moment to clear my mind and experienced peace from the challenges that I’d been going through. I realized that it’s really different if you have a family to lean on every time you’re down and stress out. Someone who will just be there because their mere presence can miraculously do something to your worries. A quality time for them makes you forget all the things that clouded your mind. It just makes a big different if you are with someone you love.
For me, I’m so bless to have my family. At a young age, my parents involved us in every situation that will requires help. If we are in a tight budget, every one of us is making an effort to give help and assistance to our parents. If someone needs a shoulder to cry on, we are all willing to listen without any judgements. We are all open to each other and we can share anything even our personal secrets. For us, the only way to strengthen our relationship to each other is to communicate all our thoughts. That’s the only way we can address our concerns and clear our thoughts with any negativity. We can rely on each other in a way that if anyone needs help, we can assist that person right away. There is no bread winner on our family and that is all because of the efforts and hard work of our parents. They know what to prioritized first and they know how important is to be financially secured.
Just by talking with them, I can learn a lot of things. That’s why during my vacation, I really take every chance to talk with them. That for me is a time to strengthen our bond and also learn from each other. We may meet a lot of people in our life but the one who will stay with us is our own family. A lot of things will happen for sure, one thing I will treasure and protect is the relationship that we work hard together.
‘I was thinking before that I am moving slower towards my goals. I just feel like I can still be more than who I am today. Because of this, I often felt like I am left out compare to others with the same age. Every now and then, I still feel the same thing until I took a pause from everything last vacation. As I’d seen the current situation of my family, I realized that we somehow made a progress compare to before. Especially in the financial aspect, every one of us is financially capable to provide and address our daily needs. If I can compare the time when three of us are all studying, it was really challenging before since we only have few sources of income. Now that we are all done and have our own work, we can easily buy things and provide for our parents need. From almost six years that we started our career journey, our life became better. We now don’t borrow money from anyone, we got a new family car for us and the best thing is that we can buy the things that we want.
Just looking back, I realized all the changes that happened to me. It’s not that I am slow but in fact I am in the right time at the right moment. I don’t need to rush things because I’m already progressing in life. I need to think that whatever plans I have for myself, I should not be pressured by it but rather focus on things that would greatly help me. I need to be proud of myself and I should be the one who needs to support my own self more than anyone else. I know that my family also feels it and that for me more than enough reminder for all the hardships that we’d been through. Truly when you realized all the efforts you gave in the past, every worries you have in your mind will instantly vanish. This is because we learn to acknowledge it and be grateful about it. It’s a matter of trusting yourself that even though you still have a long way to go, you have your faith that you’ll make it. During that journey, it is important not to question our selves or make our feelings be bothered by negativity. Everyone of us deserves an appreciation from all of our sacrifices. We can start it by appreciating our own self first.
We all meet temporary people in our life. Some will just come and go later on, while few will stay and be with you for the rest of your life. Even though this is a fact, we need to realized that they play a certain part of our journey. They stand for a certain purpose and it is all God’s way for us to learn from them. Just like in our school, for sure there are some teachers that made a big impact on us. Our childhood friends who moved out from our place to chase their dreams, for sure we still have moments together with them that we always remember. Just look at this way, in our own life story wherein we are the main role, there are some roles which helps the character to develop his/her self. That’s why when I had a chance to reach out to my friends, I made it sure that I can make them feel that no matter how many years separated us, our relationship will always be the same. We can all reach out together and that’s more than enough for me. As long as the bond is still there, all we need to do is to keep it going.
We all grow apart but despite of that, we can still easily reach them out. During my vacation when I had a chance to meet my friends, I realized the importance of creating a certain connection in which you let them know that you are open to anyone who would like to talk to you. Because in reality, some of us are not that confident to initiate a conversation from someone who we never been in touch for so many years. Actually, it was hard for me to reach out at first, but with the help with my other friends who keep messaging us in our group chat, it became easy for me to invite them for a meet up. After that, everything is a history. We didn’t only meet once but twice in different location. Let’s just say I was able to meet at least 20 of high school and childhood friends. We were able to share funny stories together and also the hardships that they’d been through. Thinking about it now, I feel happy that we somehow reconnect and strengthen our relationship again. Even though years and places may drive us apart, one thing that stays is how we treasure each other. A long journey awaits us and we will continue to cheer each other’s endeavor.
I am person with big dreams. As soon as my professor in college shared to us the mantra that she’s been living with, which is to “Never settle for less”, it became my goal as well. I see the time that we have right now as an opportunity for us to be better. The choice is ours to make. Will we take it for granted or will we learn to value it? Time is limited for everyone and for me, I don’t want to regret something that I never done just because of the fear of failing. All the experiences that I gained together with my family that supported me along the way, I believe that a big future is waiting for me. That’s why, I choose to look forward and chase it. At my age right now which is 26, I need to be very determined on the path that I’ll take. I need to make every second of my day productive so that I can continuously make progress for my goals. The path will be very tough but as long as I believe on myself, I will never give up no matter what happen.
During my vacation, it helped me realized the choices that we have in our entire life. It is in fact endless. All of those endless opportunities present requires efforts to make it possible. This is when most of us failed to do because we choose to stay on our comfort zone. Who would prefer to go on a difficult path if they have a choice to stay where they feel at ease? I bet only a few will choose the first one. It has been like that since before and what I’d observed common to every one of them are the following:
Once you keep repeating a certain action, it will soon become a habit. Once you develop a habit, it will be hard for you to address it not unless you work on it consistently. I’m guilty that I’m doing the same before and it took me months before I finally addressed it. I believe that in order for someone to be successful, he/she needs to fix their own selves to increase their chances. Once you set your mind, negativity won’t have any space anymore in your life. You’ll be more focus on what you need to do and once it’s repeated consistently, I can assure that you’ll achieve anything that you hope for. Isn’t it nice to know that you’re slowly achieving something rather than not taking an action? That’s what I realized during my vacation, and I can attest that during those 30 days, I never failed to do something for my goals. I never let any single day be missed out. That’s why it was pretty busy day for me but yet I feel fulfilled that I was able to address all my priorities on that period. I realized here that everything is really possible if you wisely plan it out and effectively implement it to your life. Anyone can be successful in their life. We just need to value our time, exert efforts and surround ourselves of people who will inspires us. There’s no shortcut to success, but the road will surely be worth of the sacrifices. That’s for sure.
Working employee wherein blogging became my side hobby.
Creator of Living Her Own Life which aims to touch people’s heart and inspire them to achieve their own goals in life.
Writing has been my passion for almost 15 years. Last 2020, I made my very own website where I can share all of my thoughts and stories in life.