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

Few more days of this year and we’ll finally welcome the year 2023. It was just like yesterday when I was still planning my goals, but here I am now doing the last four blogs for this year. Every time I close my eyes, I always think of all the things that happened in the past months. There are days that I feel insecure, sad and worried about the path that I choose and through prayers, I was able to let go all of it and just focus on the things that I can do today. There are times that I keep questioning life that why it doesn’t work like what I wanted it to be, but little did I know is that, everything will fit to its perfect place in the right time. The whole year taught me to be patient, focus and grateful to the life given to me.  I think that this year for everyone is the period to restart their own life from the adverse effect of the pandemic. I saw how people went back on track and strive do well after starting from zero. Like what I did in this whole year, I made a big effort to fix my mindset in order for me to stay focus on my goals. I bet that the rest did the same and I’m happy to know that we are all progressing at the same time. Although there are still challenges present in my life, I was able to approached it differently compare before.

At 26, I know that there’s still a lot of things that I need to learn in life. That’s why, I see every single day an opportunity to grow and be a better version of ourselves. Through this blog, I was able to express my thought and feelings in experiences I have in life. It helps me to clear up my mind, note down my memorable experiences and provide me with a means to communicate with others who have the same situation. In time, this will be my reminder of all the things that I’d been through to reach my goals in life. This will be a promise to myself, that I will make use of this blog to be an inspiration to others. Just by simply sharing my experiences, tips, goals and its status, I know that it can be a means for anyone to have an idea where to start. Regardless of your age and situation, my story will remind you that anything is possible if you put your heart into it. As we all end this year, this blog will tell all the things that made this period unforgettable for me. It will consist of events & plans that helps me to become a better version of myself.

You can also check these blogs below which highlights my unforgettable moments on a monthly basis:

I started to share my unforgettable experiences just this year. I made an effort to do this because I want to have things that can remind me of my journey once I already reach my goals in life. Isn’t it nice if you can easily look back all the things that happened on our past? In my case, pictures are not enough for me to keep. I want to have a detailed story of my journey so I won’t forget any single thing from that experience. I once started it from writing in my journal and finally I found a platform where I can share something personal. Because of this, I also realized that my day became more productive by means of working on this blog. Every time I’m working on a blog, I always feel excited to express my thoughts about it. Other than that, I also make an effort to provide quality post by means of making illustrations. Although it requires a lot of effort before I publish every post, it easily became part of my routines which makes it easier for me to do it. Sometimes I have challenge in publishing it since the illustration I do should be easily understand by readers. That’s why I always look for an idea online on how I can easily express my thoughts by using illustrations. As I started to do it this year, I know that I’m slowly improving my digital skills. I still have a lot of things to improved but I’m pretty sure I can eventually make it happen.

Without further ado, let’s make a quick recap of this year’s event that made a big impact in my life!

“Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.” ― Paulo Coelho

I’d been setting up goals since before. Since I was a kid, I really love making plans, doing rules and listing my to do list for the day. At a young age, it became a practice for me to make most of my days by being efficient. I believe that even a single hour shouldn’t be wasted in doing things that will just negatively affect us. I would always choose to do my priorities first before anything else because I don’t want to end up wasting the entire day. In this year, I continued to plan out my life but this time I made it more specific, professional and detailed. What I did is I made use of different software and application for me to achieve my goals. Unlike before when I usually just write down everything in my journal, now, I’m keeping journals, trackers, reviews and assessment for each month of this year. All of this started when I realized that I need to focus on making my goals happen in this year so that I can make a big step towards my ultimate goal. For me to be able to be more motivated on it, I keep tracking and assessing my performance every now and then.  I found it very effective for me because I’d seen how my life progress just by starting it. Not only I did this for my goals but I also made an effort to use it from other aspects of my life such as health and financials.

To give you an idea on what I did for the whole year which greatly help me to achieve my goals, here are the list of it:

Goals – 2022 Goals Tracker, 11 Years Timetable & 11 Years Career Plan

Finances– Cash Flow 2022, Expenses Tracker, 2022 Net Worth, Investment timeline, Long-Term Investment Breakdown, Yearly Budget Guideline, Monthly Financial Review

Health – Calorie Count Application, Water Tracker, 30 Days HIIT Workout Challenge, Sleep & Meditation Application

Other than this, you can see in this website different blogs that I shared like the recap of my experiences, monthly goals review and monthly financial review. All of these may sound stressing to do, but all of it helped me to focus on my priorities for the whole year. It keeps me on tab of the progress that I made every month and at the same time provide me necessary information like the areas that I still need to work on. With the help of the blog and vlogs that I saw online, I incorporate all the ideas that I got and make plans fit for my goals. Since I already started it this year and it made a positive impact, I planned to continue it for the next years that will come. I will also keep learning from professional individuals who keeps sharing tips and ideas for young generations. Like what they’re doing, I hope that I can also inspire others soon and used my platform to influence people. I know that through these things that I started this year, I can manage my life in a more detailed manner and at the same time achieve my goals faster. It’s been tested and proven to be effective so I know for sure that by being consistent on this will make great results in the long run.

Not all days are perfect. There are also times that I also feel lazy to do things. For me to address this, I scheduled a day when I don’t need to do any task or follow a to do list. During my “Day Off” I’m allowed to slacked off and just spend the day resting. What I usually do are watch drama/movie, talk with my parents, enjoy treats, sleep and hang out. Based on research, one lazy day is necessary for us to recover and improves our performance. After six days of working for my goals, that one day is reserved for me to do whatever I want. The only challenge right now is that I’m not that free to do what I want to do given the fact that I’m sharing my place to others. That’s why I been hoping to have a place on my own with no flat mates or anyone with me so that I can literally do anything I want. I think that as I watch different vlogs about people who chose to live on their own, it inspires me to have the same situation so I can be more independent. That’s what I actually focusing right now and hopefully I can have positive response soon from my applications.

I’m not a travel type person for the reason that I’m afraid of spending money. Since I’m so focused in making my goals possible, it pushed me to live in a very frugal life to the point that I don’t go out. This year, my partner made me realized to enjoy simple moments while working on my goals. I thought that it was impossible before but I soon realized that everything is possible if you are ready to make a change. Everything starts with us. The only one who can stop us is our own self. For almost four years living within my wall, I decided to step out and enjoy the things around me. These simple moments are now the reason why I feel more inspired to reach my targets. It became a moment for me to seek refuge and clear my thoughts in order to come up with a right decision.

In this year, I started to explore places here in Qatar in which I also shared in my travel blogs. Other than that, I got a chance to explore provinces in the Philippines when I had my vacation. To sum up this year, I was able to explore the following places in Qatar & Philippines:

QATAR

PHILIPPINES

Working here in Qatar for more than six years, it was just recently when I started exploring different places it offers. It took me total of five years to be in my room and just go in common places! It actually makes me feel regretful thinking about the years that I neglected. Given that realization this year, I believe that this is the right time for me to enjoy this country. No one knows what will happen in the future so the least thing that I can do now is to use this time that I have here in visiting different spots. This year, I was able to explore Education City, Katara, Msheireb Downtown, Souq Waqif and Lusail City. Since there’s still a lot of unfinished projects going on here in Qatar due to the FIFA World Cup, I’m pretty sure that there will be more spots to visit on for the next year. Other than visiting different places, I’m also planning to look for affordable land and water adventures. Like what I did with my friend which is the one-hour horse-back riding, I’d been wanting to have new adventures like that. Gladly I came across with an application which offers discount in different shops, brand and companies. There I discover different fun activities that I can do with my partner with a budget friendly price. There’s actually a lot of it and I can’t wait to do it everything for the next year.

My Philippines adventure started when I went for vacation last September. There we were able to go in different provinces in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. It was a one-of-a-kind experience with the people that I treasured the most and because of that it made me acquired new inspirations in life. Just by seeing their happy faces makes that moment very special for me. Sadly, my dad didn’t join us on our Davao tour due to his work. At least he was able to join us on our La Union and Baguio Tour before we go back again in Qatar. During these moments that I shared with my family, it made me decided to go home every year. I realized that we are all getting older and we need to create more memories with them specially my parents. Since I’m working overseas, it became hard for me to bond with them. That’s why as soon as I get an opportunity, I am thinking to consider have a yearly ticket offer so that it will not be hard for me to save up for it.

Just by reading my travel blogs and looking the pictures that we took during those days; I can feel a sense of nostalgia. It reminds me of the kind of feeling that I’m experiencing during that moment. After all of these adventures, it made me feel more inspire to explore more places around me. Together with my partner, friends and family making memories with them will help me to have more ideas and arrive in best decisions in life. These are the moments that I will always carry for the rest of my life. In order for me to make this plan happen, I manage my money for the next year and include leisure expense for it. By doing that, at least I can have a monthly leisure time together with my loved ones.

One of the surprising things that happened this year is when my Instagram account engagements soar high. It was last March when I started to received tons of notification. I can still remember the specific thing that happened that morning, because I couldn’t believe that it happened overnight. After we shoot our Souq Waqif vlog, I uploaded few pictures during our shooting. It was night when I made an update and after I woke the next morning, my account received tons of notification. I even wrote in my journal the updates of it because that’s when I started to track my engagements.

Once I received tons of likes, comment and followers, I soon received a lot of messages online. I found it first a bit weird because most of the messages I received are from guys who wanted to hang out with me. I chose not to mind it at first and gladly Instagram has its features which you can filter messages that you don’t want to receive. Because of this, I don’t feel burden about it anymore and I can still message well with my friends through it. Months passes by and my followers reach more than 10k which is really out of my imagination. That’s when I started to look for other influencers so I can review the strategy that they do to their accounts. I downloaded some of application which can help me to make quality post, story and reels. Other than these shocking engagements, I also received different invitation from events here in Qatar. The first one that I attended was a launching ceremony of a new F&B Digital application which was held in Sheraton Grand Doha- Jamavar Restaurant. It was a very great experienced because there I saw a lot of digital influencers and content creators. I also took that chance to check their accounts to get an idea which I can apply on my account. After that event, I started to received different invitations from a legit event company.

During my vacation, I had a challenge uploading and because of that, my engagements became low. After I returned and uploaded pictures here in Qatar, that’s when my account soar high again. What I planned is I will make an alternate post for my pictures from vacation and the pictures that I’ll take here in Qatar so that my engagements will continue to improve. In these remaining days of the year, my target is to have at least 13,000+ followers and be invited in different events. This time, I really wanted to make use of this opportunity to have some fun activity outside my work. I know that by nurturing this opportunity, it will provide a means to have better connections especially nowadays where all are digitally connected from one another. To be able to come up with high quality post, I am thinking to purchase quality camera for myself. As of now, I’m yet to decide if I’ll just buy an iPhone or a quality camera. I just hope that I will get a better opportunity this time so I can have the means to provide for this dream items.

Here’s the current updates of my Instagram account:

I actually have a lot of idea like visiting different restaurants and indulge in different activities here in Qatar in which I can share on my social media account. In order to do this, I need to have the means to provide for it. That’s why, I planned to have a monthly activity next year together with my partner so I can gain more engagements and maybe a brand ambassadorship soon! Who knows? I actually see a lot of Filipino digital creators here and I really feel amazed on how they execute their marketing skills in every post they make. They inspired me to pursue this career because I know that it will be a good opportunity for me in the future. For now, I just need to focus more on making quality content that would help me to drive visitors on my page. I will really make an effort to make my account earn a competitive advantage so I can work around with different brands soon. As of now, the applications that I currently used in updating are the following:

• Canva
• Graphionica
• Lightroom
• GoPro Quick
• Story Lab

With the following applications above, I was able to enhance my post and improved it compare to my previous updates. I know that I still have a lot of things to learn that’s why I will keep exploring anything that will help me to develop my skills. Now, I’m really looking forward for the next year that will come. I hope that by that time, I’ll be able to have at least an edge in the industry.

After I successfully achieved my goals which is to renovate our two-house rental, I was able to earn a passive income stream which will help me to address my 1^st Insurance and SSS payments. That amount is upon the agreement that I had with my parents which is to have 80:20 share for its monthly income. Since it’s their property and I’m the one who renovate it, we both agreed in this set-up. It was not actually my first plan to renovate our existing property, but realizing the situation that we have right now, I know that it’s the right decision. Since before, I know that investing in real estate will always be worth it. The only catch is that I need to have big amount of funds in order to start investing from it. Gladly within two years that I’m working in my new company, I was able to come up with enough funds to finally start it. The first renovation started in the month of March while the second one is in the month of November. I’d been sharing all the updates here in this blog and it helped me to be more inspired in doing it.

Growing up, I learned from my parents that real estate investing is one of the best type of savings. This is because of the reason that land resources are scarce and its value grow over time. Unlike other things such as cars, phones, clothes etc. which depreciates over time, it is better to invest in things that will gives you profit in the future. At 26, I decided to finally start it after I secure a two insurance/investment under my name. I believe that this is the right time for me to focus on building my passive income because I’m about to reach the adulting stage. I know pretty sure how hard it is to save up once you have your own family. I’d seen the current situation of my colleagues and that’s when I realized that we need to be prepared as early as possible. By making my first step this year, I believe this will be the beginning of everything. For the next year, I will make sure that I will have another real estate investment under my name so I can reach my P40,000 monthly passive income target. I’ll be doing a separate blog for it so that I can share to you my plans for me to achieve this goal.

For now, I am confident that I’ll be able to work on it slowly. Despite of the limited cash flow that I have right now, I will save up every year to make sure that I will have progress in real estate investing. As of now, I’m currently looking for other options like foreclosed properties, preselling townhouse and also condominium. I still have a year to collect my thoughts in order for me to arrive in the best decision. I will also look for some opinions from my batchmate who knows very well about investing. For the remaining days of this year, I will start to arrange my budget and see the amount that I can save for my investment. I will also consider making a business plan just in case we come up in starting a business. This actually just came in my mind after I got a chance to talk with my classmates in high school. Some of them are offering different ideas in starting a business and that made me feel inspired to create inputs for it. I believe that this is also the right time for me to create something which I can apply my years of experience in the hospitality industry. Just by thinking of this really makes me feel excited. I hope and pray that this coming year will be a period of new adventures for me!

One of the highlights of this year is the FIFA World Cup which started on November 20. Months prior to that date, there’s actually a lot of things happen in order to attract visitors here in Qatar. There’s a lot of concerts by different famous stars, art decorations made by well-known artist, opening of different hotels and restaurants, and a lot more events that aims to promote the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Being able to experience this world event makes me feel grateful, proud and at the same time overwhelm. It was a very feastful period for all the visitors and residents in Qatar. I can say that it was a successful event given that I’d seen how people enjoy different activities during the world cup. Even though I wasn’t able to secure a ticket (since it’s actually expensive now), I still enjoyed other things they prepared. My Instagram account will be the evidence of how I enjoyed this period. Together with my cousin and partner, we both explore different places to make sure that we will have the best time of our life. Streets are full, event places are jampacked and public transport are 24/7 open to cater all of the visitors. I’m pretty sure that the hospitality industry is definitely busy by now. From hotels, restaurants, clubs, café’s and many more companies offering hospitality services, I hope that they will somehow be able to enjoy this period.

This event indeed became the best way to end this year!

Here are some pictures that we took during that time:

There’s an endless opportunity out there even if this year will end soon. Like how these events impact my life, I know that there will be more adventures, learning and experiences for me in the next year. Like how I prepared myself before 2022 start, I will also do the same in these remaining days.

This website will be my own life story that I’ll share for everyone. This is my journey on how I can break my own limitation, achieve my ultimate goals and make the impossible, possible. Every effort that I gave in this path came from scratch and that will be my driving force to be the person that I want to become.

This year may end soon but I will keep all of these great memories with me. To my future self, I want to congratulate you now for all the things that you’d done in the past years.

Keep going, keep inspiring!

-Lea Pearl 2022