“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” -Mother Teresa

Another month passed and here we are again welcoming another period of our life. As I look back in this month, I realized a lot of things that happened and now counted as memories. There were times that I’m not in my best and there are times where I choose to live to the fullest. It will never be perfect and that’s a fact. Despite of that, I discovered a lot of realizations that helped me to be more enlightened. I know that I still have a lot of things to learn and to experience but I think in between of those situations, it is very important to make used of what we learned from it. It will never change our life if we don’t apply it. Everything will just stay as a mere realization, if we don’t take the initiative to make changes in our life. That’s why, every time I discover something important that I know will impact my life, I always make it sure that I understand the whole thing and think on how I can practice it.

“All good work requires self-revelation.” ― Sidney Lumet, Making Movies

One thing that made a big impact in my life this month is when I realized that peace of mind is not a place that everyone is expecting. It is about a state of mind that wherever you are right now, you can still find peace in your heart, mind and soul. Negativity will always be present everywhere we go, so everything depends on how we set our mind. I realized that it’s our own choice how we direct our life, will we waste it by thinking all the negative things that we experienced, or we will let it go and focus on the good ones? Like how I see this month, it was not that perfect but I choose to see the good things that came out after each trial. If I will continue to see all the faults, mistakes and failures in this month, for sure I will just feel devastated and negative about it. It will surely affect me big time that’s why, I learned to change what I need to focus on in order to continue my life positively.

“Life imposes things on you that you can’t control, but you still have the choice of how you’re going to live through this.” — Celine Dion”

It will still be a long journey for me and there will be a lot of challenges that will surely test my faith. As I started to blog about the significant things happened in my life on a monthly basis, I will see this as a reminder for my growth and progress. I believe that these memories will serve as an inspiration in other’s life that despite of the challenges I’d been through, I still choose to move on and live my life to the fullest. These will not only be my memories but my own life story toward the goals that I’m aiming for. This will only be the start of everything and I am more than ready to face what my future brings.

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

1. LAST RED FLAG

One thing that really tested me is the confrontation that happened in my workplace. Although I can’t elaborate it that much, the whole point of that conversation is how I realized that it’s the end of everything. That day, I decided that I won’t expect anymore and just continue to do my work while looking for a better opportunity. Since I also realized that it’s not in my control and what happened gave me the last sign to continue what I’d been thinking for so long, I learned to set the right boundaries and just focus on my self-growth. There’s no perfect company, and I know it based on my career experience. Everyone can find flaws in any company, but what makes it differ is how it becomes tolerable if you’ll compare it to the benefits, skills and knowledge that you’re gaining from that company. We need to assess and identify the pros and cons of the job that we are doing before coming up in a decision.

Another factor that we also need to consider as I experienced this is, on how we should control our emotions during confrontation. We should not let our emotion win over since we may say words that we are not meant to. It’s the same if we are too happy as well. The best thing that we can do is to stabilize what we feel at the moment and as much as possible control the things that we say. Whatever we blurt out can be used against us, so it is better to be in control of our emotion in any situation that we’re in.

“Emotions can get in the way or get you on the way.” – Mavis Mazhura

In terms of career, one thing that I am very determined to do is to make used of the time that I have right now to achieve my dream profession. As much as I can, I wanted to go beyond my limitation and challenge myself on how far I can go. Now that I turned 26 this month, I need to be more fearless in grabbing opportunities that I have right now. I should not settle in my comfort zone not until I know that I am secured financially and I’m contented on my career path. With this situation that I experienced in this month; I believe that it’s a sign given to me for me to carefully consider taking a new step in my career. Although I really felt bad about what happened, I just took it positively by thinking that its God’s way for me to realized things that I need to consider.

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”- Steeve Jobs

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.

1. It should be considered as a supervisory role.
2. 30%-50% increase on my current salary.
3. Solo room package.
4. Opportunity to learn different cuisines (company program).
5. Opportunity for promotion.
6. Pre-opening 5-star property.
7. It should be considered famous hotel brand.
8. Hotel and accommodation should be located within the city or close to the city.

Now that I have a good foundation already, I believe that it’s is the right time for me to look for something that match my credentials. Whatever position I’ll venture on now will greatly affect my career path so it is better to look for what’s best and suitable for me.

2. 1^ST & 2^ND PHASE OF HOUSE RENOVATION

Finally! My first project started already! After saving for the whole year of 2021, I can now slowly see the results of my sacrifices. To tell you honestly, I felt so gloomy at first when I sent the budget for the 1^st and 2^nd phase of our house rental renovation. Of course, it took me years to reach that amount, and this is the first time I’ll invest in real estate so it was really a big sacrifice on my part. What I usually do every time I feel down about it, is just to think that it’s a great investment that will help my family and my future. I trust God that this decision will be one of the best one that I did for the rest of my life. I also believe that since I started it now and got an idea about it, it will help me to be more consistent in investing in real estate. Upon venturing in this kind of investment, I am aware that it requires a big amount in order to acquire assets. That’s why, I am maximizing my savings capacity in order to invest in it as soon as possible.

Real estate cannot be lost or stolen, nor can it be carried away. Purchased with common sense, paid for in full, and managed with reasonable care, it is about the safest investment in the world.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Given the age that I’m in which is 26, I believe that this is the right time for me to invest in passive income since I already settled my long-term financial goals which are insurance and investment. Now, my focus is to gain multiple income stream since I’m about to reach the marrying period. As long as I can have stable income other than my salary, it will help me to be more financially secured and at the same time will be a great help for my own family. Now that I started this year, I believe that I can eventually reach my targets as long as I’ll be consistent with this.

Here below are the current status of the house renovation this month of February. To give you an idea, the property is only a 30-35sqm row house. We put it on rent for almost a decade with the same price which is P3,000.00 monthly. Now, our target is to fully renovate it and double its rental price to P6,000.00. The target completion is on March and hopefully we ca proceed on renovating the other property within this year.

Real estate investing, even on a very small scale, remains a tried and true means of building an individual’s cash flow and wealth.” -Robert Kiyosaki

In this month, there’s a lot of claims in the social media that the 2022 is the same as “2020 too”, due to the similarities of what happened in that year. It sounds funny but a lot of us feels the sense of “déjà vu” as we all start this year. Despite of the vaccines that are now available, covid cases is still unstoppable. Upon experiencing to be sick during these tough times, I can feel the growing anxiety inside of me. Thankfully as I recover, I also helped myself to divert my thinking in positive things. All I hope for is everything will be better as we start again the next month. Since that will also be my birth month, I feel so excited yet nervous on the challenges that will be present. Nevertheless, I will continue to focus on things that I can control and keep my mind busy in aiming my goals.

These are the pictures I took after two weeks of making the same workout. As you can see, there still no changes compare to the first week. This is because, results can only be seen if you are consistent on it for a LONG RUN. Since It’s my only two weeks doing this, I’m aware that I won’t able to see any results from doing it. Nevertheless, I will still click a picture every week for me to remind myself on things that I need to work with. In this second week, my other room mates came back from vacation so it was really a challenge for me to do the workout without any disturbance. The growing COVID cases also had let my anxiety grows fearing the same lockdown that we experienced last year.

This week is indeed a big challenge for us, but it is good that I have something to keep myself busy yet productive.

3. MY BIRTHDAY DATE

Your birthday is the beginning of your own personal new year. Your first birthday was a beginning, and each new birthday is a chance to begin again, to start over, to take a new grip on life. — Wilfred Peterson

Another thing that made this month special is when I had a simple celebration with my boyfriend. Unlike the previous years which I celebrated it glamorously like a feast, I decided to just have a simple yet memorable time with the person I love. We just had a chicken and pizza meal together and talked about things in our life. He and Shuuja also gifted me some items which I really appreciate. Although it was a simple celebration, in all honesty, this is the first time that I found peace in me while celebrating my birthday here abroad. My past celebrations came out like a responsibility/obligation rather than a day that I will really enjoy. This time, I made it sure that even though I only have my love ones with me to celebrate, I will be genuinely happy and true to myself.

I can say that this is one of the memorable birthdays that I experienced. I feel more mature and independent right now, because I stop seeking and expecting things from others. I learned to be happy with what I have and appreciate small things in my life. Maybe this is what they called adulting? I think this is the time where my priorities are on top and it pushed me to become more practical in dealing with things. This special moment of my life, paved the way for me to become a better version of myself.

As I turned 26, I have a clearer vision of what I need and want in my life. There’s no more question of “What if?” because I’m fully ready on what life will throw at me. I’m aware that this path that I’d chosen will be full of challenges that will test my faith. I may cry and fail a lot of times, but one thing I know is I will never choose to give up. The real people around me right now are more than enough to inspire me to go on and reach my goals. I will get older as years pass by, but at the same time, I’ll be wiser, better and stronger. It took me long years to build up myself and it’s now or never. All the things I’d experienced will help me to be in that place that I’d been dreaming for so long.

Today is the oldest you have been, and the youngest you will ever be. Make the most of it! – Nicky Gumbel

This year 2022, will surely be the start of everything. Once I reminisce on what happened this year, I will eventually tell myself that,

“Finally, I made it happen.”

4. HORSE BACK RIDING CLASS BUCKET LIST

At last! This month, we finally experienced one thing in my bucket list for this year which is to join a horse back riding class. It was during the mid of February when me and my friend decided to pursue it despite of the sudden change of our minds. At first, we planned to go to a theme park because of their promo sale but we found out that it is only available during Monday. So, we changed our minds and just go on with our original plan which is to avail a horse-riding class experience.

“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” – Oprah Winfrey

We got this experience package in 365 Adventures Qatar which only cost 150 Qar for a class of one hour. The place is quite near in Baladna Park which is somehow close to Al Khor Area. Even though we spent almost 250 Qar for the whole experience including the transportation, I can say that it was really worth of the price. I brought my boyfriend as our official photographer so that I can assure that I’ll get a nice picture. It is supposed to be on 18 but the coordinator requested for it to be move to Feb 26 due to the windy weather that may affect the horses. Since I also have a staycation reservation on that day, we just decided to move it as per their recommendation.

I’ll be uploading the pictures as soon as I edit it! I’m so excited to share it with you guys!

5. FOOD AND BEVERAGE COORDINATOR APPLY

In this month, I finally decided to apply as a coordinator in pre-opening hotels located in Lusail here in Qatar. Since some opportunities already opened, I took that opportunity to apply at least 4-5 properties. I also tried to apply in coordinator job outside Qatar, just to make use the opportunities that is currently present. Who knows right? With the support of my partner, I become more confident in applying. Even though I applied already, I didn’t push myself that much just for me to get out in my current company. I just did my part and let things happen in the right time. I believe that those things that is meant for me, will make its way not matter what happen. So rather than to feel pressured about applying, I just take time to at least ready myself when the time comes.

As of now, here are the properties that I applied in this month of February:

1. F&B Coordinator- Waldorf Astoria Lusail
2. F&B Coordinator- Marriott Toronto Canada
3. F&B Coordinator- Accor Canada
4. Mice & Events Coordinator- Lusail Fairmont Hotel
5. F&B Coordinator Opening & Dev.-Hilton Amsterdam
6. F&B Coordinator- Aman Switzerland
7. F&B & Kitchen Coordinator- Banana Island Resort by Anantara

I will wait for any response until March and if ever there’s nothing yet, I will apply again on April. As I wait for the results, I will take this time to at least practice my communication skills just in case I will be scheduled for interview. I will also check my current application so that at least I will get an idea of its status.

“OWN YOUR LIFE.”

Although it is important to secure yourself in the future, it is still important that you don’t stop yourself to experience good things in your present. Learn to live in a well balance life where you won’t regret anything you’ll do. Be happy on the present and at the same time do something today for your future. That’s the only way for you to live your life to the fullest consistently.

Make unforgettable memories that will serve as your reminder on how you were able to enjoy your life despite of your present circumstances. Aim for a productive day and let the fire within you continuously ignite. It will still be a long journey for all of us, and within this period, let’s all make sure that we will choose to be happy.

“ONE WAY TO GET MOST OUT OF OUR LIFE IS TO LOOK UPON IT AS AN ADVENTURE.”- William Feather