Lessons in the Time of Covid-19

 

Being on lockdown or isolation can teach you a lot about yourself, the people around you, your friends, and your community. I think that what's happening right now is peeling away the layers from people and even if they don't want to, their real self is slowly appearing because there's no more use for filters. 

Social distancing has become a thing. We are all locked away in our own homes and there's no need to really put on a face so to speak. When people are stripped of their comfort zones, their true selves will finally emerge. 

This lockdown that has been going on for almost 45 days has taught me so many things about myself, my relationship with other people, being a Mom, being a partner, being a friend, being part of the community, and being a child of God. 

On love 

A lot of couples have been at odds this whole quarantine. I know that M and I started off that way because we've never really been in the same house 24/7 for weeks on end. Thankfully, after one big fight, we were able to sit down and realize that we can fight but we must fight with intention and if we fight, it's because we want to sort things out and fix the relationship. 

After we agreed to do this, we have actually stopped fighting. Now, we discuss and talk things out. We say what we feel and we ask each other to do things instead of demanding. 

On life

I've realized that I want to enjoy life. I want to enjoy what I have, be grateful for what has been given to me, and to choose to make life happier. 

How we deal with life is our choice. Always.

On staying home 

I've been staying home for months now. First, it was because I was about to give birth then we had the Taal Volcano eruption. After, I gave birth and then we had COVID-19 and until now, I'm just at home. It's been almost 5 months for me of staying home. 

Weird enough, it hasn't really bothered me. I thought I would want to go out or be climbing up the walls but I've been too busy to notice that I have not been out of the house for 5 months.

On working from home 

I have been working from home for 7 years now. It was really hard at the start because often, people don't understand that you're working when you're sitting in the living room in your pajamas facing your laptop. 

It took a while but eventually, my family started to equate me being on a laptop at home to working so they learned to give me space.

This quarantine, it's been the same set up for me except for the fact that everyone else is home too. Thankfully, we've been able to set boundaries and I work mostly at night when everyone else is sleeping so there's less distraction except when my newborn makes a fuss which he no longer does as often thankfully. 

 

On living 

I think this is the one thing that I have learned the most. I'd like to believe that I am still able to live despite being inside the four corners of my house. 

I still make connections with friends. I put out content that helps other people. I make a difference in the life of my children and my partner. I contribute to my small community in a positive manner. 

Life can be lived when you choose to do so. A life worth living is one where you do something good to impact someone's life and I'd like to believe that I am able to do that. 

What have you learned in this time of COVID-19?

Facebook ROOMS

Yes, you read that right. Facebook now has ROOMS which will compete directly with ZOOM.

“Messenger’s goal was always to be the place where people can hang out with people who they love or who are close to them but who are not physically next to them. And that was something we were working on even before the pandemic started,” Chudnovsky said in an interview. “But when the pandemic started, obviously that mission of ours became only that much more important.”

 

 

Here's how it works: You can start and share Rooms on Facebook through the news feed, groups, and events. If your friends create Rooms that are open to you, you’ll see them at the top of your news feed. You can join from your phone or computer.

 

 

With the Messenger mobile app, you can use augmented reality effects like bunny ears or aliens, 360-degree and immersive backgrounds, and mood lighting.

 

The Rooms service is free and Facebook says it has no plans to place ads on it or to make money from it.

 

Facebook is also adding eight-person video calls to messaging app WhatsApp, as well as video-call functionality to Facebook Dating for 'virtual dates' (first names only).

 

Are you excited to try out ROOMS? Let me know in the comments down below.  

Hi Bye Kenny

This post is inspired by the Netflix series Hi Bye Mama.

What would you do if your life was cut off all of a sudden and after years of being a ghost, you were given the chance to be alive again for 49 days?

Were you happy with your life?
Were other people happy because of you?

In the series, these two questions are the question that God would ask of you and if you answer with yes to both, you can be reborn as a human once more.

Looking back on the last 39 years of my life, I can say that I am happy with my life now. I went through a lot because I craved love from someone who couldn't give it and turned away good advice because I thought I was too smart.

I have learned so many things in my life:

1. Everything really happens for a reason. You may not like the reason but there is always a reason. 
2. Be thankful for what you have no matter how small.
3. Before obsessing over something, ask yourself "will it matter in 5 years? 10 years?" 
4. Say I love you to the people that you love.
5. Say thank you to those who do you good no matter how small.
6. Pride has no room in a relationship, any relationship. If your pride matters more, then don't form relationships.
7. If someone is always nice to you and never disagrees with anything you say, that person is not your friend.
8. Be kind to animals.
9. Show respect to the wait staff, security guards, trash personnel and the like. Life will be so hard without them and they deserve gratitude and respect.
10. Love yourself. Never allow anyone to disrespect you or make you feel small. 
11. Keep only what you truly need and makes you happy. Let go of the rest: material, thoughts, other people. 
12. Indulge moderately. It's good to enjoy but one must also save for the rainy days. 
13. Give but leave something for yourself. Always. 
14. Never let anyone make you feel small or worthless. Remember that happy people don't go around hurting others.
15. Always, always, always thank God and praise God. 

Now, if I were to die tomorrow, here's what I want to say to the people that I love and those who matter to me.

• I love you. My life is better because you were in it. 
• I forgive you. I know that you did not mean to hurt me but because we are humans, we fail and end up hurting people that we shouldn't. 
• Please forgive me. I may have hurt you unintentionally and for that, I am sorry. 
• Take photos. You never know if that's the last one. 
• Treasure each moment. 
• Have a bit more patience. It will never hurt to have a bit more patience

If I am given a week to live, here's what I would want to do:

• Record videos for my two sons so that in every milestone that they will, I'll have a video greeting. I will also make ones for those when they are heartbroken, broke, failed dismally, sad, and if they just need someone to cheer them on. I want them to know that I love them very much and that though I'm not there physically, I will still be there for them. 
• I will video call every person that matters to me just to say thanks and to tell them how much I appreciate them. 
• I will spend a day with my extended family. 
• I will have dinner with my Mom, just the two of us. I will thank her for everything that she has done for me and I will apologize for the hurt that she will feel in my passing and all the other hurts that I have caused her. 
• I will spend the remainder with my small family. I'll spend it with my sons and my partner. I will record our last moments so that when they no longer remember my voice or the way I speak, act, and laugh, they will have something to look at and remember me by. 

If I am given the chance to come back to life for 1.5 months after some time, I will make sure they never see me coz it will just hurt even more when I die again.

How about you? What will you do? 

Khali at Two Months

My son turned two months a few days ago but life got in the way so I wasn't able to post about it.

Khali has been a bright light in these dark times. He reminds us about what really matters in life and that is family and love. Khali reminds me what it's like to have someone be completely dependent on you.

He reminds me why I need to wake up and "go to work" so to speak. He reminds me why it's important to stop and smell the roses. He reminds me why hugs and kisses matter and why long patience is also very important.

When he cries, it pulls at my heart and when he smiles, it just makes everything better.

I'm so grateful that he's in our lives and that his brother is not jealous or anything like that.

Life is so uncertain nowadays because of this virus which is why I believe we need to celebrate all the small wins.

Stay safe everyone.

March 2020 Spread

We're already in the 4th month of the year which means that it's time to showcase my favorite spreads from my March Daily Journal.

We did January and February so it's right that we do March as well.

Daily journalling is one of the few things that has kept me sane this whole Enhanced Community Quarantine. Here are some of my favorites from my March spread.

This one is actually an April spread. I just loved it too much so I included it. 

If this ECQ gets extended, I'm gonna get bigger and bigger because I keep eating. I'm stress eating and it's unhealthy things too. I know that I am still very lucky compared to a lot of people and I am truly grateful to God for that.

We're all healthy and thankfully, we still have something to eat.

I also landed some writing gigs and a full-time writing job so I'm really thankful for that. A lot of people have lost their jobs or are on hold so this is a crazy blessing. 
 

I love this coz March is one of those months that just blew my mind and I foundthis image online which speaks perfectly of how I felt.

We were able to have a Samgyupsal thing at home and I love that I was able to capture this moment. Though we are on quarantine, I still wanted to give B a sense of normalcy.

I'm learning to put a bit more of the bullet journalling part in my daily journals but in a creative way. I don't think I'll ever be one of those people who really bullet journal but I know that I will continue to journaly daily because it helps me remember past events in my life.

Recap of March 2020

To say that March shook the world would be an understatement. I don't think anyone will forget March 2020 anytime soon.

Still, I wanted to do a recap so here you go. 

For those interested, here's January 2020 and February 2020.

January literally opened with a bang with the Taal Volcano eruption. February took away my dog and my Lola but also gifted me with my son.

March 2020, the world literally stopped and everyone stayed home due to the COVID-19.

The first half of March was all about Khali and getting used to a schedule that revolved around a baby. Khali turned one month and we received a couple of gifts from different brands that were Khali approved.

During the second half which is when the quarantine was implemented, I decided to be more productive with my blog and wrote a lot of articles that I hoped would be helpful.

3 Lessons the NCOV Pandemic Taught Me
How to Fight COVID-19
10 Things to do during the Community Quarantine
Ways to Help while in Quarantine 
5 Tips for Working from Home for Newbies
Ways to Stretch Your Budget 
Ways to Stay Safe at Home 
How to Digitize your Business

I also got to sort my Paypal so thank God for that!

It's been a bit monotonous and we have fallen in a routine. I am thankful because everyone that I love and care for are all safe. I'm hoping that April will give us the much needed break everyone deserves but at the same time, I'm hoping that this whole quarantine has helped people realize what truly matters.