PERSONAL | MY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS
5 min read
Me during sunset in Aplayang Munti, Puerto Galera. Traveled here using a motorbike with John of Arkipelago Divers. Photography by John of Arkipelago Divers.
Happy New Year my dear readers! I pray that we get the right answers to all our hearts’ desires this 2018.
Every December, especially in recent years, I would come up with one… Yes… just one New Year’s Resolution and made sure that I would stick by it and pull through in the next twelve (12) months. Below are some of my past New Year’s Resolutions and how I achieved them.
My 2017 New Year’s Resolution: Learn Adobe
After receiving a notice of redundancy in June 2016 and leaving my previous role as a Regional Brand Manager for Asia Pacific in July 2016, I immediately went job hunting. I updated my online resumes in Jobstreet and LinkedIn and even activated new ones on Workabroad.ph, Jobrapido, etc. I connected with headhunters. I applied for more than fifty (50) job vacancies here and abroad and went to a number of job interviews (too many to mention). Despite all of these efforts, come Christmas Day of 2016 I was still jobless. The roles that I wanted were, for some odd reason, elusive. I was going nowhere or so I thought. I had to take control and needed to reinvent myself by learning new skills and, for my sanity, reignite my passion for visual story telling. Hence, for 2017, my New Year’s resolution was to learn and re-learn Adobe programs such as Premiere, Photoshop, Lightroom and After Effects. Six months later, I found myself doing my first Corporate Audio-Visual Presentation Project for a former colleague.
I also bought a drone and started learning how to fly. Vlog available here.
My 2016 New Year’s Resolution: Lose 30 lbs of fat
In 2016, I started this #roadtofitness. Oh and I must say that it was, has been and will always be one circuitous road for a sweet tooth like me. I realized then that I was not getting any younger and only getting fatter every minute. To be specific, my 2016 New Year’s resolution was to shed extra thirty (30) pounds of fat.
I left film school in 2009. Rather than pursuing a career in the Arts, for job security (or so I thought), I went corporate and managed consumer brands. Working in a corporate setting, sitting for twelve (12) hours or more from Monday to Friday, driving to work for at least two (2) hours a day in Metro Manila traffic and indulging in front of the television for at least two (2) hours while having dinner to treat myself after a long day’s work for the past so many years were just a few of the many factors that led to my weight gain. I would dread the sight of weighing scales in the house… in fact, in any house. Being overly stressed from work, I would succumb to the calling of my comfort foods like Conti’s Mango Bravo and Banapple’s Banoffee Pie and started putting on extra pounds. I weighed 170 lbs.
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In contrast to 2008 when I was a film student under the late Direk Marilou Diaz Abaya, I was physically active. Very often, I would be assigned to take on the role of either an Assistant Director or Art Director. Both roles would require being up and about and all over the place. I was also very disciplined in following my work out schedules and that would be at least three times a week. I weighed 139 lbs.
To achieve my 2016 New Year’s resolution, I needed to modify my lifestyle specifically my eating habits. I learned that exercise alone will not do the trick. I needed to eat healthy and sleep properly. I limited my intake of white rice and ate more hard-boiled eggs, boiled camotes, fruits and vegetables. I would also skip dinner and sleep for at least six (6) hours every night. Come Christmas Day of 2016, I weighed 160 lbs. I was still twenty (20) pounds away from my target. Hence, I decided to carry on with it in 2017. By July 2017, alas, I weighed 145 lbs.
My 2018 New Year’s Resolution: Muscle Gain
For 2018, my New Year’s resolution is to gain muscle mass. This means that I need to find a gym, reorient myself to a gym plan and eat more to be able to lift weights. Quite honestly, I have not started this journey yet and it is already January 7. I am still trying to mentally condition myself. Oh excuses! LOL. I guess I should also add a FITNESS category in my blog site. That could and should motivate me to go to the gym… para sa blog! (for online content). Good luck to me!
Further, I will avoid sitting too often for too long. Studies show that sitting can kill you. For the news feature, click here. Sitting is sedentary, i.e., sitting in your car, sitting at your desk, sitting in front of the television. All of these activities are sedentary and thus slow down metabolism. What happens when metabolism slows down? Weight gain!
Therefore, I should not really mind walking that extra mile (literally). I should not really mind giving up my seat in the metro or bus. I should not really mind at all. Talk about mind conditioning, mind you. LOL.
How about you? What is your New Year’s Resolution? It would be great to hear from you!
Signing out for now. Peace!
Reblogged this on The Skin Care Addict.