5 Reasons Why People Should Unwind Sometimes

Everyday is a pile of unwritten pages everyone has to fill up but hey, sometimes we just have to crumple that up and take a break. Here's my 5 reasons on why you deserve to chill out and unwind every once in a while.

1. GIVE SOME TIME FOR YOURSELF.

 I know we all go to work everyday and sometimes it's frustrating to know how we end up living our life doing the same thing every single day but hey, why don't you take a day off and maybe travel to some place where you can enjoy having yourself alone where you can meditate, appreciate the essence of your existence, have breakfast under the trees or drink a lot of beer inside your room. To cut this short, it's nature's imperative to have a day for yourself.

2. RELIEVE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL STRESS.

Not worrying for paperworks and all means you're giving your mind and body a perfect time to switch the work mode off. Study shows that frequent signs of mental disturbance and physical wariness is caused by depression and stress. I don't know who conducted this study but since it's true for many and I seem to sound so legit, I'm going to conclude that working too much causes many health problems (e.g. erectile dysfunction, irregular menstruation lol) so yeah, find some rest and you can go back to earning money after.

3. EVALUATE YOUR STATUS.

This a great time for you to assess yourself: Am I performing enough in my work? Am I happy with my workmates and my workplace and the salary that I am having? Do I need to adjust a bit? Is there something I need to improve?
When you de-stress, it's easier to decide on these matters.

4. CATCH UP WITH FAMILY.

Busy people don't actually have time for their kids or their parents. Most kids right now who have busy parents tend to grow up lonely and disturbed. So, it's helpful if you give time to them (if you have kids, but if you're single, go visit your parents) every now and then. If you see them happy, I'm sure that'd make you happy too. And with you being happy, you're giving yourself a time to unwind and enjoy simple happiness of life.

5. ENJOY!

What are you waiting for? Rejoice and celebrate! You deserve this, so go to the beach, party till sunrise, break the laws (just kidding, don't do that) and just be a person without any worries for just a short while.

Everyone deserves to de-stress and cool down sometimes. I hope I have convinced you with my short tips about the importance of unwinding. By the way, I will not be blogging for the next three days because I'm gonna go hit the beach. Have a great weekend! :)

(ALL PHOTOS ARE GRABBED FROM GOOGLE)

How Being Positive Kept Me Going

I thank all those who have believed in me 1. even if they didn't know me entirely, 2. even if they didn't know my struggles and 3. even if the sun refused to shine.

Being into the process of growing up real time, it's a bit confusing to have all there is to absorb. And like a cotton, at an event of absorbing too much of all breaks it. Twenty one years old should mean traveling the world and discovering places and eating all kinds of pizza and sleeping under the stars. And not worrying about work, buying the groceries and injecting a generous amount of caffeine. But reality stirs at what I should be doing, not with what I want to be doing. Supposedly so, I could do so much more and be free and happy and whatnot. But I guess, I should make money first and be stable at my job and fulfill all the mandate of society and help my family and get myself a nice house and a luxury car before I could go and walk through the days of merriment.

I surmise the possibility of working. It's just like schooling, they say. You're being paid, though, from your effort of getting your duties done, and not the other way around. But the thing is, school pressure is way way different than work pressure. You get to be evaluated for your work and once you don't get the job done, you're either paid less or consulted for termination. But I don't know, my leaves are still sprouting from its branches and I don't have the right to bark lol bad joke.

I'm currently one month old from my first legit work and there's too much of the adversities already. But hey, It's normal. Being a newbie, I've experienced giving up. Too soon, huh? I guess everybody gets to travel bumpy roads at first, before actually hitting the main road.

There's always gonna be a first time syndrome; wether it's painful or overwhelming, you're always put to the center of experiencing it so you'll get used to it the next time around. Hopefully, I'm going to tolerate the first burns and scars. Assumptively, I can.

Anyways, back in the days of me being strong and defying hardships, it was easy. But there are days when I don't have to be strong and just be the underdog. True enough, I held on to the latter and tada, here I am, negative and frail.

Giving up is never my vocabulary. But every now and then, I think of letting go of the rope. Thanks to friends and the all-positive people around that gets me into the pace of going forward. So much for my long rant here, I conclude that being positive really is one of the main ingredients to an excellent attitude.

The good thing about being positive is, all the negative energies that'll be coming and going decreases. I watched a documentary about the Law of Attraction and it speaks entirely of believing so I guess I have to trust the power of the universe.

I believe, no company in the world accepts a person who doesn't believe in his or her skills. I am that person who thinks I can't get things right.

Positivity. Of which I lack. Of which I badly need. Of which I should be possessing. That which keeps me going right now so I really have to keep myself on striving for more.

I believe I can make more money. I believe I can be stable. I believe I can please the society. I believe I can make my family happy. I believe I can buy myself a mansion and a Lamborghini.

So much for wishful thinking, but for now, I believe I can make a sale.

+++

The Lake Agco Encounter

Ever been to a serene, away-from-the-city place where you could just release all the tension and have fun at the same time? Well, I've been to many places and there's still part of me who craves for a paradise and hot springs and jacuzzi and steam baths and cold pools all put into one place. Yeap. It sure is Lake Agco, Kidapawan City in North Cotabato.

One of the main reasons why I have been captured by Kidapawan so quickly is that, although there are no beaches surrounding it, there's so much to the place that's wondrous and amazing that you could actually take pride to as a Filipino, and of course, as a Kidapaweño. One very fascinating example to that would be the Lake Agco.

I googled some photos of Lake Agco for you to have a quick sight of the place.

The hot bath. (google photo)

The famous Agco Lake. (google photo)

google photo

google photo

The cold Agco pool (google photo)

Lake Agco is located at the foot of Mount Apo, the highest peak in the Philippines. So, expect a 45 minute habal-habal (motorcycle) ride from the city to Lake Agco. What's very nice with this is, the travel would not give you stress at all. There are climbs to resorts and hidden paradise that's too steep or too bumpy or too humid. But during my first time ride to Lake Agco, it was surreal. The weather rapidly changed from slightly humid (city temperature, we traveled at around eleven in the morning) to cold (when the ride started to climb at higher levels). So I recommend you bring with you jacket or/and thick clothing. The view, of course, is a thing not to be missed; luscious green surround your every sight and the neighboring mountains of Mt. Apo stood tall and proud, making you look so puny, at an areal's view.

Of course, right after setting foot to the place, we grabbed our phone for a quick selfie.

Selfie after the habal-habal ride :)

Our eyes never stopped moving from left to right, and yes, we were like strangers to Earth. I know some of my companions there have been coming and going to the place, but I can see that they're as excited as I am. After the duty pa yan ha, wala pang tulog 'tong mga taong 'to.
As we heed to the sights, we settled down at an open cottage (200 pesos, can accommodate to at least 15 persons, or depending on body size haha) near the pool. The pool is dramatically cold, so we stayed and talked and ate Cheesy Bacon Mushroom Yum and smoked (di alam ni Papa so wag maingay) before actually deciding to have our stressed bodies release all the stress by dipping into what I consider as "the best pool" so far, along with Iligan City's Timoga Resort's spring pools. Of course, we played games, but most of the time, we just enjoyed the relaxing chilly waters as it pampered our skins. 

Smile :)

The Dfinetech Solutions team with Miss Pipes featuring Jej pose

Hi Sir Brat, nice ang tubig?

Then, we decided to go for an adventure and try the hot bath. It was scary, of course. I never tried dipping into a boiling pool, neither a sauna. So much for being weak, after a few attempts of soaking my whole body to the water, it was worth it. It was damn worth it. The heat that would perforate in your whole body actually gives you a surprising feeling of warmth, comfort, tranquility, and a feeling of light all at the same time, after the cool pool drip. I never got the chance to take a picture of us, enjoying the hot bath and feeling the breeze hitting our face and the warm, fuzzy feeling inside.
It was around two in the afternoon, I think, when the fog started to cover the entire place. It was a fascinating encounter of nature, so I guess the pictures will have to explain how awesome it is to be caught up awestruck and all.

Miss Piper's capture of the pool being covered with fog.

Miss Piper also took a video while the spectacular view was happening.

This was actually my second time visiting Lake Agco. The first time was just an initial glimpse; a thorough observation of the entire place. But, I guess second chances are the best experience.

This is me getting high after inhaling a generous amount of Hydrogen Sulfide gas (a.k.a. rotten egg) during my first Lake Agco Hot Spring and Resort experience.

Because of the thickening fog and the heavy rain, we were advised to stay until it subsided. However, if it does not, we're going to have to stay for the night. Fortunately, after three hours of downpour, the fog gradually decreased and the rain stopped so we decided to go home and call it a marvelous day. 

If you can visit Lake Agco anytime, you can also stop by to their souvenir stores.

Grabbed from Sir Bratt's Facebook post. The store's called Kalumad, and you can get all sorts
souvenirs such as carved pens, bracelets, necklaces, customized souvenir items and the like.

Before leaving, I got my last selfie of the day haha.

Tadaaaaaaaaa!

My purpose for joining the trip was pure relaxation, so I didn't get to have a photo op of the entire place. Some of the pictures I have here were from my officemate's phone, PJ Lumacas and the video from our Virtual Assistance trainer miss Piper Ramboanga. For additional photos, I searched in Instagram using the hashtag Lake Agco.

https://instagram.com/explore/tags/lakeagco/

https://instagram.com/explore/tags/lakeagco/

https://instagram.com/explore/tags/lakeagco/

https://instagram.com/explore/tags/lakeagco/

There will be moments of me going back to Agco to experience again. I will always go back and release stress once in a while. Then again, I will forever treasure all the encounters I'll make. 

What Music Has Taught Me

I shouldn't bother asking everyone. I don’t think there is a need to question your thoughts about music because, hell yeah we all love to listen and sing songs.They have been there, even before we have set our eyes to light. We have, of course, memorized kindergarten songs and I believe we still remember parts of it. We always sing along when we hear a familiar one on the radio or on a friend who thinks she’s Ariana Grande or someone. It’s funny how certain songs could mean something else, something important to us; like a memory of childhood, a story of an experience, or a metamorphosis that completes us. For me, it’s something that must be tattooed on my system to help me remember that life is a series of tunes and we are ought to live life as the tunes go high and low. I’m just kidding, songs remind me of my mother.
I don’t actually know how it happened, but there is a memory of my mother singing that kept me bothering. It’s weird how, at some points of life, I tried to remember how my mother would look like when she starts a song, or when she would come to hit the high notes. I would imagine how she would go enunciating all the words perfectly, as if she was reading a children’s story to kids.Well, she was a kindergarten teacher, so yeah, that describes her a lot. But in the end, all I could hear was her voice. My visions of her was nothing but a full-versed song.

Songs express various emotions; love, joy, sorrow, lust, booze. 

Even if it's too mainstream, or even if it’s too loud or too slow, we listen to them and appreciate them and somehow, we tend to connect them to our daily lives (when we kiss, when we shit or when we bite someone’s nipple in a romantic date in a dark alley). Whatever that is that makes us feel like our life has meaning, it comes to the conclusion that, probably, you believe that life is somewhat a link to everything, and I think this becomes an artist’s strength– the connectivity of all. And I think that explains how a singer would note love or happiness, or heartaches, or sex, or drugs too often in their lyrics.

Let us go back to the post title now, shouldn't we?

Music has really taught me everything. It not just teaches me how to memorize a favorite line, it also connects me to realize that every song in the world, has its ending. Sad or happy, I don’t care. As the song is ending, we are anticipating for what song to play next. But even if we try to play every single song in the world, we couldn't stop to think that it all comes back to the beginning. All the memories we happen to create would be explained by one single beautiful song and that taught us to sing along, even if sometimes, we just can’t get the lyrics right.
Mother always sings Carpenters songs. That may explain how I could get close to the idea that she was by far, the greatest woman of my life, just as I hail that Carpenters songs were the best love songs, yet.

Traveling to a New Place a Total Stranger

I guess traveling would be my best description of happiness and freedom.

Being independent, I learned that having to feel what it's like to become a newbie to a strange place is ecstatic. What could be better than settling down, gaining new friends, discovering the many unknown places of interest and being cool with it at the same time? This feels kinda awkward to say, but honestly, I have not been missing home. Except, of course, if father calls you and your brother calls you and your little sister calls you to say his and hellos and how are yous and how was work and when will you be coming home and your book's searching for you and whatnot.

Life can sometimes be a pressure cooker.

But I've already dealt the shortcomings of being away with family and friends for far too long. So, I'm cool living the life alone. It's just that, every time I get so silent at the wee hours of my day's off, I remember the happy things back home. It's mind-over-matter-perception practice. now.
Going back, traveling to a new place a total stranger feels weird and exciting and euphoric at the same time, I guess. Back in college, I was really heart-out to be in Zamboanga City for the first time in my life. The place would be the farthest place I'd reach, and I imagine what it would be like to be in the big city. Probinsyano here. Now, I'm able to go to distant places (Iligan, Cagayan de Oro, Surigao, Davao, Manila) and the excitement really never wears off.
The majestic city of Kidapawan (the city of fruits and highland spring)  that I am in right now really have the best weather. Twelve noon here isn't very hot at all. And the people are honest and friendly. The water's very cold (an extreme wake-up shower every day), and my work's just fifty steps away from my apartment.

But what I really treasure the most is that, I am a total stranger.

Being a person nobody knows, it's fulfilling to introduce yourself to people. It fascinates me how they fascinate where I've come from, what kind of family I have, what delicacies I eat, how big my province is and what strategies I do there to survive (the bombings and gunfires, as usual). It's also heartwarming to tell them that it's not that chaotic in Zamboanga and that it's totally safe to live there; I now am a contributor of good news while eradicating the bad perception of people and the media to Zamboanga.
I guess that would be it. It's not really an exceptional recommendation for others to go travel, but sometimes, for me, it's essential to leave out of the comfort zone and step out of the box; be independent and enjoy it, to generalize. Not just for vacation or a three-day stay, but stay for good, if possible.
From what I found out, it's a self-discovery experience. You get to mingle people you did not know, you get to be judged or appreciated, you get to know new stories of life and survival and success. You get to open up your heart and mind out for the adaption process.

You get to grow.

Below are photos of me and my new place and my new friends and basically my new home.

Having To Boast Zamboanga to Peers

As we all know (or I thought so), I am now a thousand miles away from my beloved Zamboanga; this is far as I can get away to it because 1. I've decided to run away from the place and 2. I need to get a legit job that's at least a thousand miles away from my beloved Zamboanga. As I skim through ourskirts and skinny streets of the many places that I planned on going (either vacay or a stay-put stability reason), I've landed to a certain place where fruits and highland springs are a bounty. At least, people here do not know the details of where I've come from, except, of course, the news of bombings and kidnappings and Moro National Liberation Font attacks, which is, of course, a degrading media portrayal of Zamboanga, which is, of course, saddening because that's not really what's only happening in the city.
So much for an introduction, anyway, I am now into the world of business and salaries and endless bills and stressful nights but I don't want to focus on that.
It's nice to talk to new and different people and it fascinates me all the time how they fancy at the thought of me and my hometown and Zamboanga and the bombings (again) and all there is that I could muster talking. Other than that, they wonder about my survival skills, and although it drags me to say these things with a heavy heart, I still manage to throw tiny jokes to fill in their inquiries.
During my break today, I happen to join a supervisor who expressed his amazement to Zamboanga, and that I wish it was a positive one. He actually went there for an uncle' request but was able to discover the city a bit.
He also talked (while I listen very eagerly) about the clubs that he was able to go into, and also expressed how frequent are the pretty girls in all the many corners of the city. I happily added about all the diversed cultures of which, I think, helped mold the creation of the pretty girls he saw there lol.
Other than that, I waited for comments or negative feedbacks about the place but I heard nothing.
It was an overwhelming feeling; hearing all those experiences of new-found peers, getting into conversations about Zamboanga and having to boast all there is to boast.
I took the chance to listen to what people are going to say on things which matter to me, and with that being said, I couldn't agree more.

Missing Zamboanga

I guess it's been quite a while since I visited this blog, for reasons such as 1. I have been too busy finding some legit job, 2. I was away and 3. I am not in Zamboanga anymore, are cruel necessities I am now considering.
Truth be told, I kinda miss my college place, Asia's Latin City. And as I reminisce the days gone by (I'm actually in a room full of novice guys, still sleepy but ready for the first day-training), my head is in a state of frantic, over decisions which could better my life, or worse, dampen into bits. As far as I know, life decisions should be made in the bathroom, or in long drives, or while making out (just kidding), and not during the first day of work training.
So, yeah, Zamboanga City is the place of reminiscent. I'm missing my friends. I'm missing my classmates and my terror teachers and my co-writers and my boardmates and the gunfire and the bombing and the 40 degrees ten-o'clock field OJT.
To generalize my obscure thoughts to one, having to stay in one place for a long time and eventually leaving out, is as hard as having to shit with an empty stomach. And here in this new place, where 2 months is not quite enough to adapt, things get a little rough sometimes (e.g. homesickness.)
I'll be checking on you, guys, soon. Till then. Vaya con Dios