Tag: mental-health

5 Habits for 2026 you can start small now

Here’s the thing: habits do not form overnight; it is years of commitment and discipline. Some say it only takes 21 days for a habit to build, but I beg to differ.

Try it. Get a habit as simple as reading a page of a book per day for 21 days. Then, get distracted, for example, by going to the beach for a week. Prolly for some people they can keep doing what they’ve been doing for 21 days and successfully destroy a bad habit through a good one. But not me, and I bet you are too.

I had been doing Duolingo for 2 minutes every day for 90 days in 2023, and I stopped because of a month of traveling that brought me back to day 1 of Duolingo. Fast forward to now, and I am in my second year of doing 2 minutes of Duolingo every day (but I still struggle to converse straight in Spanish. LOL.).

What I can say is that, to some people, habits are built for more than 21 days, probably to some, less than that. But, if you are like me, who needs more time to get a new habit in your system, try starting now before we count down to 2026. Here are five simple habits that you can start small now and might be beneficial for you:

1. Reading a page of a book per day. This can enhance your vocabulary. Imagine if the book has 210 pages, it 7 days, you will finish a book instead of nothing in a year.

2. Walk outside for 10 minutes every day. You do not need to compete with your friend’s Strava, you only need to move your body a little each day, and your body will thank you. In a week, your walk totals to an hour!

3. Sleep and wake up at the same time of day. If you’re sleeping at 11pm and waking up at 8am, that is fine as long as you are consistent. You keep your 8-9 hours of sleep for a week!

4. Do not grab your phone 10 minutes after waking up. Use a traditional alarm clock to wake you up, then, brush your teeth, stretch, or whatever as long as it doesn’t involve touching your phone for 10 minutes. In a week, it is 70 minutes less of screen time!

5. Meditate for a minute. Focus on your breathing for a complete minute. Do not touch your phone and avoid any form of distractions during those 60 seconds. You just gained 7 minutes of focus in that week and about half an hour in a month!

Rest is ok. Rest is productive. Rest.

The hustle culture demands lots of our time and energy.

It’s a thief of our feeling to have a break.

Take a minute to breathe and think about rest again.

Do I deserve it?

Did I work very well?

Yes?

Then, do not hesitate.

Take that break fully and intentionally.

Rest is good for the body, mind and soul.

It allows you to calm down.

It relaxes you.

It gives you a brand new energy to work again.

It avoids burn out.

Burn out is a silent poison of dreams, vision and passion.

A poison hard to get the antidote.

A poison that lingers for years.

A poison incurable at times.

A poison we can all avoid by taking that pill we call mindful rest.

Rest will be your antidote, pain-reliever, and cure.

Today, if you are tired, choose rest without guilt.

Rest is ok.

Rest is productive.

Rest.

I am ugly: accepting that I was not born to conform to the beauty standard

I grew up thinking I was not beautiful. Error 404: no confidence found. Until I found acceptance and love within myself through the people I met and experiences I had.

What is beauty standard? For me, it is the physical appearance perceived by the general public in the community as beautiful. In the Philippines, I grew up thinking that you have to have the following main traits to be considered as a ‘beautiful’ woman (very Western look):

  • Slim or small nose with high bridge
  • White Skin
  • Straight teeth
  • Slim body
  • Light brown eyes or other color than dark brown/black
  • Straight hair
  • Even skin-tone from head to toe

Guess what? I have straight hair. That’s it! LOL!

Slim and tall nose and white skin are the main traits that make you look beautiful. And I have a fat with non-existent bridge nose, dark skin tone, crooked teeth, black eyes and uneven skin tone. There was also a time in my life that I got fat and was borderline obese. And, that swallowed my confidence at presenting myself to people.

There was even a TV show back then called “Bakekang” that depicted these traits as ugly and unattractive. I hated that show because it made me anxious that my classmates or other random people would tease me as that Bakekang girl. And, not long enough, voila! My fear came in the form of a kid that lived in the alleyway where I had to walked by everyday going to school. And that was the time I lost the last ounce of confidence.

When I started working, I used my extra savings to conform to the beauty standard: I used whitening products and it lightened my skin! I had braces and I got straightened teeth! I exercised and lost 20lbs! I even thought of saving money to get a rhinoplasty but this never happened. But, the other successful stuff made me gain confidence! Although the white skin didn’t last because I love my job as an agronomist and we had to do field works making my skin dark every summer season.

I did those things mainly for me to gain back my confidence and I believe there is nothing wrong on wanting to improve the traits that you think bad especially when you are doing it for yourself and not to please other people.

During that transition from my past “ugly” self to the new “beautiful” self, I advanced my education, found true friends with variety of personality, got to travel to different places, met a lot of people from different parts of the world, and had my share of good and the bad in life, and that’s how I slowly changed my perspective about my physical appearance. I came to the realization that I was born to be different and not conform to the standard that the society has set.

I still have my big fat nose and dark skin and I am also gaining weight lately because I am stressed. LOL. But, those didn’t lessen my love for my physical appearance because my appearance have never defined my core values. My will never depend on what others think about my appearance. My worth is based on how I define it which are based on how I feel within myself and how I made other people’s well-being better by doing my best work.

It is fine to do all those physical changes that you perceive will help you but make sure you are not stepping on other people’s feet. To feel beautiful is part of self-care that you should not deprive yourself with.

It’s cliché to say that do not settle for less than what you deserve but it is not that easy. When your brain is wired of thinking that you are ugly or too bad for something it is easy to give in to things with low standards. But, I hope you weigh the pros and cons and learn from it. And one day, I hope you wake up thinking that you deserve just the best things in the world not because you impressed or pleased other people but because you are you.

That ONE decision that changed my LIFE – I jumped off the cliff without a parachute

I was not born from a rich family nor a jobless set of parents.

But, I grew up in a neighborhood surrounded by poverty. When I was a kid I still ate 3 times a week and even attended a private school. I did not know poverty back then. Then, my family hit rock bottom in terms of finances just before my 11th birthday.

I experienced poverty. I had to walk an hour to go to school. I could not afford the food my classmates buy in the cafeteria. I mostly had thrifted or hand-me-down stuff. We could not afford to get our house fixed – and in a country that gets typhoons with heavy rains, every year we would have dripping water inside our house, get anxiety because the typhoon may destroy our house or we would have to evacuate somewhere because of flood.

And then I wrote in my journal: I wanted to own a new house for my family that is at least not situated in a flood-prone area. A goal I thought I could get with a simple job after college.

I studied because admittedly I believed the classic saying that it will give you good fortune.

I worked while I was studying so I can have extra money to help my family’s finances. But, we were still struggling a lot. Always anxious whenever a family member got sick.

If you grew up in a place surrounded by extreme poverty, your mindset will be simple. You will just want to eat in a day and not get sick. My goal was to finish school and get a job. Because my thinking was we struggled and survived long enough so why do I have to raise the bar and struggle for more? I did not dream big back then. I became scared of making a mistake because I could not afford to lose my job.

I graduated. I got a job enough to pay the bills and help my parents. But I grew up scared of going out of my comfort zone and make mistakes because I could not afford to not have a job even for a week especially that we pay a lot of medical bills every week and my parents stopped working already! I feel like at that point I was contented being able to help in the bills and provide our basic needs.

Then, my contract in my job was about to end. There was an internship offer abroad but no assurance of me having a job after 8 months there nor in the Philippines. It was both scary and exciting because for the longest time a tiny speck of dust like me would be able to experience the vastness of the universe.

That time I had to make a decision – to jump off the cliff without a parachute. It was a move without any back up plan nor someone to pick me up if I get to crash myself into pieces. I had zero savings and an ounce of optimism in my heart.

But, that jump was the decision that CHANGED MY LIFE drastically. It gave me an opportunity that I never thought I could possibly have. It was not easy though. I still need to work hard on myself to have a better mindset and get things done very well.

Although I am not rich yet, I can say that I am now in a better place as well as my family.

I am debt free. I have my own car. I can buy food I crave. I have stuff that I bought brand new. Although I do not own a house, my apartment is located in a place that is not flood prone and has no dripping roof and can thrive strong winds. I am experiencing a new life I never imagined in my wildest dreams possible.

I still have a long way but I am confident now that all the decisions I made brought me to where I am now ,and it is truly fascinating to see the growth I have made and I will make in the future.

Going out of our comfort zone is never easy but it will be worth it in the long run.