Sleep Fast, Sleep Tight

I always have a hard time falling asleep. I only do when I'm properly tired. I say properly tired because when I'm too tired I also can't fall asleep. There are times I can't sleep because I'm anxious about something. Sometimes I'm too stimulated and my brain just keeps working. 

I've only tried taking sleeping pills once. It was prescribed by my doctor when I was having severe asthma attacks. I don't want to get dependent on medication so I've been trying other ways to fall asleep immediately. Here's a few things I do regularly -

Deep Breathing - breathe in 4 counts, hold for 8, breathe out 7 counts, repeat a couple of times. I read that this is a military technique they do to fall asleep immediately. Works for me everytime.

Meditation  - I have a former colleague who recommended Headspace to me. I used the trial and learned techniques to lull myself to sleep. My favorite is imagining I'm far away in the mountains, breathing in cool fresh air. Focusing on counting repeatedly from 1 to 10 gets me to sleep.

Essential Oils - a drop of lavander on your temples or nape relaxes me. If I feel anxious I super love Young Living's peace & calming roller blend. It's gotten me through a lot of rough times. 

Exercise - If you have a lot of pent up energy, the best thing to do is exercise a few hours before going to bed. My doctor advised to take a walk after dinner. This was really effective for me, but we aren't able to do this for now because of the weather. I've replaced this with our exercise bike. I go on it for a few minutes an hour or two before going to sleep. 

No Caffeine After 3pm - goes without saying. I've been sticking to water for most days and drink coffee with my breakfast. Sometimes though I still drink milk tea in the afternoon. I end up paying for it at night when I can't sleep. 

Don't Eat Heavy Dinner - I eat more lunch than dinner usually and don't eat at least two hours before bed (especially if you have gerd/acidity issues). 

Pray - I pray before I sleep and when I can't sleep yet I pray the rosary to keep my mind from wandering aimlessly.  

CB///*Yr2/58  #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/85 #StayHome #BeKind

Living the Housewife Life

I've always wanted to become a housewife secretly. Kuya laughed out loud when I told him this a few years ago. He said he can't imagine me being one. He said I'll go crazy with boredom. So he basically didn't take what I said seriously. After that conversation I thought, yeah, maybe not noh? 

I've been forced to rest the past couple of months. I've only started to feel like my old self in the last two weeks. Sweetie had been doing all the house chores. My energy has started to come back and I've been trying to do more things at home now. I've been able to wash dishes, cook and nudge Sweetie while he's working.

My Mom stopped working when I was born.  She was always busy running the household and she had her hands tied with parish activities too. I realized I'm kinda living that life now, but I've been very lucky because Sweetie's been taking care of me. Managing a household is hard. I'm lucky my boys are both very helpful and we each have our own assigned house chores. 

I'm focusing myself on recovering for now. That time to be a housewife will come, but I don't think I'll be your stereotypical kind. I'll probably be like my Mom and be busy with many different things. I told Sweetie the other day this must be a glimpse of what it is. I've been working since I graduated and was never bakante. Well, we'll see :)

CB///*Yr2/57  #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/84 #StayHome #BeKind

What is True for You Right Now?

I'm writing this blog post today as part of the writing retreat I joined. The retreat led by my friend, Marjorie Duterte, ended last week, but today is our practice day to free write. Our speaker today, Elaine Factor, shared with us a few things that cause writers block. The last point she gave was about writing from a place of truth.

"Beautiful words come from a place of truth." - Elaine Factor

My Kuya's other challenge for me is to write a book. He gave me this quest the same time he issued the financial freedom challenge. I started writing a memoir a few years ago with my colleagues. We wanted to share our journey scouting for Google. We already had an outline and I have a few pages of it written out. The project fizzled out because we all got busy with work and our lives. I eventually realized it wasn't the right time to write it since I was still working for Google. Perhaps I'll do it once I retire. 

When I joined the writing retreat I knew already what I wanted to write about. Completing the outline and introduction was easy for me. I started to write the second chapter, but hit a huge block. The chapter required me to go back to my painful past. I have moved on from it, but I guess there's still some residual pain from it in my heart. 

It is the truth that I have to accept that's been part of me since I was 17. I went on with my life and did what I had to do to survive. Kuya in his NLP sessions for me always tried to bring me back there so we could resolve it. It's probably what's been wreaking havoc also to my health. And that's the truth that I have to resolve and absolve so I could fully accept all the love that I have right now. 

I hope I'll be able to move on from this so I could continue writing my book. Healing from past trauma isn't easy, but with God's grace I hope to accept this truth. 

CB///*Yr2/56  #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/83 #StayHome #BeKind

Second Chances

Earlier today I remembered a friend who passed away a few years ago. We had meaningful conversations when we had lunch. He told me before he passed, "live life" and "take risks". He also told me, "But you are alive, you should just enjoy what you have now." I had shared with him that I was always cautious about spending. I wanted to be always ready for my family. 

He was gone just a few months after he told me he was sick. I was alone when I went to his funeral. An elderly friend of his took care of me. He was a CEO of a huge company and shared with me his days when he had to work abroad. He was surprised to hear that I was living away from my family. He advised to keep my family together no matter the situation. 

I took to heart the advise and after a few months my family was complete. We lived, took risks, traveled and did things together as one unit. We were happy to be together. I remembered my friend and my friend's CEO friend today because it dawned on me that I am on my nth chance at living. I survived so many harrowing illnesses and I'm blessed to be still around. 

I shared that to a friend this morning because I am grateful for help to put me on the recovery path. It's not just a second chance at life for me. It's the nth chance (I seriously lost count already) and as my friend, Claro, told me, "... you are alive, you should just enjoy what you have now." Yes, my dear friend, I promise I won't bungle up this chance again. I'll make sure to use this time for my family and whatever God's next mission is for me. 

CB///*Yr2/55  #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/82 #StayHome #BeKind

Steps I've Taken to Be Financially Free

Two months ago I wrote about my Kuya's challenge for me to be financially free before I turn 50. I started by understanding my monthly and annual expenses. One key advise of financial advisers is to understand what you're getting into. I read articles and watched a lot of videos. I also attended the Truly Rich Club workshop on understanding the stock market.

There are so many financial products out in the market. My Mom was a banker so her expertise was more on growing your money through savings. So I broke down my research into three: (1) financial products I could do through a bank; (2) investments (stocks); and (3) real estate. 

To be honest for many years I let my Mom manage my money. I would just deposit my savings and she'd take care of moving it to a time deposit. I decided to take over my accounts when I took a break so Mom didn't have to stress about it. After assessing my savings situation I inquired from the bank how I could earn more interest from my savings. 

Regular and time deposit savings don't really earn much interest. In fact, I learned if you leave your money just on savings you'll eventually lose money. The first thing the bank asked me was my appetite for risk and how long I could keep the money. Here's a list of options they gave me:

• Insurance
• Unit investment trust funds
• Bonds
• Treasury bills

I wanted something which could provide me cash every month so getting more insurance wasn't the best option for me. Bit wary about the current state of affairs back home so I'm still assessing whether bonds and treasury bills will be a good investment. So far the UITF is the best option for me. 

I learned a bit about stocks when I was taking my MBA. I just needed more guidance about what to invest on. I signed up for the Truly Rich Club a few years ago and finally attended a workshop on the stock market. It gave me a better understanding on what I'm getting into, plus they give advise on where to invest every few weeks. 

I started investing last March and I'm happy to share that one of my investments gave a dividend already (like PhP100+ only haha). It was small, but encouraging. The important thing about investing in the stock market is to assess your appetite for risk. It's also better if you do it for long term investing. TRC is hosting another stock market workshop on June 19. If you want to sign up as a member, here's my affiliate link and here's my 10% off coupon code - TRC101727AFF- if you just want to join the seminar.

I'm hoping that the interest from bank investment can provide my monthly needs. I'm so far just a third covered for my projected monthly expenses. Will be working on this quest more. I'll write more about real estate on another post since there's a lot of stuff about that I'm still studying right now. 

Hope this helps you as you work towards financial freedom!

PS Just also wanted to say I'm so grateful I have a Kuya who's been providing me guidance. I thought it would be great to share the stuff I learned from him (like the quest to be financially free). 

CB///*Yr2/54  #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/81 #StayHome #BeKind

Wake Up Those Muscles!

Whew! I just finished today's workout. I signed up for the "Absolute Beginner Gentle Course" of Justin Agustin. The course is supposed to slowly wake up your sleeping muscles. I asked my physiotherapist to take a look at the course before I signed up. She said I should go for it and just remember not to go over 5 when it comes to breathing. 

I have been doing wall push-ups everyday since April. I think it's helped my breathing a lot and I haven't had asthma for awhile now. Yay! I hope the course I signed up for will help me advance in a month or two. I'm on my own now since my PT has left the country. I'm grateful she's still keeping in touch and have been asking how I am. I'm using that as motivation to improve. I signed up for the full course at $49. I think it's sulit* since I spend at least SG$50 for taxi weekly when I used to have PT sessions.  

Since gyms are closed for now we decided to invest on an exercise bike. It finally arrived last Sunday and I've been ramping up also on spinning time. I did 3 reps last night and it didn't take me long to fall asleep. Whew! I hope to be consistent with this daily workout. Being cooped up at home is really bad for you and I miss walking around the park. Better to be safe for now and stay home. There's a lot of options anyway to move around more. 

If you want to check out the Justin Agustin course I first saw his workouts on Pinterest. I think he also has Tiktok (which I don't use). Keep moving!

*Sulit - good value for money

CB///*Yr2/53  #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/80 #StayHome #BeKind

Jumping Jolly June!

Happy first of June and happy Pride Month everyone!

Five months of 2021 has passed! Wow! It went by a little slower for me since I've just focused on getting well. I focused on surviving during the first quarter of the year. I didn't expect to have another PE*. My breathing started to improve only in April. 

Now that I could breathe a bit better I focused the second quarter on improving my stamina and energy. I finally achieved 5k steps again on April 30 when we went to the Star Wars Identities exhibit. I had to work on my step count again post-cardiac cath, but I think I'm better now compared to a month ago. 

This month I want to graduate from gentle exercises to something a bit more advanced. I found an old photo of Sweetie carrying me in Bohol. It's from a decade ago when we were younger and had better bodies (haha). For now I just want to be able to jump again! And maybe go up a flight of stairs without huffing and puffing. I also hope this will be the month we finally solve the mystery of where my PEs are coming from. 

I woke up this morning energized and excited to meet a new doctor. I had to postpone the appointment again because I felt nauseous after taking a shower. Boo! I still have days that don't go on as planned so I just play it by ear everyday. The nausea went away after a nap and got better after I ate a banana. I still hope I can do some spinning later to start my 30-day daily exercise challenge. Join me! Yes?

Praying for a jumping, jolly June!

CB///*Yr2/52  #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/79 #StayHome #BeKind

*PE - pulmonary embolism