The Risky Business

With the recent conversations with some friends, I went back into thinking about risking things. A lot of people are not really sure about risking in some decisions because let us be honest, we do not want to lose, be compromised and be left out. Most of us, to compensate, plan things ahead of time and that is great but only to some degree. Yes, we can possibly avoid some issues or problems even way ahead of time. We can even set points in our possible timeline that when *this fails* or *that fails* we can easily go to plan B.

Somehow I find that to deliver disadvantages despite the perks. I, myself, did that a lot before and to be honest, I missed a lot opportunities in life. So many in fact that I had to do an overhaul on the way I think. I am not saying that planning to avoid problems is bad, it is just that maybe one can be overshadowed excessively by fear and worrying that they might not be able to achieve anything (I have been there, trust me. :D). So as most of my friends told me, get out, meet new friends, learn stuff and do not be afraid.

One can say “you do not understand how it feels to be betrayed/ how it much sadness” blablaba but the way I see it is this: do you really want to stay in that feeling of being betrayed, sad, and cannot forget what others have done to you badly? Or stay in that experience because it had dealt quite an extensive and sort of long term damage that it will also take an utterly long time to repair? Think about it, there is a saying in Filipinos: “Kapag gusto, madaming paraan. Kapag ayaw, madaming dahilan” (If you desire, there are many ways. If you don’t, there are many reasons). So I want to ask this again, does one really want to stay in that state? Or a better idea, move on from that and get a better life. Also for most of the time, I consider all the failures as opportunities for you to learn new things about you. 🙂

I do not know why people want to sulk into a corner and cry about a past when you can move on and get on with a new chapter in life. Yes, I know, it is not easy. Even I, at this stage in my life, is struggling to change but I never threw the white towel. Also when I say change, true change. Not just saying meeting new people and then all of a sudden go back to my computer chair and carry on with what I *used* to do before. Even if you are now sitting in your computer chair or whatever comfort zone you have, there should be this constant feeling of getting yourself out to do something else. For example, I was bound to go back to my usual routine of facing my laptop the whole day when all of a sudden, a friend of mine posted pictures of her baking. She is in Japan right now and I asked her how she did the yummy stuff and told me all the basics needed for baking. Then, with the lack of equipment, it pushed me further to learn more on how to go around such limitation and viola, I baked brownies. Plus, it did not stop there as I watched more and more videos about baking and cooking and constantly talking to her about her experiences, recipes and some casual conversations. I might be going back to my computer but trust me, I also keep on going away from it. Sometimes, all it takes for you to get out is money but if you do not have the money, you can always find a lot of ways to get out. AAaaaand I must say, even if I talked to a person I knew, I actually met a new person as I talked to this person even more. We do not talk to much during our college days and now the opportunity came to go deeper on certain stuff.

I admit, again and again, that I have committed a looot of mistakes and missed a lot of opportunities but it did not stop me from pulling myself together again and give a shot at trying to move. I missed some chances of getting into a relationship, sometimes being stupid for some attempts but hey, at least I tried! There are people who are saying that trying is pointless if you do not push so much effort in it. My opinion, the fact that you tried, effort is very well present in there. So how about the people involved? Well, for me there is absolutely no point at being angry with them as that will only prevent you from rebuilding yourself.

Of course, in risking, you still have to step your mind up. I mean, there are risking that are quite stupid at some point of view. Risking will always require you to get a good view and assessment of the situation.

One thing that can help, I think, when risking is a good friend to catch you when you fall down. When I say good friend, he or she is not just going to listen but scold at you, tell you that you are an absolute idiot just to wake you up and more importantly, give you the best advice so that you will be able to avoid mistakes again in the future. I am not saying avoiding it fully, just avoid it as much as you can because mistakes are, to be honest, reaaally inevitable. 🙂

Just give it a go. Nothing will be lost. Only the material side. :))

In the end, as what I have heard before, it is better to say “Oh well” than “What If”

update: any stories, comments or questions to share/ask? I am an e-mail or PM away. 😀

Getting my eating habits on track

Yes, I am sooooooooo thin, legendary for being an underweight and so I have to rethink the way I eat. I start first with trying to eat on time, meaning I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at time spots wherein I will not feel full when the time comes for the next meal. For example, I do not eat breakfast on time, meaning I usually eat breakfast at about ten in the morning. The routine does not let me eat by lunch time because I feel like I am still full and not hungry. Same goes for the transition from lunch to dinner. So while being bum here in the house, our helper found out this bad habit of mine and made sure that I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner on time. Moreover, she mandated that whatever she serves and how much, I should eat it. For example, I usually scoop about 3/4 or 1/2 cup of rice every meal. When she took over my routine practice, she always placed rice 50% of the plate and I have to eat them all.

And I realized (stupid me) this bad habit of mine when I went out one morning and saw how I ate outside of the house. Even worse, I realized that I have been doing that bad routine since the start of college. So now I have to eat on time. After getting the habit of eating on time, that is when I will start planning my diet, what to eat to make me, well there is no other word for it, fat. :3

 

First Mountain Climbing Experience

It was my very first mountain climb last January 6, 2013. The mountain chosen by my colleagues was the highest peak in Luzon and the third highest peak in the country, which is Mt. Pulag with its peak at 10,000 feet above sea level. We first went to our inn at Baguio and then travelled to the DENR Ranger station at about 8,000 feet above sea level. Our target for this climb was to see the sunrise at the peak as well as the famous cloud falls, given that it is not raining. With no plans of camping, we set off by 12:30 am Saturday and with timed breaks along the way as well as the overall pacing, we arrived at the peak by 5:30 am.

Starting from the ranger station, we were hopeful for the sunrise as the skies by 12:30 am is still clear and you can still see the stars. According to one of us, he said that the rains are normal on the mossy forest but if the weather is clear, the climb to the summit from Camp 2 should be fine. Unfortunately it started raining on the summit and the chances for seeing the sunrise looked bleak. Also, it rained hard during the previous days which meant that the paths with black soil are so soft and muddy, you can imagine how hard it was to walk through it. It was a super difficult climb with the rains constantly spraying water to you and eventually getting the whole of yourself wet. We were not able to bring rain coats because of our assumption of the weather.

So with the terrible conditions, I slipped down to the ground more than ten times, had a lot of instances wherein I nearly twisted my ankles, lots of cramps and muscle spasms. We arrived at the peak but I had to dive in for shielding from the wind because of my wet clothing. Apparently, the temperature above was playing near two degrees Celsius and with the wet clothes, constant rain and winds, it will easily send me off to death by hypothermia. Glad that there are high plants there that can resist winds so I crouched there while the rest are trying to take pictures.

Going down, I had to remove my gloves to prevent my hands from getting any colder and eat chocolate bars to keep my legs working. Back at Camp two, my breakfast is actually jumping on the plate because of chills. Good thing I have extra shirt so that I can change at least the top body and keep me from chills while travelling back to our inn.

In total, a shirt, two jackets, a mountain climbing bag, jeans and jogging pants and three socks and gloves suffered immense weathering. Also my pelvis included joint pains, legs with muscular pains which made me walk like a penguin afterwards as well as my palms for trying to save me after slipping down and my arms for trying to pull myself out of ditches.

It was a crazy attempt, some say, to have your initiation of mountain climbing on something like Mt. Pulag, even worse at those conditions. They said I should’ve started with lower mountains. Thankfully, I survived the climb. I was also amazed that despite the lack of preparations, both in gear and in body, I still managed to tread along continuously. It was fun.. Disappointing because we were not able to see the sunrise but as a first experience, it was fun.

I want attempt #2. 🙂