29th As I Know and Want It to Be

"The past year had been a lot of things for me. I realized that some of what I had were not worth keeping and some of what I wanted were not worth aiming for."

I'm now 29 years old and I still say I'm 27 whenever someone asks about my age, at least unconsciously. The latest one happened almost two weeks ago when I had my second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The doctor asked for my age at the interview station, I immediately said 27 and had it corrected on the vaccination station when I realized that I was not 27 years old anymore. But what's really with age? For me, it's just a number, so I say whatever age I want to say if it's not for legal purposes, of course. What's important is how I move forward with all the mistakes and achievements that I had in the previous years. So I think, I want to stick to 27. LOL.

From Yesterday And Today

In the past year, I tried to keep myself afloat and grounded in the middle of this COVID-19 pandemic. It was extra challenging for a man like me who has been living on his own. But knowing that I have people who love me for who I am has been enough for me to be living this life rather than just surviving. For the most part, I've been staying in the comfort of my apartment with occasional runs to the supermarket, and if the quarantine restrictions would permit, jogging and walking around my neighborhood.

My apartment has been my safe haven since 2014. It's been witness to all of my highs and lows since then. And yes, I think I spent 90% of my time this past year in the warmth of my apartment. This warmth cleared my head when I made several important life-changing decisions this past year. My apartment was also the place where I realized that I no longer wish for temporary things in life, that I already want the constant and permanent things in life. I know, these things are not easy to come by these days but a man can dream.

In my 28th year, I realized that being in any relationship, be it romantic or friendship, that aimed for nothing but a stagnant one was not and will never be worth my time. Shoutout to the people that I had in my life for making me realized this. Thank you so much for spending a page of your life with me. I will forever cherish the memories that we shared. As for my career, this year made me realized that I would like to continue with the flexibility of my current post, not just because I have more time to spend on people who matter most but also it allows me to focus on myself.

As per my interests this year, since badminton isn't a good hobby to pursue at this time, reading and investing have been keeping me busy when I'm not working. Reading has been keeping me occupied whenever anxiety and stress try to pin me down. The sense of just being out of the real world calms me down every time I feel the space I'm in is shrinking around me. And whenever I want that thrill and excitement, I focus my attention on the world of investing. Though I haven't really explored the actual depth of investing, I'm still trying to figure out what specific financial instruments I want to focus on. I'm not willing to waste my resources just because of reckless and uninformed decisions.

Learning For Tomorrow

As I explore life in my 29th year, I want to move forward with some learnings from my experiences and with some plans for my future.

For my relationships, I want to be surrounded by people who are proud to be with me, know how to communicate themselves, and see their future with me. It's not just for a romantic relationship but also friendships. With my best friends, all I can say is they are the best! Being at this age, I think it's just normal that I want to keep my circle small and tight. So yes, I'm not very much interested anymore in meeting new people.

With my current career, I want to focus on my current post and not aim for a big career leap, at least in the next year. Don't get me wrong. I love the challenging nature of the industry that I'm in, I'm just not ready yet to give up the comfort that my current post gives me. But of course, I aim to improve and further widen my knowledge on how to be at my best in doing my job.

As for my interests, I want to read more! I can't be more serious with reading than this coming year, at least it's what I tell myself every year. I aim to read 24 books this year, 12 fiction and 12 non-fiction. I also plan to have a deeper knowledge of the investing world- have a better understanding of stocks and forex trading. With badminton, I will continue my weekly training once this pandemic is over. In addition, I see a brighter future for Acenotes, more on having more posts- at least one post per week.

To sum it all up, I plan to have the best 29th year, not that I have another shot at being 29 after this. HAHAHA!!!

2021: A Year for Discovering New Things, Cherishing the Constants, and Removing the Unnecessary

"For last year's words belong to last year's language, and next year's words await another voice. To make an end is to make a beginning."

This is a famous line by T. S. Eliot. The past year has been everything but predictable. A lot of things happened and a lot of other things didn't. Personally, I'm grateful that my family, friends and I are still alive after 2020. This 2021, I want to do three things that I think will be able to help me become a better version of myself.

Removing the Unnecessary

For most people, including my past self, cutting ties with people and habits is a very difficult thing to do. But as I have learned from the past year, my own sanity and peace of mind are more important than what other people will say.

Fake friends. I am embarrassed to admit this but having a lot of friends was one of the things that defined my self-worth before, even the number of my Facebook friends. Getting through the last quarter of 2019 and through 2020, I realized that only the people who care for me are the ones who should matter. And yes, I also unfriended a lot of my Facebook friends. Being connected to just few select friends also helps me to easily interact with them. Now, I no longer need to think who among my "friends" are available for lunch or dinner, badminton sesh, or just a nice chat over coffee. All I need is to simply reach out.

Toxic relatives. Those relatives who have always something to say about what I said, posted, bought, ate, and how I looked like. I don't need those kind of nagging and negativities in my life. So, to permanently shut their negativities out of my life, I decided to just stop communicating with them and just focus on my relatives who really care about me, not just because they could get something from me.

Too much screen time. Being alone in the middle of a pandemic has spiked up my screen time, be it on my phone, personal computer, and even TV. Marami sa atin ang talagang ito lang ang paraan para maka-cope up with the pandemic. In my case, ito lang ang pinaka-safe at pinakamadaling paraan to keep my sanity. But I think it has to be left in 2020. I can think of other things na pwede ko nang gawin this 2021, aside from playing badminton.

Cherishing the Constants

Being with people who are important to me and doing the things that I love are the most rewarding life experiences for me. This year, I'll make sure that I get to spend more time with these people and commit to get better at doing the things that I love.

Best buddies. Shout out to my constant buddies in lakwatsya, badminton sesh, at kain. You guys have always been my rock during the difficult times of my life. I cannot find the right words with the appropriate intensity to say how much I'm grateful to have you in my life. Basta all I can say is, I LOVE YOU ALL. Basta let's have more lakwatsya, game days, and food trips.

Sunday gameday. In the last few years, I've been playing badminton every Sunday since I already have a circle of fellow badminton enthusiasts. I'm committing myself to playing badminton at least once a week starting February, I just have to fix some things in my schedule for the first month of the year. Yes, I also plan to constantly play on Wednesdays. I want to improve further my skills in the court. Probably, I'll be watching more tutorial videos on YouTube and enroll in training camps.

Reading time. Lately, I've been struggling to finish a book in a month. In 2021, I'm allotting at least an hour a day reading a book. I still have plenty of unread books in my To Read shelves so I'll just focus on finishing all of them first before buying new books. I also want to publish my reviews of these books here on my blog.

Discovering New Things

I think I am a person who can be called an adventurer. Well, at least 'yan ang gusto kong paniwalaan. To a lot of us, a new year can offer a lot of things, the perfect time to start new things, and most of the time, just simply an excuse to do the things that we're not able to do in the previous year. HAHAHA.

Investing in stocks. Last year, I already started investing in mutual funds and saving for some of my other financial goals. This year, I want to invest in the stock market, at least those stocks that offer dividends since I'm not planning on trading stocks on a daily basis. My simple strategy is to buy 5 shares of three stocks per quarter for the next five years. Also, I'll sweep YouTube for the best investing strategies and probably be able to share them here.

Acquiring new skills. Professionally, I want to explore new avenues where I can gain some extra income. To be able to do this, I will enroll myself to free online courses offered by some universities abroad. And perhaps take advantage of the trainings that my current employer offers. I goal to have another income stream once I hit my 30s and acquiring new skills will pretty much pave the way to this goal.

Healthy cooking. This year, I want to focus on having more vegetables and fish in the dishes that I will cook and further explore recipes for chicken breast. Last year was more of a pasta year. Though I was able to cook and come up with variety of pasta dishes, I still feel that I need to do more to achieve a healthy cooking style.

I'm ending this goal setting here to make sure that I'll be able to focus on them and be able to master them in 2021. Here's to hoping that we'll all have an improved and productive 2021. Cheers!!!