After a heartbreak, some people choose to forget love and everything about it. They don’t watch romantic movies anymore, read love stories, listen to mushy music - they look at life very differently knowing that any moment a person may come again to ruin what’s left of their soul. They build walls, they protect themselves from the things they once considered to be so beautiful. They get to the point where they tell themselves that they will never love again - until they do. That’s the moment they realize that they’ve completely moved on.

The realization hits you like a slap in the face: It’s when you no longer look at your past love and feel bad about yourself. It’s when you wake up each day knowing that you’re living your life for yourself and no one else. It’s when loving yourself is your first priority and you set up standards that you dare not to disobey. It’s when you look back at your past experiences and laugh a genuine laugh because it’s funny and it no longer hurts you. It’s when, despite everything that happened, you wish the best for your past love.

It’s when you meet someone and suddenly, you start listening to those mushy songs again.  You wake up with a smile and the thought of that person, but you’re no longer afraid that he’s going to hurt you. It’s when slowly, but surely, you try to give them a chance to make you believe again. That, despite all your efforts to push him away, he stays with you and accepts that you’ve been hurt. And you’ll see it that he’s trying his best to prove you otherwise, to remove all the doubts left in your mind.

It’s when at the end of the day, you think of someone and the thought of them gives you the kind of feeling you thought you forgot to feel - that’s when you’re ready to love again.

If people would ask me who my hero is, I wouldn’t have to think twice before I give an answer.

If there’s someone in the world I would want to be like when I get (much, much) older, it would have to be my dad.

Eversince I could remember, I looked up to my father as the ideal role model. Nevermind that he’s a man and I’m just a little girl, and nevermind all his imperfections - all the times he was out working, all the holidays he missed when I was a child - to me, he was perfect. He still is. Despite all of his shortcomings, to me he is the best father a child could ever hope for.

He’s intelligent but he doesn’t boast about it. He’s wise, but he never imposes his beliefs on others. He’s hardworking, caring and self-sufficient, he’s the kind of man that you would respect and hope to be.

I wake up everyday thinking of how blessed I am even if not everything I want and hope for aren’t given to me, because I know at the end of the day, I have a father that supports and believes and me, and a family that loves me.

A girl could not wish for anything more.

I love you daddy, Happy Father’s day. :)

I’m no fitness guru, but lately I’ve been so motivated to exercise and live healthy that I almost got rid of all my bad eating habits this year (take note of the word,almost).It’s been tough at first, but eventually it all came naturally - like how I stopped eating rice, stopped consuming junk food and basically learned how to drink more than 8 glasses of water everyday. It’s only hard when you start, but your body will get used to it and it will be thanking you eventually, I can assure you that.

Anyway, people have been asking me to how I started doing it so I decided to put up a list. Here goes:

1. Motivate yourself. Seek out inspiration and hold on to it. For me, the realization that I had to lose weight came one day when I was depressed. I looked at myself in the mirror and I didn’t like what I saw, so I promised myself that from that day on, “I will never be fat again”. Get photos from the internet, follow fitspo blogs, print out motivating quotes - anything that could inspire you to start your journey.
2. Start. That’s just it. After you find inspiration, then just go and start with your diet. Don’t make excuses or say that you’ll start on this day, that day, the end of the month, the start of the month - those things won’t lead you anywhere. Just go for it. By saying “I’ll start tomorrow”, you’re only fooling yourself because eventually that ‘tomorrow’ will turn into next year and next year will turn into a lifetime.
3. Set a realistic goal. When you want to achieve something, start by taking small steps. A goal like 'Losing 5 pounds this month’ can be helpful. You can have small goals like 'Do 25 situps everyday for a week’ or 'Skip the elevator and use the stairs for 2 weeks’, those small changes will benefit you in the long run because your body will get used to work and eventually you can push it to do more strenuous workouts. Don’t just wake up one day and decide to do a very strenuous workout without training your body, because what that would do to you is just make you feel so burned out that you’ll lose the motivation to exercise.
4. That being said, my fourth tip is to Exercise. I have tried almost all the possible exercises in the world, believe me. I’ve tried Bikram Yoga, Bellydancing, countless sports and thousands of pesos worth of gym membership - and I eventually just stopped doing them all. Why? Because it wasn’t the right type of exercise for me. I started exercising on my own and after a while, I found the right sport for me - Boxing. My advice is to get yourself out there, go on trials and try to find that one sport or exercise that’s good for you, that motivates you, because it’s easier to keep on doing it if you enjoy it.
5. Discipline yourself. Don’t overindulge on food just because you feel 'stressed’ or 'unwanted’, because there are other ways to relax, like going to the movies, getting a massage, reading a good book or yes, even exercising. You don’t have to use food as an excuse to feel better, especially if you’re just going to end up eating junk. Make a simple diet plan and stick to it. Remember, you can always start with small goals like 'eating a half cup of rice every meal’ and then your body will get used to that.
6. Just keep going.We often read quotes like 'Don’t stop, the beginning is always the hardest’ or 'It doesn’t matter how slow you go, as long as you don’t stop’, and it’s very cliche - but it’s true. Even if your body hurts, don’t stop exercising. Even if you think you’ve had enough, finish the workout. Push yourself! It doesn’t matter if you’re doing 20 sit-ups or finishing the whole 2 ½ hours of boxing training, just finish it and do as much as you can, when you can.
7. Most importantly, reward yourself. Set a day once a week when you can get to eat whatever the hell it is that you want to eat (to a limit, of course). Make it a Sunday for example, you’ll workout all week awaiting that day when you can grab an ice cream cone and not feel guilty. Reward yourself every now and then for doing a great job, you’ll deserve it if you’ve worked hard enough.

:)