Aim for Heaven 2011

The title is a play on JK Anicoche and Sipat Lawin’s slogan for 2011.

It has been a rocky start. As soon as work started for 2011 the bills came in, and I had to get used to the fact that I was the one picking up the tab. So this is what adulthood’s like: like having a stone in a shoe at all times.

I have learned to roll with the punches. This season’s punches just happened to upgrade to brass knuckles.

To get by, I learn to thank the little things. Last Christmas I got enough gift certificates to get a Moleskine 2011 planner. Somehow, the emptiness of the planner gave me a sense of relief. I looked forward to filling it with to-do lists, quotes, pictures, and whatnot. I knew that as long as the pages had something, there would be something to look forward to, and work to do. As long as there was work, there were things in store for me and my sister. As of writing I have a magazine to put together, a tournament to organize, and a few meetings to manage.

I also started marking daily accomplishments. At the end of each day I marked a star and a completed task, or something I enjoyed within the day. So far, I had cleared out a few boxes, and kept a friend company for his birthday.

There are challenges ahead: ongoing hospital debt, bills, my sister’s schooling, but am trying to take it one at time. That’s the only way to go, I think. It is too easy to get lost in everything we have to do, and get bogged down in the process.

There will be defeats, but failure is not an option.