I've had crazy weeks this just past - working six days, instead of my usual five then just having a lazy Saturday (sometimes still at the office but doing just nothing really) but that time has long been gone. Now, it's six crazy days 9-6 every single day. Those and more. Problems with employees (all 240 of them), prices of our product ingredients increasing here and there, regular recosting of our products just to keep everything afloat, the list goes on.
I'm not saying life sucks because of any of those. Every single stressful day, I pray I rise above it and continue to remember how blessed I am. I've said time and again how I have such a blissful life really. I continue to say I can't thank God enough. Amidst and after a long rough day at the office, I am blessed to have the following "de-stressers" I can always count on to keep me sane, to remind me of my simple, blissful life:
*Early morning walks and jogs around the village across ours (the roads around our immediate area are way toooo rocky to have a decent jog!). Armed with my jogging attire and reliable ipod, I walk and then jog some to my cousin Juni's house, to hopefully wake her (so far, she hasn't!!!), then just savor the early morning fresh air and the sun's bright rays while walking, jogging, contemplating on how my day is going to be like. It somehow starts my day right.
*My freshly brewed cup of coffee - a must! This truly starts my day right. Always has, always will.
*BIENI. She is my sunshine. "Ate", she'd call me, and hearing it just simply melts away whatever stress is holding me back, pulling me down, killing me. What with her gazillion questions - a typical trait for any super-smart six-year-old, I take it, and to add, her gazillion and one amazing observations and takes on everything - life, people, places, events. She can be a handful at times - trust me, it gets tiring too, especially when you're dying to get a good night's sleep and she still can't. "Ate," I hear her call out to me again. It just never stops. It also never fails to tug at my heart.
*Bonding time with Mamita... Ever since she's been on "house arrest" (imposed by her doctors, children, grandchildren, and weak knees) more than a month ago here in Ormoc, I've made it a point to spend time with her before I went to the office and right after, on some days, I drop by after hearing Mass at noon. Despite Mamita's loud, booming, typical-Rodriguez voice, just sitting with her, listening to her gazillion stories about her life, is de-stressing enough. I listen to her talk with childlike glee about her love story with Lolo (who passed away even before any of us apos were born), her notorious adventures with Tia Inday (her closest cousin) when they were growing up in Casilda, Puertobello (about twenty minutes' drive from Ormoc), etc. She'd always make it a point to have her help serve me with fruits, food, chocolate - she knows how big my appetite is, it's embarrassing. She enjoys listening to me read her emails from her doctor, the thoughtful Dr. Yuri. She'd ask me every once in a bit about my life - work, my relationship with Pancho, and the like. Mamita is simply amazing. She has her "moments" too every once in a while, but all in all, she's the best grandmother one can ever hope for. Being there for her is more than all the de-stressing I need.
*Chatting with my sisters. Thanks to Skype, chatting with my Cebu-based sister Ivi and Manila-based sister Yani has never been this easy, convenient, and CHEAP! Free at that. What with the advent of webcams, we always talk while looking each other in the eye. We catch up on the latest with each other - weight loss (Ivi's end), gazillion drawings (which are superb, I have to say, Yani), and lots lots more - from the silliest, funniest bit to the more serious ones. Nonetheless, regular catching up with them strengthens the bond we share. Even more so, having them to talk to about anything is simply such a stress-reliever. These girls know me more than anyone else does, they know how to cheer me up when I need it, they know my strongest, weakest points...
*Tuesdays with kids.
Beginning this month, I have been spending an hour on Tuesdays volunteering for catechism classes with 3rd graders at a public school in Bantigue (where my mom grew up), about 15 minutes' drive from home sweet home. My classes with them kids are at 730 in the morning. Yes, 730! Which means I've been waking up and getting ready for my long busy days way earlier than normal the past Tuesdays. It's been amazing! To say the least, the kids light up and start my day right. Every single Tuesday this past month. I realize all the more my passion for teaching little ones. It's fulfilling enough to catch their attention, have them listen intently to everything I say and share. I could see in their innocent eyes their hunger for knowledge about God. Don't get me wrong, it's not all ideal - like in every class, there are the notorious bunch of kiddos, too. It gets crazy at times. But it's fun and fulfilling just the same. And yes, though needless to say, I continue to look forward to each and every Tuesday thereafter.
*PB time. Need I say more? (My sister Ivi would answer a big NO - what with her saying I talk too much about him in my blogs - so yes, am enumerating it just the same but not saying much more.) Simply put, I LOVE THIS GUY TO DEATH.
*Sundays - rain or shine.
This is a Rodriguez tradition through and through. Sundays are kept sacred and by that I mean that it's time alloted - always without fail - to be with the big Rodriguez clan. Most times Mamita heads the always happy, riotous family! It's usually at our family beach house or if everyone's too lazy or too busy (with kids' exams that week and the like), we end up in one of whoever's house, usually Tito Bingcol's (which is like 3 minutes' walk from our home) since they have a big swimming pool and kids just love jumping into it as soon as they set foot at their familiar territory. Needless to say, the food abounds, we like saying, Sundays are feast days. PERIOD. If you starve all week or go on a no-eat diet (yeah, that exists!), Sundays are an exception. You just can't help it - seeing everyone else pigging out, enjoying the yummiest dish! It doesn't end up with the sumptuous lunch. Family time lasts all afternoon, and there are even some Sundays when it lasts till dinner and after. I'm not kidding here. We simply don't get tired of each other's faces! We love chatting, laughing about anything and everything!
*FOOD & "BERKS" (aka friends/cousins).
Food and great friends/cousins make the best company on an uberly exhausting, stressing day! And this happens more often really, what with everything in Ormoc accessible via a 5-10 minute drive. At the end of a pretty long day (darn, sometimes even in the middle of the day), it would just take a single instant message on yahoo messenger or a text message (on more urgent times, a call) to get everyone ready for a quick end of the ranting with snacks, a meal, or whichever suits our ranting mood. All in all, they make the best de-stressing companions.
*Spa, spa, spa.
Thanks to Home Sweet Home Spa, getting pampered with an amazing massage is just a call away! Getting such a gooooood massage just takes all the stresses away and I mean away!!!
*All in all, the best de-stressing among them all is pure quiet time in church. When everything seems hopeless, too exhausting, nothing beats the quiet ambiance and silent feel of the church. Truly the best de-stresser I can recommend - just being able to pour out everything to God, knowing He is the best listener; what's more, He speaks volumes in the silence - directs it to the very heart of the person.
With all those de-stressers... stress anyone?
