JUST BEFORE 2022 ended, I posted on Facebook my New New Resolutions.
I tried to do the minimum because I can afford to demand less of myself at 54.
Seriously, I don’t care much about what happens next.
Especially in the money market.
Or how this country will fail.
***
I just want to concentrate on myself this year 2023.
If what I do can help and inspire others, that’s great.
If not, too bad.
I mean, if you are wise like me, you should just start cleaning your own backyard.
Secure your household.
Take care of yourself.
***
Too late for you to make sure you have savings for an emergency of six months (of living expenses) without an income.
I have been living for eight years now without an income.
So I know how this works.
***
One of my many joys nowadays is hearing people tell me how they envy my life.
The other day, the coffeeshop attendant in our public market sat down with me.
I came in at around 10 am, and my usual crowd has gone.
I had breakfast with my mom, so I had a relaxed, post-prandial coffee.
***
The woman told me that I’m the luckiest Dumangasanon she has seen in her life.
How she “sees me smiling all the time, and going everywhere the wind blows.” (Her words.)
She said that she’s sure there are probably richer people in Dumangas, but she’s not seeing them as happy as I am.
She said that she has observed me, and how I savor each gulp of coffee, each morsel of bread.
***
And she is right.
If I don’t drink coffee like I’m being licked all over, that’s a bad day.
If I tear down a siopao without the thought of f*cking it, I’m not eating that siopao right.
The only right way to eat is to be sensual about it.
If you can close your eyes, and identify the taste of goat in the meat, that’s what mindful eating is all about.
***
Anyway, here’s “My Top 10 New Year Resolutions to Save Myself & Help the Planet”:
1. Perform a TOTAL of 100 squat-jumps DAILY
2. Read at least ONE poem DAILY
3. Listen to at least ONE song DAILY
4. Pep talk self in the mirror for 59 SECONDS only DAILY
5. Make at least ONE person smile or laugh DAILY
6. Block, unfriend, delete, and/or eliminate TOXIC people (even if they mean well) IMMEDIATELY
7. Write an average of ONE publishable story/poem WEEKLY
8. Watch ONE movie WEEKLY
9. Reduce social media engagement to a maximum of TWO hours DAILY
10. Visit at least ONE person (widows, orphans, spinsters, elderly, sick people, jail inmates, clergy, nuns) WEEKLY
***
People often ask me, How do you do it?
How do you achieve so many things?
Do you even rest?
***
Firstly, I do things with a passion.
With consistency, with determination, with a goal in mind.
Mission-vision is a real thing for me.
I always do things with a mission. With a vision.
***
So, I say, I want to do 100 squat jumps a day.
On Day 2, I did 125. Because I felt like it.
On Day 3, I did 150. Because of a video recording error.
But I’m thinking, if I can do my 100 before noon, what’s to stop me from doing 150 before the day is over?
Yeah, I sometimes show off.
I overdo things.
But mostly, I do what’s good for me.
***
My intermittent fasting is 8 hrs of eating, 16 hrs of fasting.
But I often push it to 20 hrs fasting. Even 24 hrs!
***
My friend also helped me download Spotify so I could keep my One Song A Day resolution.
On Day 1 of 2023, we listened to Tiffany’s “Could’ve Been”, and some other contemporary songs she suggested.
On Day 2, we listened to the German “99 Luftballons”, and songs by that European sensation Nana Mouskouri.
***
On Day 3, I listened to Coldplay’s “Yellow”.
And I remembered kissing a boy for the whole duration of the song back in 2004.
I mean, when a boy playfully tongue fights you for kiss supremacy, and your French kissing is breathless for the whole of “Yellow”, all 4 minutes 26 seconds of it, you’d be crazy not to listen to it again.
And again.
And you’d be a poor, unfortunate soul if you don’t recall the sensation of a torrid French kiss./PN
