Hey

Quick but deep question uli, hehe.

Do you ever feel like you're just going through the motions - wake up, work, sleep, repeat? 

As if parang life is passing you by? 

Simply riding it out until mag closing time?

Ba naman CoaSH, nag check lang ako ng email tapos eto bungad mo.

Hehe sorna please. This is not your normal newsletter, and I am not your guru. 

I just really enjoy getting people to think. 

You see, I used to feel that way too as a freelancer. Chasing project after project but not really living. 

I was posting all over social media ng mga lifestyle shoots ko (syempre visual creative ako and I needed to market my business hehe), meanwhile experiencing feast and famine pa din. 

This was from a shoot we did in Coron.

Pag may project, hayahay. Pag wala, nganga. 

If other people had OOTD, ako OFTD. ^_^

May pa-effect pa ako na kunyari someone was taking a photo of me on the job on top of a coal tanker mast 40 feet in the air.

Yun pala, nag-timer lang ako with my phone and bumaba na agad. haha

But di ko talaga ma-shake off yung feeling. 

You would see this documented in my social accounts if you have known me long enough. 

Pero that all changed for me one weekend at a local version ng Your Best Year Ever I attended a while ago.

Our speaker was also a certified physician and NLP practitioner, and he had a way of connecting with all of the people in the room. 

"Let me ask you something," he said, leaning towards us. 

"Imagine, just for a moment, na merong dinosaur era-ending meteor that was going straight to Earth. Scientists confirmed it na, and we had no way out."

He paused, letting that sink in. 

I pictured an apocalyptic scenario, everything I knew gone in an instant. 

"Now," he continued. 

"What if you had no warning of a powerful super typhoon, even worse than Yolanda and Odette combined? It would bring more than biblical levels of catastrophic flooding and winds. You needed to evacuate immediately. Asap."

Wait, things got real... real quick. 

Now, singit ko lang, I come from Tacloban, ground zero of Yolanda. I could barely imagine or quantify the destruction it left.  

I didn’t need to imagine anything, this shit REALLY happened. 

"If you knew your time was short, be honest - what would you do differently? How would you want to spend those final days if the end was near?" came the next question. 

Classic question na yan sa mga workshops or retreats CoaSH we know that already.

Yes, I know. Pero, it hits differently if you really confront it. 

Immediately people began answering. 

Some young guy in the back quipped agad with “Sasabihin ko kung gaano sya kahalaga sa akin.”

And there were a few laughs.

“I’ll spend more time with my parents!”, sabi nung isa pa.

“Sana hindi ako nagpatalo sa takot at sinubukan ko mga pangarap ko.”

Deep.

"I’ll fire all my nightmare clients asap. Scratch that, mag-babakasyon na ako habang buhay."

"hahaha, damn right!" may tumawa at nag agree uli.

“I wish I’d forgiven people more.”

Silence.

Regrets were now starting to fill the room.

The outpouring of vulnerability was really powerful. 

We all imagined confronting our mortality and realized how much we prioritize work over living. 

Tapos a few seconds later, sabi ng speaker “ALL of that is actually really happening right now.”

Wait, what!? 

Nalito kami for a minute, started to get a bit mad at the prank, even. 

Pero, we couldn’t really get too mad about it.

Kasi tama naman talaga sya. 

That meteor COULD LITERALLY BE on its way now. Ancient craters on our planet’s surface prove that large objects have hit Earth in the past, and there's no reason to think this won't continue in the future. If one of those big meteors hadn’t hit the earth, wala tayo today, and the dinosaurs would still be here.

Di pa lang tayo tinatamaan uli, but it could happen ANY time. 

In 2023, floods have actually gotten stronger. Check out what’s happening in China right now. They’re having the worst floods they’ve had in over 140 years. 

Our speaker's statement shook us awake, revealing what was truly important.

Spend time with family and friends who fill your heart. 

Do work that lights you up. 

Appreciate this gift called life - the sunrise, your child's laughter, a delicious meal.

Soooo… if that meteor and super typhoon are on their way anyway... 

Why the heck wait? 

Bakit mag-hihintay pa tayo bago mag-act?  

Because the truth is, that massive storm is already here. Our time is limited. But we can choose joy and meaning today. 

We can live like the storm is coming, because it is. 

I could end this email right here, pero I also realize and acknowledge we easily forget things the moment we get comfortable again.

I call it being re-stuck.

We all get re-stuck after a while.

Na-inspire lang ng konti after an event, then the daily struggles of life find a way to bring our resolve down again. 

We have a tendency to fall back and focus on our own problems again and just get stuck thinking of the failures, the struggles, the what-ifs. 

And that's normal.

Let me share an unexpected solution from my friend and Happiness Coach Jalvi, who attended a Freelancers Townhall with me last night (shoutout sa mga Go Givers dyan!). 

He was asked, “How do you deal with getting stuck or a major struggle?” 

Sabi niya, "One good way to get unstuck is to help someone else. Find someone who needs help, who needs someone to talk to, and just help them. It reminds you that there are problems bigger than yours; That you're not alone in the world; and that there's a deeper purpose to life.” 

Ultimately having a purpose drives more people to action than just the fear of a meteor or flood that is either there or not there yet. 

If you’re a person who feels that life is just passing you by and you feel stuck, Jalvi has an open-to-public Ask Me Anything session tomorrow at 6PM.

https://bit.ly/FullThrottle2023

Ayun lang naman gusto ko sabihin. Hehe I hope napaisip ka din ng konti kahit papano.

That's all I have for today.

Shoden "Motivational Rice" San

PS1. If you found this a good read, and you have friends who are interested in reading email rants like these please forward this to them and let them sign up sa ating munting list.

PS2. eto din yan, but mas swabe. Share mo sa wall mo, I need subs parang awa mo na. ^_^ https://sendfox.com/WorkFunHomePinoy

PS3. Here's the link uli to Jalvi's Ask Me Anything session https://bit.ly/FullThrottle2023