Life's a Choice. Multiple Choice.

Photo by Steve Adams on Unsplash

I was in the 16th lap of my usual Sunday run when just in front of our house where I usually double-tap my watch to register a lap, an old lady walking in the opposite direction signaled to halt my run and asked for the time. I.Mean.Freaking.Really! I can think of at least 3 reasons why of all the people in the neighborhood out in the street that day, she chose me:

1. I was closest to her and to wait for the next person is an absolute waste of time which she didn’t have;
2. I was wearing 2 watches. Yup -my Apple Watch and my son’s Garmin. Although they are always on-point with time, they do not register the same of the other data that I keep track of in every run like distance, bpm, calories, etc. I usually go with whichever that gives the superior data. Running, after all, is supposed to make one feel better, right? Haha. Garmin provides also the music that the other can’t without the phone. The old lady must have thought I had extra time that’s why she asked if I could give it to her. And, finally;
3. She was hitting on me with that cheap pick up line, “Excuse me, do you have the time?” Yah, really cheap.

Now breaking a run for me is sacrilegious. But ignoring a helpless, time-clueless lady is a cardinal sin. I had three choices:

1. Ignore her. It’s the easiest to do. But because of the previous sentence, I’m shooting down this choice;
2. Continue running but backwards while checking the time, hope that she can still hear well despite her age and yell out, “six-ten!;"
3. Lose no time and without looking at any of the watches, give an estimate: “ahh, six-fifteenish!”
4. Tell her,  “It’s time to buy a watch!”
5. Stop. Check the time. Tell.

Photo by Agê Barros on Unsplash

I chose #3 in the first multiples and #5 in the second. I lost about a good 12 seconds that lap. Maybe even 13 if the wind shifted to my direction. A record run could have been broken that day. The  results would have made good IG and FB posts. But it would have left someone warped in timeless space.

Using the equation of motion, s=vt, I knew that the next minute, we’d cross each other’s path again. Lo and behold, there she was -all smile, floating in air, spinning like Maria in The Sound of Music, wanting to tell me, “Thanks. It’s 06:11 now.” That was a well-spent 12 seconds. I made one happy lady. It’ll be forever engraved in her memory.

If I could contain all pockets of 12 seconds that I’ve wasted that day, it would fill about a dozen trash bags thrown away into oblivion. Although I know I had a choice of not wasting them, I still chose to. Too lazy. Too tired. Too bored. Too three. Lah-di-dah. But those 12 seconds I managed well.

Many times than I can recall too many excuses:

It takes only 120 seconds to take out the garbage, but I’m still in the middle of slouching peacefully in the sofa;

Six precious seconds to pick up that dirt on the floor and drop it to the bin. Maybe later someone else will;

Half-an-hour to clean the kitchen counter while I have nothing else to do, but too lazy now. Besides, all the others aren’t doing anything as well;

Shoes on the floor, 14 seconds; 

Plates on the table, 75 seconds...

 

Many more times than I can recall too many protests running in my brain:

"Five more slides and this boring meeting is done. There is just so much to do after this (read: the new

 K-drama episode);"

"This homily is eating away my precious time with… with… some activity that has a name;"

"Dang this traffic, I can’t do anything. I can't think. I can't function."

Sometimes, the irony of it all is that we try so hard to save time that in the process, lose it. Crappy things that cause us to procrastinate or delay happen. true that. But when they do, don't allow them to undo you. You just need to focus on other things. For some people, it will be a challenge to re-focus because of hardened muscle and mental memory. But practice makes for a good lubricant the way WD-40 loosens up tightened screws.

A little effort takes an equally little time that can be enjoyed if doing good is your thing. You just have to be aware. At the end of each day, you'll find less of those trash bags of wasted time thrown away.

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Healthier, Wealthier, and Wiser in Covid-19

Even at the outset, I knew that this lockdown will work out just fine for me and for those around me that I have some semblance of influence over. In fact, I had a plan: that when this is over, or hopefully even in the thick of it, I will be healthier, I will be wealthier and, more importantly, I will be wiser. But wait, there’s more! In making myself HW&W, and because I do not regard this thing lightly but accept that it will not all be a walk in the park due to the strict social distancing rules, I will find joy every step of the way. Pleasure is part of the plan. What’s the whole point if at the end, you are healthier, wealthier and wiser but miserable?

We are now well into the fourth month since the lockdown or the adjective-adjective-adjective quarantine began. My point being this wasn’t an aimless feel-good thing at the beginning that was later on swallowed by self-pity, boredom, household conflicts, extra pounds and scarlet-red bottom lines. There is a happy ending to this story, folks!

Healthier.

I thought I already had a healthy lifestyle even prior to this pandemic. Because of the stent now allowing smooth blood circulation into and out of mi corazon for three years now, cardio 5k runs around the village every Sunday and workouts 2 to 3x a week were part of my routine. I also ate nothing but fish and vegetables. But I needed to level up and make it healthier as the plan demands. So I started running 5k every 3 days and, during lent season which fell within the Q period, I didn’t eat anything that had a face or a mother. Workouts with weights were 4-5 days a week. 

Expectedly, I hit a snag. No big plans are carried out without ’em, right? By Easter, stricter rules were implemented in the village that disallowed loitering and other non-essential outdoor activities like jogging and kissing. Instead of banging my head against a wall, I summoned my good ol’ stationary bike back to action (“…but where will I hang my towel?”). It’s not the same ‘high’ I get when running outdoor but I get all sweat, just the same. The heart doesn't get as much beating though and, literally, I had nowhere to go. 

When the rules eased down, I was back running 5k 2x a week and working out almost everyday. My personal 5k best was when I finished under 30mins (5’52”/km) just a few weeks ago. I like keeping tab of my stats because it’s one way to keep busy thinking about how to better myself.  This alone keeps me sane during this probably once-in-a-lifetime period in my life. I kept my weight magically between 68-70kgs all throughout this time despite developing an appetite for hot Korean ramen and kimchi. My reason for the new taste is, apart from watching K-dramas on Netflix featuring South Koreans slurping spicy jjamppong and jjol-myeon like there’s no North, Google shows that the country with the least cases of coronary heart disease in the entire planet is South Korea (https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/coronary-heart-disease/by-country/). Annyeong tothat! Bring in the soju, too!

Apart from all these, my daughter encouraged me to do some abs workout -something that I only need to follow on Youtube, 10mins everyday. I am now well within my 5th week of a 2-week workout. Working overtime, that’s what it is!

Wealthier.

My company, Toespin Lighting Design, never relented in our commitment to serve our clients. Working from home, we continued to craft design work, hold online meetings, pursue new projects and turn disadvantages into advantages. Working from home turned out to be better for us. Going to and from meetings in the south of the metro where most of our biggest clients hold office takes us no less than 3.5 hours -even if the actual meetings take only a few minutes longer than a no.2 in the toilet without a bidet. Add to that the cost of gas, vehicle wear and tear, parking, cellphone data, expensive lunch, obligatory walk thru Uniqlo and H&M, laundry, and forced smiles given to clients that don’t deserve them. Not only am I watering plants that have grown and plants that are growing, I am planting new seeds, too. Never before in my lifetime have I done bicep curls during a business meeting!

To be honest, my bottom line bordered into the yellow zone of late as I hit another snag. Summer days were really dry but when the rains came, it poured! Hallelujah!

Wealthier and Wiser.

Instead of paying tens of thousands of pesos to do them, I studied website design and made my company website https://www.toespin.com all by myself, from square one. It took me one entire week to do the lay-outing, brainstorming by myself and writing content. There was a bit of cleaning and tidying up after then but I was able to put the site up in 7 days from a blank screen. Now that we are online and with the “new normal” way of doing business, I hear ka-ching, ka-ching! This old dog deserves a treat for learning new tricks!

With the help of some professionals, I also created Rosary of the Nations. This was created many years ago but was just recently finished. Most of the testing, debugging and promotions were done during this period. This is a rosary prayer portal where each rosary is a sort of a collab between 74 people from 74 countries praying in their own languages, including the Pope in Vatican City. That is, one bead, one country. Check it out -start one and 73 other people from 73 other countries will help you finish it or join one that others have started. Check out also our Youtube channel where you can download or listen to finished rosaries. 

www.rosaryofthenations.org

I think of it this way. If you believe in the power of community prayer, how much more powerful your prayer is if, literally, the whole world prays with you? My dictum is this: I am empowered by people who pray for me and I help empower those that I pray for. This dictum gets reinforcement everyday when my family, joined by all my siblings’ families pray the rosary everyday. We hook up using Messenger and raise each others prayers together. This we do everyday for the past 3.5 months! Something we’ve never done since forever.

Wiser.

I may have gained knowledge developing and mastering a few skills. When running, I’ve even learned to communicate and control my body telling it that my mind is in control esp when running out of breath and wanting to stop. Throughout this time, I have been busier than pre-covid days. I had more business meetings, exclusively doing the household laundry and folding them after, cleaning the house and waxing the cars but have managed my time pretty well. Wisdom must be in there, alright, and I really think I am wiser for the better. But wisdom for me is this: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is prudence (Proverbs 9:10). For me, I cannot be HW&W if I am not spiritually HW&W.

Before the lockdown, I attended mass everyday, seldomly missing a day without. This is where I find inspiration especially when important decisions have to be made. Or where to go for a hot brew. Good thing is, the churches where I used to attend mass in hold online masses everyday. This is how my family and I get to attend daily mass. The church allows spiritual communion during this time.

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Now my abs pack closely approximates Thor's. Yep, just by a mile! Now I can challenge Usain Bolt, too! Yup, and this article will win me the Pulitzer! But this ain’t my point!

Sadness and bitterness towards this lockdown were thrown away with the bags and bags of rubbish that we’ve been hoarding all these years. I smiled at the sun as its rays reflect against  the hood of my newly-waxed car. Joy comes when I light up a candle, as my family’s acolyte when preparing for an online mass in the morning or a rosary in the evening. Lunches and dinners were never as complete. Happiness is being able to serve family and God while feeding on your own spirituality.

There’s never been like this before since perhaps the Great Flood. I don’t know. Not in the last 60 years of my being, at least. This was supposed to be just a simple stride but somehow turned to be a journey in itself. But if this thing won’t break me, and heck, I won't let it, then nothing will.

By the way, how do you fold a bra?

      

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