August 7, 2013 If I could tell my 23-year-old self some wise advice, I would tell her to not worry about the future so much. God has a plan for you. Life will bring you places, lead you to people and give you things that you may not want, but you will instinctively need in order to grow, mature and discover your truest self. Don’t try to control your life through accumulating wealth, fame, awards and titles because they are…
Reflections of our Adversity
July 22, 2013July 21, 2013 It was Wednesday afternoon around 11:54am when I finally hit a wall. For weeks I’ve been on a tailspin with my stepchildren in town, working non-stop, attending events and maintaining a lackluster workout regimen. If I wasn’t in a meeting or running an errand, I was cleaning the house, doing the dishes, folding the laundry or cooking dinner. I was lacking sleep, surrounded by paperwork, on chat with the cable company while my youngest was holding onto…
Glass Image
July 9, 2013July 8, 2013 Just a couple years ago I would curiously stare at my husband while he laughingly browsed his Facebook. At the time I didn’t realize there were thousands of pages devoted to people’s interests. When I redesigned my website I knew I wanted to connect to a Facebook profile – so I created a public page – that targeted my main interest, which is fitness. In the beginning it was challenging. I saw several fitness pages that had…
My difficult is no longer difficult…
May 21, 2013May 20, 2013 For the first time in 8 years, I stopped posting regularly on my website. I’ve been busy with work, consumed with activities, exhausted with child-rearing and mildly depressed with my life operations. Periodically I get down. At the end of a demanding day, instead of working or writing until midnight, I choose to sleep early knowing that I have to wake up the next day and ‘exist’ again. I don’t see this low tide as a negative…
Overcoming Groundhog Days…
April 23, 2013April 23, 2013 There is a nature that exists in us. After all, like planet earth, most of our body is made up of water. When the moon rises, the tides rise. When the seasons shift, so does the current. If our external world can dictate the waves of the ocean, imagine how it affects the waves within us… I’m feeling a lot of seasonal changes within me. For the last few weeks people have been telling me to rest…
Confining to the crowd
April 10, 2013April 9, 2013 I just started a YouTube channel and decided to upload my appearance on Good Day Sacramento. It was the very first time I watched it from start to finish and was reminded of that peculiar period in my life when I felt a strong yet sinister energy surrounding me. For months I knew I was going to have a fitness shoot with my sons so I could post current pictures on my new Facebook page. I was…
Finding solace in my sadness
March 27, 2013March 26, 2013 When I first discovered we were unexpectedly pregnant I had no income. I lived in my parent’s home. I didn’t have health insurance. And I wasn’t married. For the first half of the pregnancy I fell into a deep depression. I constantly cried questioning ‘why’ my seamless life appeared to be ‘falling’ apart. Up to that point, I followed all life’s rules. I graduated college with two bachelors, I excelled in my corporate work, I lived independently…
A Hard Reflection
March 12, 2013March 11, 2013 This is a hard post to write. I’m not someone who lives life scared of being exactly who they are. I’ve traveled to Europe and Asia independently. I’ve admitted to past eating disorders, depression and anxiety. I’ve photographed insecure areas of my body after kids. What I haven’t talked about is what happened two years before I started sharing my life’s journey online in 2005. After winning the national Filipina title to represent the U.S. in an…
Following my Passion.
February 13, 2013February 12, 2013 I started my fitness career as a part-time personal trainer in college. After college I became a membership sales counselor then a fitness manager and a group exercise director. After working for a high-end, independently owned fitness club, at 23, I decided I wanted to work for an international company (utilizing my degree from UC Davis) and get hired personally by the CEO, because my relationship with the owner was important to me. At that period in…
The Belly Ball workout
January 22, 2013January 21, 2013 The end date of my fitness calendar was set for January 19th. This past weekend I was going to film my core workout DVD for the Belly Ball and shoot for Max Sports and Fitness magazine. The road to this moment has been a bumpy ride filled with endless days with the boys, sleepless nights, events, birthdays, nonprofit marketing, errands, work and late workouts. In the midst of those trials I not only feared my overall conditioning,…