Over the course of last week, the news of Russia and Ukraine has flooded every television, mobile, billboard and whatever screens there are to fill. Hong Kong’s looming nationwide lockdown plus the panic buying it has induced among the hoi polloi and the fact that BBM and his Sara Duterte are leading the popularity polls back in the Philippines made me restless. Don’t get me started about the concentration camp-like quarantine facilities being built in Kai Tak and in Tsing Yi or that some of my friends are leaving Hong Kong in search of lesser strict countries to live in until the situation goes back to normal in Hong Kong.
I don’t know if it’s because of the venti latte that I’ve been getting from Starbucks due to poor sleep or the fact that the world is coming to an end or a mixture of both with a sprinkle of other factors; the thing is we, no matter who you are, where you are, are called to being, called to action for such a time as this. I don’t know what else to say other than, I pray that you’re in a better situation than I am or I pray that you would abled body or your resources to help or that I really hope that we’ll be alright in spite of what’s happening and I hope that we can make it through ’til the very end.
With what’s imminent coming our way, there’s one other thing that reintroduced itself to me rather quite forcefully. I’m already hyperaware that I’m going to die someday but now, I have also become hyperaware of the important adverb that replaces someday, anytime soon. Pause for a second and think about it, you can die anytime soon.
The fact that I can die in my sleep or that I can die tomorrow puts a lot of things in perspective. Two of which are the following:
- There is no time to lose, I should give my best every single despite what I’m feeling.
- I can’t keep on crying over my ex. I miss him, sure, but I can’t be paralysed by it.Most of all, considering that I can die anytime soon, I can’t let my self-esteem or my confidence be crushed by someone who’s just as mortal as I am.
For the next six months, I would like to spend as much time with friends and family, excel at work, achieve personal goals that I’ve been putting off and just be the silly yet logical romantic that I have always been hence why I’ve been listening to Dos Oruguitas and Te Amo Y Mas. If it’s not obvious, I have a thing for classical guitar and strings.
Without further ado, here is my course of action for the next 6 months. As boring as it looks, I’ve already gamified it in my life that it’s fun for me.
Course of Action in the coming 6 months
1. Mental: Complete my Prince 2 & PMP Certifications
- March – Prince 2 Foundation & Prince 2 Practitioner
- April: Prince 2 Practitioner & Prince 2 Agile
- May: PMP
- June
- July
- August
I’ll be making a goals page to keep track of my goals for the year. Goals are great, don’t you think? Systems, more so 🙂
2. Health: Sayonara, Coffee. See you at the end of the month! Plus journalling and a better night routine/sleep hygiene and a better mattress for sleeping. Your girl’s sleep-deprived.
Note: Caffeine worsens my focus, mood, my anxiety and my sleep so I’ll be sticking to tea with having coffee as a once a month treat.
3. Career: Get promoted? Give your 200%. Show up every single day even when you don’t feel like it.
I don’t really know what to do with my career yet.
4. Physical: Get my running up to speed (ayyyyy!) Oh and hikes! The more brushes with death, the better. Jokes.
Global warming is real and if this keeps up, there will be no more Nature to see. Hong Kong is shutting down too so I would like to enjoy what greenery is left before the heat consumes us all. If not the heat, I would like to see the world (or where I’m living) in its natural state before man destroys it all.
5. Friends and Family: Shower my friends, my family, my sponsored families and my rabbit family with more love. Offer manpower and my services when and where I can.
Need I say more?
Regarding my financial and my spiritual goals, I’ll be keeping them private because they’re too personal and too intimate to disclose. Although, if there’s one thing to be said is that I’m working hard and saving up for my future family especially, for my future kids. I want to make sure that I do my part so that my future husband and I can give them a shot at life. That is if I were to make it out alive and/or I get married in the future.
‘Memento Mori’ has always stuck with me ever since I read it from the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snickett. Viewing it through the lens of time sloughs away what’s unimportant and gives berth to what is. I thought that I would live my life on this earth without experiencing this type of tremendous hardship that I read and learned about from history books. Boy, I was naive.
I only have one chance. I only have one shot and that’s why I want to have that athlete-like single-minded focus on the things that truly matter to me even if, some of them are not yet fulfilled. That’s why, let me ask you, have you thought about if you were to die in the next minute, will you die with no what-ifs or regrets? Just give it a thought.
I love you and stay safe.
A.
Allison Lagarde 