22 January 2025
How are you Hiveans? It's been almost two weeks since I posted something here. A lot of things happened to me in the past few weeks that made me active and busy.
Apart from my online work, what keeps me busy is my participation in online training, where my goal is to learn new things and acquire more skills. This training will help me achieve what I want to become. Midnsetting is part of this class, and in the past few months, I have carried the lessons I learned in my mind and applied them to my daily life. If there's one thing I want to say here, which I learned from one of the best mentors in the world, "If you want to become successful, you cannot become the same person as you are today." There was a reason why I stumbled upon this community: to change my outlook, strengthen my mindset, and become the best version of myself. Being part of this community helped me realize which path I genuinely want to take. With the right community and mindset, I can achieve my primary goals in life. It may take time and years, but I shouldn't focus on the results but instead on the journey.
With this, I will render my following days, weeks, months, and years in learning and growing to become whatever I want to be in life. This is just the beginning. I look forward to more possibilities and opportunities that will come my way.
Despite my online busyness, I always give myself time to rest and spend quality time with my family. If there's one thing I've been struggling with before that, I want to maintain this year, and in the following years, it is to balance life and work effectively. My mentor once said, "What will happen to your family if you get sick or you die?" He was right at all. Filipinos would say, "I can do everything for my family. I can risk my life for them." But the thing is, "If you're the breadwinner and your family solely depends on you, what will happen to them once you're gone? Will it solve the problem?" That truly makes sense. I am totally removing the negativity in my life. Although failure is inevitable, it shouldn't be considered a downfall but an inspiration to grow and move forward. Someone told me, "Opportunities follow every failure," and I believe in that. I'm telling this here because it should be disseminated to everyone, not just myself. If we only have the right mindset, nothing is impossible. You will understand me better if you review my IG stories and highlights.
Moving forward....
Weekends are my family time, and one main reason I chose my 4 AM work shift is to have more time for my family and do other necessary things during the day. Last Sunday was the Sto. Niño Festival that was widely celebrated across different regions in the Philippines. This festival is celebrated in honor of the Sto. Niño, or the Holy Child Jesus, shows Filipino heritage, faith, and devotion. During the celebration of the festival, Filipinos usually participate in thanksgiving, novenas, street parades, and water fluvial processions. One of the most popular and most significant festivals in the Philippines in honor of the Sto. Niño is the Sinulog Festival celebrated in Cebu City. If I'm not mistaken, there are a lot of Cebuanos on Hive who have attended the festival.
You can watch this video I found on YouTube about the Sinulog Festival street parade. It's full of colors and fun, showcasing rich Filipino tradition, heritage, and culture.
As mentioned above, it is widely celebrated across the Philippines. Our city, Tacloban, and my town, Basey, value this festival, with thousands of Sto. Niño devotees, hence, Sto. Niño church was built in our city, and Sto. Niño fiesta is celebrated in our town. During the third Sunday of January, thousands of devotees usually gather by the beach to watch the water fluvial procession. It is when the sacred Sto. Niño statue is transitioned to our town from the city on a boat via water. Hundreds of participants are also boarded on different boats to join the water fluvial procession. This festival's key highlight showcases Filipinos' deep reverence for the Holy Child Jesus and maritime culture.
Hundreds to tousands of people gathered by the beach to watch the Water Fluvial Procession.
The video below shows the Water Fluvial Procession from Tacloban City to Basey Town. You can spot me at 1:55 with me 🤠 and my sister widely smiling when the drone spotted us. My family members were also there watching the transition of the Sto. Niño and the dance presentation.
Again, our family gathered to celebrate this festival together and watch the water fluvial procession. I rented a big cottage to accommodate my big family. There were lots of foods prepared by each family group and shared. The day was full of food feasts, drinking sessions, laughter, joy, and, of course, something that can't be taken out in every Filipino celebration: the karaoke session. I was glad to spot a cottage with a karaoke set.
Family Quality Time...
We were blessed by good weather that day, but there was a light rain shower during the Sto. Niño water fluvial procession. It is an indication that the Sto. Niño showered us with blessings. Then, the light rainshower receded right after the procession. Some may not believe it, but the blessing was real.
When the sun set below the horizon, it was time to hop into the water since the weather wasn't hot anymore, and we wouldn't worry about getting sunburned. Besides, the water is cooler at that time. My family loves the beach, but we seldom visit it despite being near it. So, each time we are at the beach with my no-so-complete family, we savor the day and cherish each moment together.
At night, I walked barefoot on the sand with my cousins. That's one of the bondings we make whenever we are gathered together. Nature is undeniably a great healer. It can help you temporarily forget life's shortcomings and challenges and focus on happy moments with your loved ones. I wish I had a better camera to capture every shared moment with my family and the relaxing city view from the distance and the whole beach. There were no lights except those in each occupied cottage. Everything was relaxing, and the once-crowded beach during the day became so peaceful at night. We plan on having an overnight stay at the beach someday. Hopefully, it wouldn't be just a drawing, as a Filipino joke said.
That's how I spent my Sunday celebrating the Sto. Niño Festival with my family at the beach.
Happy Wednesday Walk, everyone.
Thanks for your time.
Jane is a Filipina wanderer in a foreign land who finds comfort in nature and freedom in writing. She loves watching raw picturesque landscapes, listening to the symphony of nature, breathing in drops of sunshine, walking through scenic trails and cityscapes, tasting new culinary flavors, capturing pretty little things, venturing into hidden gems, and dancing with the flow of life.
Her new experiences, adventures, challenges, lessons, small successes, and joys are colorful paints that fill up her canvas of life. She hopes to see it beautifully painted while she can. Join her on her quest for self-discovery and wanderlust. If you like her content, don't hesitate to upvote, drop a comment, reblog, and follow for more wonderful adventures.
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