A week has passed since our planet finished another revolution around the sun… HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!!! Hello 2023! 

Our celebration last New Year’s Eve was a quieter and more peaceful one. I guess we’ve been so tired from all the holiday preparations, from all the parties that started way back Halloween season, to Tuz’s 7th birthday, our secret Civil Wedding, then the Christmas festivities that followed and the overflowing food we needed to consume the rest of the week going ino New Year’s that come Dec. 31, it was just me, Mahal, and Tuz who were left awake to welcome 2023. Here’s a vlog I made about it. Check it out! 

And then we hit the ground running after January 1. We first caught up with some much-needed rest and come January 2, I already got busy with client work, Tuz’s homeschool, and more concrete planning for our beach wedding. Mahal has also been so busy because our little resort here, Oslob New Village, got fully booked almost every day. Thank you, God! 

We weren’t even able to formally do our intended planning session for 2023 yet because of our hectic schedules. But we did have a lot of informal discussions about what we will be focusing on this year. 

I remember back in January 2022, I posted something about HOW TO GET ANYTHING YOU WANT – 3 STRATEGIES TO HELP YOU ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS IN 2022 

My whole goal then was to increase my networth. To quote what I wrote:

“As for me, just to give you a general idea, my goal is to have a particular amount of money in my bank account by the end of 2022 (I’ll just keep that particular amount to myself, okay?) I want to achieve this goal because aside from the fact that I want to be more self-sufficient, and more financially free, I will also use it as seed money for another greater goal I am targeting for 2023.” 

And after all my hard work and sleepless nights of doing multiple side hustles last year, I’m happy to say that I’ve indeed achieved my goal plus some extras! Financial planning really helps especially saving regularly. God is really good! Because with it, we were able to have the engagement we want (most of 2022 was focused on our fabulous engagement that culminated with our secret civil wedding); and we are now able to push thru with our 2023 plans that will need some seed money:

1. Our dream beach wedding this summer 
2. A possible little pre-honeymoon somewhere nearby (“pre” because the ultimate honeymoon destination would be somewhere in Europe… we can dream, right?)
3. Be able to study again and work some place else where we will need the most funds. 

If #3 becomes a success (God-willing), then visiting our ultimate honeymoon destination sometime in the future would be easy-peasy. But I also believe that the universe is abundant so who knows, we might just be able to pull it off even before we do #3! Let’s pray for that! And praying more for the fact that this news isn’t true about a bigger covid wave that’s coming. I really hope not!!! Coz if that happens, then all our plans for #3 will go down the drain.

Anyway, going back to that 2022 New Year post, I believe we can apply that this year as well. We need to raise more funds so we can be sure that our plans to live and study abroad, should we be approved, will not be financially hard on us. From what we gather from all our research, we need to be mentally, physically, financially, and emotionally prepared for it and  we must welcome the fact that we will go back to zero there, meaning, we must be willing to start from scratch. Our life may already be comfortable here in our own country, but if we want to have a more secure future for our family and better opportunities for Tuz when he grows up, then we must be willing to take on any jobs there while I study just so we can survive the high standard of living in a first world country. For now, we need to prepare very well. 

It helps that we’re not pressuring ourselves. This goal of studying and living abroad is not something that we are super attached about. It is a wonderful dream yes, but we will not stress ourselves over it. Mentioning it here on my blog is a way for us to shout it out to the universe so we can hold ourselves accountable for it (and maybe some people would want to help us… anyone? … Please?) but at the same time, we are just enjoying the process. We will give our 100% commitment to this goal, but should we be not approved, we will not lose sleep over it. Life is too short to dwell on negative emotions so if that will be the case, we can try again and again for as long as we have the resources. But if at some point we’ll begin to feel in our hearts that it’s not for us, then we will listen to the voice of God, let this dream go, and continue our blissful living here in the Philippines. 

How about you? What are your goals for 2023?

Til my next post! 

Happy New Year, again!