Saturday, May 16, 2015

The #1 Benefit of Deactivating your Facebook account. And it’s more than just having less hours on your devices.

Around October last year, I decided to deactivate my Facebook account. I wanted to take a break. A break from the news feed I kept seeing whenever I log on to Facebook. I wasn’t really sure why but it felt like everything was too much. It was noisy and everything looked cluttered. Friends posting every minute, showing off, ranting, etc.

I needed a break.

I started to feel better the moment I clicked “Deactivate”. I swear, it was one of the right choices I’ve ever made. And the #1 benefit I was talking about in the title is this: deactivating your Facebook account actually helps you focus on yourself. Below are a couple of observations I got from my deactivation experience.

Firstly, deactivating your FB account eliminates the need or desire to log on it every time. No distractions. I observed that after leaving Facebook, I was able to do the things I needed and wanted to do. I was more productive.

Another observation is that my tendencies to compare myself and my situation with that of my friends greatly lessened. I’m not an envious person but when 90% of what you see on your news feed are posts and photos of your friends showing off the places they've been or the food they've tried, then sometimes it’s really inevitable to compare and get a little envious.

Now, I’m active on Facebook again. But I still deactivate from time to time. I noticed that I no longer feel the tendency to get a bit envious or irritated when my friends show off. Maybe it's just really nice to take some time off social media. For me, it gave me time to breathe and re-focus.


Saturday, May 2, 2015

Family Trip to a Waterfall ♥

It's been so long since my previous post!!! I am so sorry. In order to make up for it, I'll make this post as special as I could :D

Here in the Philippines, March signifies the beginning of Summer. So last April 1, my family and I went to an out-of-town trip to a waterfall. We went to Ambon-Ambon Falls, or in English, Drizzle-Drizzle Falls. It was located inside a huge ecopark in the province of Laguna.



We were welcomed by kind and hospitable people. A father-and-son tandem helped us carry our bags all the way to our cottage. There were several cute kids who also tagged along to help us settle down. It was so nice to hear them say that they would stay around so we could call them whenever we needed something.

There were simple cottages by the side of the river, and we stayed in one of them. Among all of us, I was the first one to swim. I was excited because it's been so long since I swam in a natural body of water, I usually swim in pools. The water was clear and super cold!!! It felt totally refreshing. 





There were stones on the riverbed so for safety purposes, we wore our slippers while swimming. It was a little hassle but it was a big help to avoid getting wounds. Or so I thought. I was walking against the current of the river when one of my slippers got carried away. I was chasing it and was actually close to it already when I suddenly slipped. The result was a huge wound on my left knee and some scratches on my left foot. Horrible. This happened only a little over an hour since we arrived. UGH.

Right after the incident, we had our homemade lunch that consisted of: beef steak, coleslaw, Cream Dory fish fillets, and rice. After eating, my family all went to the river. As for me, I poured alcohol on my wound and rested for a few minutes. Then I eventually joined them. 

After resting for a few hours, we left our cottage and some of our belongings to one of the caretakers of the place. Why? Because we were about to go trekking!!! In order to get to the waterfalls, which was the highlight of the trip and of the place, we had to trek all the way up! We had a tourist guide/lifeguard with us, without one, tourists wouldn't be allowed to go to the waterfalls. 










We used several bamboo boats to cross rivers.


It took us almost an hour going there. Tiring but super fun because of the picturesque landscapes around us! Mother Nature is indeed beautiful♥ 




The whole trip and everything about it was memorable for me. It's really fun going out and doing extraordinary things with my family. Everyone should really try it! It strengthens your bond and at the same time helps you gain new experiences as an individual.