Life: Spoiling yourself a bit with a hair spa and massage... and a book :)

I was done with my liquidation! One major task down, 4 major reports to go. :)

That might still sound like a lot of work, but I just want to celebrate every major milestone.

After going to the office and the mall for some errands, I went to the salon to have a haircut. I had my long hair cut really short last January, reasoning that a short hair is easier to manage. Besides, I didn't want to have my hair rebonded ... yet. I didn't realize (until the following day, I guess) that a short hair, unless you have super soft, silky hair, is actually harder to tame. And it needs maintenance more frequently.

So, imagine my short hair flying away at the back of my neck. That forced me to go to the salon.

And while waiting, I decided to have hot oil treatment. When the stylist was already cutting my hair, I was convinced hair spa would be better.

So I sat there, for a full 30 minutes. After cutting and washing my hair, the stylist applied the treatment and massaged my head and neck.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it so much, and I thought the next time I feel stressed out, I'd go have a hair spa!

And after that massage, I took out a fiction book a friend lent me, and read and read until he came back. (The other night I was thinking how reading a fiction book again made me realize how boring my life had been in the past few months, or had it been over a year, when I held only nonfiction books and papers.)

Yun lang. That's my first hair spa ever. Gosh, I'm never really the girly, fashionable type. And I don't really cherish spending time in spas or salons. And I definitely don't splurge on beauty products. (Well, "rarely" might be more accurate.)

And I'm so happy. A bit more of rest and I'm ready to work again.

Yes, I know it's a Saturday night. But just the thought that I'm closer to getting another major task done and off my desk, my head, and my heart, is enough to keep me going.

Getting enough rest and finding simple ways to spoil myself keeps me from burning out. Gosh, why did it take me so long to realize this?

Oh, and in case someone who comes across this blog is wondering what's the name of the salon, it's Kaya, along Maginhawa St., Quezon City.

My housemate loved my more feminine look. She said I don't look like a guy anymore. :P

Life: Define Success

As may be obvious from my previous post, I am trying to figure out how to make the work-life balance thing work, and trying to find out what would give me the most satisfaction--where I can say this is how I wish to live my life--and steer my life towards that direction.

Well, I came across this talk by John Wooden, a teacher and a basketball coach. He talked about true success. His tips are pretty simple, though of course still hard to live by. His talk, well, he looked boring at first, but it's actually a humorous talk, and easy to understand. Grabe, he's simply one of the smartest senior citizens I have heard so far.

My favorite quotes from the talk are:

• "Never try to be better than someone else. ... Never cease trying to be the best you can be."
• "Never be late." and
• those on having patience and keeping the faith.

If you have about 20 minutes to spare, watch this video. If not, just read the transcript. (Click the interactive script button at the bottom of the video.)

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_wooden_on_the_difference_between_winning_and_success.html

Enjoy!

Work: Life Starts at 30

I am a researcher, and by my institution's standards, especially if I use as standard my mentor, I have a looooooong way to go to prove that I am really competent in this field. But I am lucky to have had good training, and several opportunities, many of which overwhelmed me, to improve or prove that I can be trusted with greater responsibilities, that I can be trained to handle more.

And for all these, for this phase of my life, I am truly grateful. I really am. Not everyone is given a chance to pursue a dream, and not everyone who pursues her dream gets there. So I consider myself a lucky one.

But a year and a half before I turn 30, in the last few months, or has it been years, I realize that while my career zoomed, other aspects of my life were almost on a stand still. Siguro, when I also moved to a boarding house, and took more risks in life, met some people who made me realize there is so much more to life than work. When people told me before that I am workaholic, I readily admit that I am. But I am getting to a point when I realize how much I have missed and am missing. My world, especially some parts of last year, literally revolved around my job. It was a crucial turning point for my career, and it was also a crucial turning point for how I would see my work and my life afterwards.

In the past, I want to do research, do development work. That was as clear to my mind as anything that I can see with my glasses on on a bright morning. I just loved it.

But now, my dreams shifted a bit. I love my flexible work hours (flexible meaning you don't have to always work in the office but you have to be ready to work more hours, or on weekends if the job calls for it). I love learning. I love going out. I just love it. But now, I also dream of hanging out with friends any day of the week, going out with my family, climbing mountains, jogging, getting involved in more physical activities, relaxing and having fun. All these things which I find so hard to incorporate into my life now because I lacked both the MONEY and the TIME.

Life at 30 is still vague. I kept saying I'd go abroad and be a fruit picker or work in a bar, serving either coffee or wine. I'd take a job that will not take away my nights and my weekends, and will not lead to the abuse of my brain cells. That's as clear as I could go. I also told a friend, I love my job, but if I cannot figure out a way to do this AND have a really fun life, something's got to give.

I know it is scary. I don't even know how to strike that work-life balance people always talk about while still earning decently. I don't really know what to do. But I am very certain this is not the way I want to live. I am not losing another relative or friend and go through feelings of guilt that I wish I had spent more time with them.

And the more I am able to savor life and spend more time having fun with friends, the more I realize I want this work-life balance dream to come true. At 30. Or better yet, at 29. Or even better yet, NOW. Because I might not even have tomorrow.

Oh, and by the way, I know it's midweek, but yesterday, after meeting up with my friend for an errand, we had dinner and watched Safe House. I ended up too tired to do anything productive when I got home. And just tonight, I was so disappointed with a person (work related stuff) I met up with friends to rant, and drank a bottle of beer (they chose Tanduay Ice and Antonov Ice). One lang naman. And we laughed while planning something. Something I look forward to. :)

Sweet life.

And the work I postponed doing? It was always at the back of my head. I know this has its consequences, but I needed to laugh, I needed to cheer up, I needed to be with people.

Later, I'll do that job again. And do it well.