My Chosen #OneWord for 2016

Last year, I chose GRATEFUL as my #OneWord. This year, the best word that I think of is BALANCE.

There were unexpected, both good and bad moments in my personal and family life last year. Blessings poured most especially in my stint as a mom blogger. I felt truly blessed because those opportunities were so overwhelming for a simple, non-famous blogger that I was. What made me more happy was the fact that I was able to extend my blessings to my loved ones and readers.

I spent blogging late at night just to catch up on my commitments. I felt great doing it! It was my breather. Piles of mom and biz duties drained me. Finding time to sleep and rest longer was not an option for me. All I wanted to do was to fulfill my blogger duties and enjoy the fruits of my labor.

Being a public person gave me more opportunities to meet people. I became too friendly not knowing that my openness and friendliness could lead me to deceiving, jealous, manipulative, and "evil" people, so to speak.

Before 2015 ended, due to stress and other factors, my family's health became very, very unstable. Hubby and I didn't have anybody to depend on so we had to take care of our sick kids despite being ill too. 

Thank You, Lord, for healing my kids through their caring doctors and nurses. Thank You for giving our family strength. We love You, Lord. Thank You. Thank You. #allaroundpinaymama #hospital #instadaily #healing #nokialumia630

A photo posted by SJ Valdez (@allaroundpinaymama) on Nov 21, 2015 at 2:40pm PST

As a mom, I had to be strong. I was in denial. I didn't listen to my body. I had to keep moving forward and do my duties for the welfare of my family.

Everything was affected--- our work, business, and kids' studies. Our recovery was slow. The primary reason was we abused ourselves through focusing on our goals. We failed to pause for a while, breathe, and relax.

Our stay in the hospital for almost a month last November (This was the month when I was hosting the Domex Giveaway. It was so stressful because I couldn't be online most of the time.), the hospitalization of Kuya during Christmas day up to the 27th, and my admission in the Emergency Room after New Year and being sick for a week, made me realize so many things and they were rooted in always finding BALANCE in everything. Our family started DOING THE THINGS THAT WERE ESSENTIAL at the moment. We became closer to one another and most especially to the Almighty.

Let me summarize my realizations through these quotes:

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." 

- Mahatma Gandhi

"So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then an hour to spend their wealth to regain their health."

 - A.J. Rebmarteri

"Life is about balance. Be kind but don't let people abuse you. Trust, but don't be deceived. Be content. But never stop improving yourself."

 - Unknown

"Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance you must keep moving forward." 

                                                               - Albert Einstein

Aside from my realizations, I truly appreciate the love, prayers, support, and understanding that YOU, my dear buddies, loved ones, readers, co-bloggers, and PR friends, have shown our family. Marami na akong utang sa inyo. Honestly, I find it difficult to start blogging again because until now I am still picking up the pieces. Napagod ako ng todo. My friends would tell me, "Girl, pumayat ka!" Sino ba naman ang hindi papayat sa pinagdaanan ng family ko? All I could say was, "This is definitely the fastest way to get slim but definitely not the safest!"

But here I am, typing my very first blog post for 2016. It's all because I'm doing one of the things that I love to do not just for myself but for you too. Maraming salamat sa suporta. This year, rest assured that I'm still going to blog and collaborate with companies and advertisers but I'm going to slow down a bit for the sake of my family and WAHM life.

I'm back... with more surprises in the coming days. Promise!