I decided to take a break from work today because mentally & physically, I am so drained. I mentioned in my podcast last Sunday that the workload has been a little overwhelming and I haven’t really had time to just take a break and just be me. I am struggling creatively because work has deprived me of my creative outlets and whilst my brain has the ideas… physically, I am unable to materialize them. And what happens when a person like me becomes what I like to call  “creatively deprived”? I become frustrated, irritable and a bit crabby. This has been me for the past month or so.

I know you’re all thinking that I JUST started and that I probably don’t deserve a break but when you’ve programmed your body and mind to function in a certain way, change can be extremely stressful and so, since I cannot remember the last time I took a break whether from Issatalks, Issaplease or work, in general, I am taking a single day off today.

Paolo is currently in bed but he promised a day of just lying down and being lazy and I am so excited for that- even if I had to wake up at 7:30 in the morning to… finish some work. Ok, I can’t completely abandon my responsibilities. Last night, I indulged in 7 hours of playing South Park Fractured But Whole which I started a month and a half ago but never really got around to playing ’til last night. And as I was in bed playing my eyes and brains out, I came to the conclusions and the awakening fact that… there is always time.

There is time for me to be a blogger and a vlogger, there is time for me to spend time with family, to work, to be with friends and to be whatever or whoever I want to be and as much as there is time, some things also require time. Conceptualizing content and stories take time to develop, a business takes time to function full force and relationships with people take time, as well. So today, I’m going to take my sweet time for me. And Paolo because we haven’t exactly spent much time together lately.

SEE YA!

I’m finally sharing the series of photos I took pre-birthday with Nico Valencia, a returning photographer originally from Dumaguete.

Initially we wanted it to be a series of photos reflecting my Saturn year, which is something I completely picked out of the book Sad Girls by Lang Leav but somewhere along shooting and getting lost in translation- we ended up with even better shots. But in any case, if you’ve never heard of a Saturn Year before- here’s a little snippet:

“Around the time you turn twenty-seven, Saturn begins to close in on its first cycle. Many people believe this will herald a tremendous change in your life. It’s supposed to be the period where you cross the threshold into adulthood. And it’s meant to be a time that is as magical as it is unsettling. Your life is thrown into chaos and disarray. Think of it as your own tiny revolution.”

I don’t know if it’s the Law of Attraction or if I did this to myself but life has definitely taken an interesting turn in the past few weeks. I’m in the process of making a huge career leap, my creative interests have shifted & challenged and I’m finding my opportunities & even priorities changing- all at the same time!

It’s scary and exciting but I’m grateful to be here. There have been a lot of bumps along the way but I’m finding my own ways to get by. I hope you guys are the same.

Check out Nico’s work

Hoping to get a decent nights’ sleep tonight,
Issa P.