Hey guys! So now that March is over, we’ve officially made it through the first quarter of the year 2021 and it’s time to talk about the highlights of March this time around. First and foremost, I’m absolutely grateful that I am still here, alive and healthy and so is my family despite the ongoing pandemic. I gotta say when we welcomed a new year, I had high hopes. I got all excited about the new year (well I always do but my excitement for 2021 was a little different, more hopeful) that I even went ahead and made goals and bought a new planner. But March hit me a little differently.

How so? Well, first off, my hope that vaccines would be here by now was dashed. YET again. We also saw the COVID-19 cases growing exponentially, even exceeding the record high numbers we experienced last year. And finally, here we are one year later and Greater Manila area and nearby regions have been put back under ECQ, the strictest lockdown for a week with a possibility of being extended. Malls, gyms, salons, spas and bars are closed again. Curfew set even earlier than before at 6PM til 5AM! Even without real scientific data to back up a decision to put curfews in place, we’re here dealing with a questionable policy. It’s like a never ending nightmare that I can’t wake up from.

Still I continue not to let all the negativity and darkness in my country consume me. And so here I am continuously looking inwardly and talking about the mostly good and pleasant things happening in my life.

Work

One of the highlights of March for me has to do with work. Remember in my January wrapup post when I talked about doing back to back pitches? Well we won one of those pitches! Not to brag but I had a really good feeling about that pitch. It was a very strategic proposal we presented. Now the real grunt work begins.

Relationships

I made no plans to go out this month. But I was able to meet my best friend briefly when he decided to come see me on a whim. We just had early dinner, milk tea and did a little bit of catching up.

Took this photo after our meet up. It’s been a year since we’ve been put under lockdown.

As for romance, I tried to look for romance online. I downloaded Bumble for the umpteenth time! but I deleted it after awhile again. I’ve been feeling like I want to find a special someone too, Actually, I’ve always wanted to have a special someone too but I’ve just put that in the back burner. What a time for me to decide to want to find a significant other right? Love in the time of pandemic? Probably not gonna happen. Even when I meet my friends, I fear I would unknowingly getting COVID-19. What more meeting a stranger? So there, my quest for romance is parked yet again. LOL!

Reading Progress

Here’s one of the highlights of March that I can say I’m doing well with. I’m inching closer to my 2021 GoodReads Reading Challenge of reading 20 books. I finished reading two books this month of March!

Gardening Life

Yes, I bought new plants again. But more than that, I bought soil, pots and pebbles for my plants. I’m propagating some plant cuttings so I would have more plants. The pebbles are for my humidity loving plants like my Philodendron Birkin and Calathea Triostar.

I love how colorful Calathea Triostar’s leaves are

How I’m Taking Care of my Mental Health

The pandemic and the ongoing lockdown has caused anxiety in so many people including me. You know what’s been helping me? Aside from prayers of course, I’ve discovered meditation and affirmations. Seriously! I listen in the morning or in the evenings before sleeping and it’s been a big help to calm my anxious thoughts which have been causing me to lose sleep.

I particularly love Bob Baker and Power Thoughts Meditation Club.

Blogging Updates

There is still a lot of updating to do on this blog! But I’ve been making some progress such as updating some old posts to have good SEO. I think it’s been helpful in increasing organic traffic in my blog.

Income wise? My Adsense report is up a few cents. Thank you to those who visit and click on the ads on this blog. It’s still far from the goal of reaching $100 to be able to cash out but that’s fine, this is a marathon and not a sprint. I’ll get there eventually with your help!

Ohh and lastly, I decided to finally have an email subscription too. If you enjoy reading this blog, subscribe to my newsletter, will ya? My random musings and whatnot emailed directly to your inbox!

I end my highlights of March post here with one last photo. Took this a couple of weeks before ECQ was announced again. I had a quick trip to Mall of Asia to claim my gift certificate prize from SM from their Twitter Plantfest event. I haven’t used the gift certificate yet though I could have easily hit the mall to buy something. Steering clear of indoor places like the mall for now. I hope April will be a better month.