26/07/2023

Senti Sabado! - Divine Lee

So i posted this recently and parang maraming naka-relate. Sige push na natin. Ang limited kasi tumalak sa IG.

A year ago I was rushing from one place to another. Sleep was a luxury. Balancing school, work and all other things. All my trips made me extremely tired. Energizer bunny got nothing on me. I was usually up by 8 when I came home at 5am. One of my friends told me “if you don’t slow down, Magkakasakit ka and you will be forced to slow down”. Fortunately, I didn’t get sick but I did slow down. Late last year, I learned to eat breakfast (not after gimmick meal ha), sit for hours in a cafe with a book (nope, no phone activities), turn off my phone, leave my phone on silent the whole day, not panic when I don’t get to charge my powerbank, break my cardio records, sleep before midnight (heck, I even sleep at 9pm sometimes) and study while really absorbing what I was learning (not just for the sake of completing my module papers). I may not be doing 20t things in a day, but I kinda enjoy this laid back me more. I get to appreciate each activity more and have more meaningful conversations because I’m not in a hurry to finish everything. Now I look forward to my no itinerary trips, I sleep my full 8 hours, my papers are ahead of time, and I barely remember when was the last time I was really tired. Tama nga sila dun sa “stop and smell the flowers”. So 2016, I’ll try to drink more water, beat more cardio records, listen to more old music, and stop and smell more flowers ???——- This is how chill I am. I’m enjoying my pandan tea while catching up with @margauxmedina. Sige, live the adventures for me muna. Quota nako last year! Hahaa!

A photo posted by Divine Lee (@divinemlee) on Jan 3, 2016 at 5:56pm PST

Read more para maka avail ng #HUGOT Well, if you are one of those who was born during the 80s and grew up in the 90s baka pareho tayo. Yung mudak ko kasi nung time na yun, parang normal pa na paluin ang mga bagets pag mali. Tapos, pag uwi needsung mo maging honor or first in class. To give you some visuals, chika ko sa inyo yung first Ice Skating competition ko. Grade 5 or 6 ata akey when I started to Ice Skate. Yes, sa Megamall. Nakiuso kasi ako. Hahah! But since ang mudak nga ay competitive, by the second time ko bumalik kumausap na ng coach! At maglelessons na akey. By my first lesson full gear na outfit ko, pang competition! Eh d pa nga ako marunong. Buti nalang CONFIDENTLY BEAUTIFUL AKO (choz!) and with my lessons became part of the first Philippine team for Ice Skating… wait! Hindi dahil super galing ako na Michael Martinez levels, bago palang kasi yung Ice Skating so ilan palang kaming naglessons at angat sa tao. So yun na ang bumuo ng Team of the Philippines!!! Hahahahah! I’m sure inavail nyo rin tong Megamall Ice Skating rink dati… Senti Sabado! - Divine Lee Haggard na wala akong photos of me Ice Skating. But eto na chika, during my first competition, I competed for 3 categories. Akala mo PRO skater ako kung maka asta si mudak, nagdedemand sya ng ice time for my practice, at sinisilip yung costume ng kalaban. Hahaha! My first international competition was in Houston, Texas. So syempre since gumastos na kami ng pamasahe. Pressured akey. I won….. pero 3rd place. The other category 2nd place. Last category, another second. Susko, ayaw ni mudak ng 2nd place ko na Janine Tugonon! I remember her saying “May Hong Kong next month, no excuses, you have to place first,” sabay halika na pack your bags. Eh yung kabilang kanto, naka 3rd place sakin kulang nalang bigyan ng float ng magulang. As you can see, my mudak is not bad but she pushed us hard. Well, nag avail naman coz in HK, i won gold for 2 categories or baka kasi Madonna Medley yung ginamit ko… Sight nyo naman gaano ako ka todo. United Nations lang yan. Akala mo nasa ASAP ako. Senti Sabado! - Divine Lee So like all you other kids, sanay ako ng full ang sked! After school, may music class, tutor pa ng foreign language (chinese yung akin but since i kept changing language hindi din natuto), and minsan meron din academics tutor. Pero wag ka, may time pa ako mag patintero at tumbang preso nun ha! So as you can see, lumaki tayong ganap na ganap. So I guess, its not so shocking that sanay ako ng 1000 things to do in a day. And I guess, yung mga may mudak like me, lumaki ng Number 1 is the only number. So that’s how I knew life to be. And since every opportunity my way super grab akey, I wanted to be number one in everything. So ayun, labada sa kanan, labada sa kaliwa. My days would go fast from work, school, and all other ganaps. Nung nagka work na ako, naging slasher pako, lahat gusto gawin, blog, modelling, hosting, taping for TV show, negosyo, importer, distributor, retailer, at lahat ng pwede kong pasukin. Actually, parang hinahanap nga ng katawan ko yung ganap that even before taking MBA (I actually tried to take it in Aim, hindi talaga kaya ng sked), ang hilig ko pa isiksik yung mga iba iba short course and seminars in between everything that I was doing. I like sleeping at night coz pagod, masarap matulog d ba? But yun nga minsan sa dami kong gusto gawin lalo na nung bagets ako FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) pa ako sa gimik, deadma ako kung may 7am ako, diretso ako from gimik to work! Bongga naman si mudak, I think dahil sa kanya madami namang ganap na avail and naging successful so salamat nay. Senti Sabado! - Divine Lee But I think the past few years burned me out. And last year was the hardest (pag puso talaga ang umatake, times 10. Hahaha!), so i took an Eat, Pray, Love ganap. Actually since magulo nga ako hindi sya Julia Roberts because my school pa talaga ako nun. So may purpose pa why I left, I just extended it indefinitely and with no plans san ba ako next pupunta. Actually, hindi sya fully finding myself. Well, pwede na yun. You can’t really fully change me. Ilang years na molde akong ganun na dapat military type schedule. Hahaha! So I arrived weeks earlier for my class. I chose Paris first because I have friends there, but hindi ko sila lahat super ininform. As in sugod lang! First day, I got there… I ate alone. I rarely do that in Manila. And I ate ng walang ka chat sa phone (kasi iba nga yung time zone ko). I felt a bit off. Parang may kailangan ako gawin… SO NAG POST AKO NG SANGKATUTAK SA FACEBOOK. Na share ko na ata lahat ng video. Hahhaa! Sa kakapost ko naman sa IG, someone was in the same timezone and same country. May common friends lang kami but nag comment sya sa IG. Since I’m adventurous like dut, i contacted him. Don’t worry beckbecks kaya malakas loob ko. That’s how i found Uno. Masight nyo sya s Paris ganap ko. This is someone I never heard of, hindi ko ma verify sa friends ko kasi tulog pa sila, never ko na meet and nag comment lang sa IG ko but I took a risk (educated naman ha! Kasi ni super research naman ako bago ko ininvite). The first time i met UNO

A photo posted by Divine Lee (@divinemlee) on Jul 9, 2015 at 3:04am PDT

And aside from that pala, the day I arrived I saw on FB that Kate Torralba was performing somewhere. Sumugod ako dun… ng maaga! Made friends. Lahat beckies but yun naman talaga charisma ko eh. Hahahaha! But it was one of the most spontaneous afternoons and its was super fun. Sumugod ka ba naman sa event na wala kang invite and walang kilala. Eh sa Manila, battalion kami bago umalis and battalion kami dumating. Dito ang sandata ko lang curling iron na binili ko pa that day coz I forgot mine sa Manila. Natawa nga si Kate when she saw me with a plastic bag na curling iron ang laman.

 

 

Look at the caption! My first day! Ang nakakatawa, I saw Kate again in London. KAIBIGAN PALA SYA NI BLAKE. Actually gulat siya na Blake was hanging out with me and Charm and gulat si Blake that I know Kate (who’s a Cebuana), and gulat ako na kilala ni Kate si Blake. OR TEKA, baka naman na budol budol gang ako dito! Charez! AT PINAGLOLOKO NILA AKONG LAHAT! Funny how the world is so small!

8 years ago this girl told me “you are destined for big things. You will find someone who will love you and take care of you” I wasn’t single then… What are the chances of seeing her in a store opening in Paris? And the first thing she said was “now, you’re single. Remember what I said a few years back? You’re not named DIVINE for nothing” oh Paris, what are you doing to me?!? #PakPakSaParis #AroundtheGLOBE

A photo posted by Divine Lee (@divinemlee) on Jul 8, 2015 at 10:37am PDT

Eto yung mga becks na nakilala ko. Super magkachika and sayaw kami whole night. Pag lapit nga ni Kate sabi sakin “Friends mo?” hahaha! OO, ngayon lang. A photo posted by Divine Lee (@divinemlee) on Jul 8, 2015 at 11:15am PDT So my days were unplanned, may araw na binuhos ko yung puso ko to someone who barely knows me and i barely know… Super chika talaga ako…

Coz Paris is always a good idea. This place is magical for me. Gave me answers to questions I’m just about to ask Senti Sabado! - Divine Lee as the saying goes “In this world where you can be anything and anyone, choose to be KIND” #PakPakSaParis #AroundtheGLOBE

A photo posted by Divine Lee (@divinemlee) on Jul 9, 2015 at 9:06am PDT

Nag ka biglaan pa akong photoshoot…

Second layout done! Next outfit! #AroundtheGLOBE #PakPakSaParis @romeocavalcante @unorodriguez

A photo posted by Divine Lee (@divinemlee) on Jul 11, 2015 at 8:11am PDT

Work day weekend! Shooting for @romeocavalcante’s exhibit! Can’t wait for the photos! Next look now! #PakPakSaParis #AroundtheGLOBE thanks @unorodriguez for helping out!

A photo posted by Divine Lee (@divinemlee) on Jul 11, 2015 at 5:50am PDT

But of course I still kept in contact with the people who love me most. But this journey was all mine…

Dahil jetlag ako and I need a break from schoolwork. I called my PaBEBE girls at home! Pepper massacre in Paris! Haha! #PakPakSaParis #AroundtheGLOBE

A photo posted by Divine Lee (@divinemlee) on Jul 9, 2015 at 12:08am PDT

So there I learned not to worry about rushing from one place to another, I went where I wished, I ate alone, I can turn off my phone and put it on silent (tutal ibang timezone naman mga kachika ko). Parang for some weird reason God forced me to “Keep Calm and Relax”.  My next trip bigla akong pumunta ng Croatia just with a phone call with Bryanboy. So my point is I was forced to take it easy. Walang honor roll sa life, wala akong hinahabol na number one when I left, and pinaka ginawa ko is to find happiness. I enjoyed my days and funny kahit 1 or 2 activity lang ako bawat araw, I was super happy. I enjoyed it tremendously. When i compared my calendar parang ang daming kulay the past months before I left, dami kong ginagawa, but the minutes I barely remember. When I let go, I only had a few activities na wala pa sa calendar, but i can remember the jokes we made, feel the breeze nung lamalafang ako ng crepe (ano daw?), and yung init ng araw na binilad ko si Uno sa Louvre (Init na init si Bakla, habang tanning ang point ko). Plus nalang na maganda yung view ko. But I think I could have done that anywhere. Sa La Mesa dam, Tagaytay, or kahit saang probinsya, kahit sa city (issue ko lang I’m sure magdadala ako ng friendship. This was my journey. magisa ko kailangan gawin). Sometimes you need to just… press pause. Ang dvd nga may pause eh. It’s there for a reason.

 

A photo posted by Divine Lee (@divinemlee) on Jul 9, 2015 at 12:06pm PDT

Don’t get me wrong, bet ko parin ang number 1 ha. Hindi naman ako plastic. I still aim for it. I’m actually trying that for my MBA now. But there are more things that can make you happy than that. One life to live daw. Make sure galingan nyo, enjoyin nyo. Make the memories count. While we are all rushing to be number one it’s easy to get caught in that whirlwind day-in and day-out, let’s not forget that dapat sarili natin ang number one. Happiness nyo. Days go by fast, make each one count.

 

Bongga na sakto yung mga past photos ko. There’s always that 2 sides of you. The one gunning for number 1. and the one gunning for happiness. It can be one of the same but figure it out.

 

A photo posted by Divine Lee (@divinemlee) on Jul 10, 2015 at 10:48am PDT

Before i end this “Ate Charo post”, my good friend Flo said to me recently, “live simply”. Drama queen ako hindi ba? Yolo pa! But you know what, I like the simple aspect of life pala. Yung laughing til your tummy hurts, higa higa sa grass, ice buko sa beach, yun pala ang naalala ko… those make me happy. So when I see people chose other things before being number one; like being stay at home mom for a bar topnotcher, or when someone choose health over a big project, or when someone chooses an opportunity to stay with his or her family instead of a high flying job abroad…mas naiintindihan ko na. And now I know. Thanks for that trip. I hope I keep on the same track and learn this balance. Aim for number 1 but sometimes number 1 does not equate to happiness. Sabi nga nang matalino kong inaanak I’m Ninang number 0, because 0 comes before 1. See? there are things that we can put before being number one… and thats called living life. When being number one takes up too much of life. PRESS PAUSE.

 

A photo posted by Divine Lee (@divinemlee) on Jul 10, 2015 at 4:11am PDT

Find your happiness.

Nagmamahal Charo.. choz!

Much love, D