or i guess, the better question is, how do people get wealthy?
Today, I attended a Financial Habits webinar hosted by a Taiwanese university hub in Vietnam. While the content was interesting and I learned some new economic principles associated with personal finance, the webinar's content mirrored in essence, the content in previous personal finance seminars I attended locally:
- Investment vehicles (stocks, real estate)
- The power of compounding
- Weakness of willpower when it comes to investing
- Importance of tracking expenses and so on and so forth, etc. etc.
Although it may be just a matter of misplaced expectations, my problem with these seminars is that they already assume that you already have some money, whether earned through your salary or business and you are just trying to make it grow. But really, who has the kind of money that will grow enough to earn wealth through stocks, as a side activity? My point is, personal finance should start with enabling you to earn more income. But I guess that already goes into entrepreneurship.
Anyway, I guess I should look for seminars that teach entrepreneurship/activities to earn money in the first place, on top of a full-time job.
Yesterday, I made an attempt at a childhood interest - martial arts and tai chi. I visited the Arena Fitness Dojo's Wushu and Taichi class at Fisher Mall and had so much fun doing kicks, tai chi and wushu moves. Being a beginner and quite a bit overweight, the moves were challenging, I felt a bit intimidated as all my (YOUNGER) classmates performed the moves gracefully, nevertheless, I enjoyed my first class.
This reminds me of a time when I was young and I would play at doing martial arts with my siblings, exchanging kicks and punches with each other (though I never really hurt them, at least I think I didn't ?), after watching a super sentai show or a Jackie Chan movie. However, I was never really able to attend a formal classto learn, which I guess is one of my childhood regrets.
Now, I actually got to relive that childhood dream and I was so excited. We did the taichi walk, duck walk, pulse monkey, tai chi zigzag which really made me work up some good sweat.
Recently, I have also overcome my shyness and taken the plunge to attend Chinese classes. And now, this attempt at wushu/taichi martial arts. For some reason I still can't explain, there is a theme or pattern of Chinese exploration in my interests, at the moment. I'm not entirely sure if this is because of my Chinese heritage, which I never really got to explore (I was raised with Filipino/Masbate values), but I do hope and pray that I will not stop at one class and actually follow through with the next.
Aside from Chinese, other interests I had in my childhood were: programming/coding, writing fiction, buying/selling (business!), as well as directing movies. At the moment, I don't really have any concrete plan to do them but just like these Chinese things I am doing, I'll wait and allow myself to be surprised with what comes next with my interests.
Today's prayer: Thank you, our dear God and Jesus, for the opportunity and resources that you have provided me to explore my interests. Help me not to squander your gifts, but to enjoy and use them to the best of my ability so I can serve You and others. Thank you, dearest God and Jesus, Amen!
Today is the last day of 2025. As I reflect on this date, I remember how, exactly one year ago, I was busy signing up for subscriptions to a variety of learning courses and apps—HelloChinese, Chinesimple, Scribd, and others. These subscriptions were part of my resolutions for the year, all aimed at learning, studying, and improving myself.
Now, at the end of the year, while I managed to study HelloChinese daily for a month and a half, I eventually stopped. The other apps remained untouched, and I find myself in the same place I was a year ago.
My resolution to wake up early has also not turned up as well as I hoped. Recently, while on leave/holiday, my daily routine has shifted. I find myself waking up at 8 AM, 9 AM, or even as late as 11 AM. I am also spending a lot more time on the screens.
This brings me to a recurring question: How do people actually make real changes in their lives? Each year, I make resolutions and eventually drop them, not because of a lack of motivation or poor planning, but because those qualities alone are not enough for me to follow through.
As I enter the new year, this question remains at the forefront of my mind as I face my resolutions yet again:
- Speak and understand Chinese (again)
- Learn computing and data science to build the systems for our family business (again)
- Get certificates in computing and data science (again)
- Leave law (finally)!
- Get viable opportunities for work abroad
- Earn more (this is new )
- Waking up at 5 AM (again)
- Improve our family business (again)
Same as last year, I acknowledge that I currently have no clear idea how to achieve them for this year.
But isn't that part of the journey? Continuing to ask questions and finding our own way to the answers, no matter how long it takes. I know other people are not so blessed at the moment and I am grateful to God and praise Him for the opportunity to seek my answers once again.
Happy New Year to everyone!
Merry Christmas and welcome to this new corner of the internet!
You can call me Moss.
I’m a woman in my 30s, living in the Philippines, and this is my small corner of the internet, which I intend to keep as a log in my bid to finally make my dreams come true.
I have always lived with a rich inner world—full of ideas and plans—but often struggled to bring those dreams into the light. I’ve spent years thinking about the life I want to build, but only recently found the faith and courage to begin shaping and living those dreams.
For the past 30 years, I have largely ignored what I truly want and need in my life, to be able to say that I'm actually happy. Instead, as many of us do everyday, I chose the practical path of becoming a lawyer and private employment, where I could earn enough money to support myself, eschewing and ignoring my dreams in the meantime.
The thing however with ignoring dreams, at least for me, is that I am not able to ignore them forever. Slowly and surely, they have reappeared and constantly remind me of all my could-have-beens in life.
Well, as of 2025, I have made the conscious choice (with prayer, first and foremost, for help from God) to make my dreams come true. This blog is my way of honoring and documenting those dreams, as I try to achieve them. It’s also my place to reflect, to learn, to stay accountable, and to remind myself (and maybe you) that progress doesn’t have to be loud to be real.
If you choose to follow along, here’s what you’ll find here:
- reflections on personal growth and self-discovery
- notes on creativity, learning, and building new habits
- thoughts on faith, meaning, and the inner life
- small lessons gathered from books, conversations, and everyday moments
- gentle encouragement for anyone walking their own path
This isn’t a blog about perfection or hustle. It’s about slow, intentional dreaming—about becoming someone who moves toward the life they imagine, even if the steps are small.
Today is December 25, 2025 (yes, it's Christmas! and I am writing this while my family is busy entertaining guests) and the idea for this project arrived quietly but insistently. My hope is to write at least one post each month, so that by this time next year, I can look back and see the shape of the journey—its detours, its discoveries, its quiet victories.
Should any part of this resonate with you, feel free to follow along and share your thoughts as well.
If you've read up to here, thank you very much and I want to wish you a merry christmas!
