(Part 1 of 2)

Just a few days more and we can say good riddance to 2020! Give yourself not just a pat on the back but a huge hug for even just surviving it. As we look back on this annus horribilis with sadness and pain, it can only help to somehow adopt a sense of gratitude for all the things it taught us and made us discover about ourselves as we were forced to confront and adapt to many painful realities.

I started my “Ask Ms. Myrz” podcast in the middle of 2020 in a quest to help myself and others navigate our way through all the struggles and challenges that came our way. Every week, for six months, I consulted the best experts in their fields to shed light and provide practical help for whatever issues and problems I encountered and that you asked about. I compiled 21 of the best episodes here, and together, we can use them for our enlightenment and inspiration so we can all learn from the past, prepare for the future, and always remember to live in the present.

1. THRIVE, NOT JUST SURVIVE, IN 2021.

While we are all hoping that 2021 will be better, we certainly don’t know what new challenges and uncertainties it may bring. Dr. Rene Samaniego, award-winning psychiatrist and former president of the Philippine Psychiatric Association helps us reflect on the lessons we learned and that helped us survive this year and gives us the tools and mindset we need to face a better year and future. He names five psychological strategies to help us achieve this:

1. Live mindfully.
2. Live creatively.
3. Live meaningfully.
4. Live prayerfully/spiritually (includes meditation).
5. Live with liminality.

Watch this for more:

Goodbye, 2020! How to Move From Merely Surviving to Thriving in 2021

2. PLAN (REALISTICALLY!) FOR 2021.

What we learned in 2020: What’s the use of planning if things are bound to still be unpredictable? But Dar Ty-Nilo, creator of the Belle de Jour Power Planner and founder and president of Viviamo, Inc. says that despite all the uncertainty, we can still formulate a doable game plan for 2021. Here are her five tips:

1. Connect to yourself where you are, no judgment.
2. Remember the time you felt successful and proud of yourself.
3. Think about things that bring you joy, that get you excited.
4. Write down at least three possibilities based on #1,#2, and #3—no matter how disconnected.
5. Think about what you can do this month that can help you walk towards your desired possibility.
6. Watch this for more:

How to Plan For 2021: 5 Ways to Achieve Your Goals in These Uncertain Times

3. DO A SELF-ASSESSMENT REGULARLY.

Before any planning for the future can be done, one first needs to reflect on the past. Certified life and career coach and founder of Your Heart-Crafted Life

Aurora Mangubat Suarez does a regular check-in to do a review to get clarity and has devised five questions to ask yourself:

1. RESET. What parts of your life needed a reset?
2. REDISCOVER. What did you rediscover about your self and your life during the quarantine?
3. REMIND. What lessons did you learn? What important lesson do you want to take with you?
4. REPAIR. What parts of your life need compassion and healing?
5. RESPONSIBILITY. Are you ready to embrace the idea that you are responsible for all the choices that brought you here today? What new choices can you make to create the future you want?

Watch this for more:

Your Mid-2020/Lockdown Life Check-In

4. PRIORITIZE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH.

It never occurred to me to do so until way into the middle of 2020, when I realized living in lockdown with the pandemic was affecting my mental health, so I tapped Dr. Gia Sison, a.k.a. Doc Gia, the National Adviser of the Youth For Mental Health Coalition, head of the Makati Medical Wellness Center, and the Philippine leader of the Livestrong Foundation. The occupational medicine practitioner and breast cancer survivor offers these five ways to get started:

1. Acknowledge how you feel.
2. Accept and face your stressors.
3. Practice self-compassion.
4. Honor your feelings, because all feelings are valid.
5. Celebrate small wins as well as failure.

Watch this for more:

Why We Should Prioritize Our Mental Health + Top 5 Ways to Do It

5. STOP WORRYING AND MANAGE ANXIETY THROUGH MEDITATION.

Whether or not you’re a Type A personality like myself, we can’t help but be frought with worry during these times. Meditation and radiant energy coach Sara Black, a former model-turned photographer of 16 years and competitive athlete, says she used to be so consumed by worry and that the anxiety of dealing with uncertainty drove her crazy and left her exhausted, frustrated and lifeless. While training for a triathlon, a biking accident fractured her hip and left her immobile for months. Bedridden, she practiced meditation daily and harnessed the power of her mind to heal herself. In a few months she was running again and astounded her doctors. Here, she shows us five ways we can alleviate anxiety including meditation and breathwork techniques, which she teaches in her anti-anxiety course:

1. Breathe.
2. Develop presence through meditation.
3. Guard your consciousness fiercely.
4. Create healthy boundaries.
5. Suspend judgment on yourself.

Watch this for more:

Stop Worrying! How to Manage Your Anxiety Through Meditation

6. LEARN TO BOUNCE BACK MORE EASILY.

The American Psychological Association defines resilience as “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress—such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stressors”—all of which are very present in these trying times. How, indeed, do we keep going despite the most dire circumstances we have ever faced? Psychologist Gisa Paredes, M.A., founder of Healing Minds PH and COO of WellAtSea, shows us five steps to sharpening our mental and emotional skills so we can handle and recover from hardship and difficult times better.

1. Learn self-management and other-management.
2. Set boundaries.
3. Forgive yourself.
4. Be still. Be present. Be mindful.
5. Use a tool like The Soul Briefcase.

Watch this for more:

Strengthen Your Resilience: 5 Coping Tools You Can Tap

7. STRENGTHEN YOUR RELATIONSHIP.

Quarantine quarreling has become unavoidable, whether couples have been cooped up together 24/7 or have been apart for months in an LDR. Relationship coach life skills and conflict resolution trainer, and counselor Aileen Santos names the top five pandemic-related couple fights and tells us how to resolve them:

1. Toxic Relationship Patterns
2. Financial Stress
3. Division of Labor
4. Different Love Languages
5. Different Communication Needs

Watch this for more:

Can Your Relationship Survive This Pandemic? Top 5 COVID Couple Fights & How to Resolve Them

HEALTH/FITNESS

8. STOP STRESS EATING.

Mental, emotional and physical stress can often manifest in stress eating. And, as if the information overwhelm weren’t enough, our consciousness has been bombarded with food porn photos from home cooks and bakers galore! Offering helpful tips to curb the carbomania and help us rescue ourselves from an unhealthy downward spiral is IFM-certified functional medicine pratiiioner Dr. Oyie Balburias. He recommends:

1. Eat more fiber and less sugar.
2. Eat less: Hari Hachi Bu.
3. Get an oil change.
4. Cooking methods matter
5. Spice up your life
6. Use it or lose it
7. Take a deep breath.

Watch this for more:

Lockdown Lamon? Stress Eating & the Top 5 Ways to Curb It

9. BUILD DAILY HABITS TO GET FIT.

Samantha Lo and Sam Ajdani, Grand Winners of Century Winner Superbods 2020, reveal their winning secrets and tips for getting in the best shape of your life despite all the obstacles a pandemic brings —or at least how to get started towards that goal:

1. Move throughout the day.
2. Make time to clear your head.
3. Eat more plants and whole foods.
4. Get 7 to 9 hours of restorative sleep.
5. Drink a lot of water to stay hydrated.
6. Remember: This is a lifestyle!
7. Consistency is key.
8. Research and experiment.
9. Take the “cheat tea.”
10. Know that women need a different approach from men.

Watch this for more:

How to Get and Stay Fit During a Pandemic

10. EAT MORE PLANTS.

Juana Manahan Yupangco, writer, editor, wife, and mom is the founder of Mesa ni Misis,

a non profit organization that advocates the healthy cooking and eating of local plant-based meals using local vegetables, and is the author of Mesa ni Misis: A Guide to Cooking & Enjoying Native Filipino Vegetables. Here are her tips to help you adopt a more plant-based diet:

1. Start slow. Start with replacing one meal a day with vegetables only. Progress ‘til you can do a whole day.
2. Stick to familiar flavors. Try veggie sushi, pasta with only vegetables, no need to dive into the deep end right away.
3. Remove animal products slowly. Start with one and then move on until you eliminate everything. 
4. Try a meat substitute. There are many options available now to help you transition. These aren’t meant to replace vegetables, and are by no means equal in nutrients, but you can add them to your meal.
5. Buy the Mesa Ni Misis Cookbook! It’s full of tips on how to stock your pantry and how to use veggies.

Watch this for more:

5 Easy Steps to Going Plant-Based And Loving It

11. START AN EDIBLE GARDEN.

Suburban DIY diva and home gardener Donna Cuna Pita, a.k.a. The Barefoot Cavitena shows us how she turned her backyard into her own plant food factory and suggests these five easy-to-grow vegetables you can grow in your backyard or condo balcony:

1. Kangkong
2. Malunggay
3. Talbos ng kampte
4. Talinum
5. Okra

Watch this for more:

Start an Edible Garden: 5 Easiest Vegetables to Grow

12. PREVENT STRESS BELLY BY MANAGING STRESS.

Studies show that stress-induced cortisol is linked to abdominal fat distribution aka that stubborn stress belly. Celebrity food and lifestyle coach Nadine Tengco, author of the book Sexy at Any Age, herself known for her impressive ageless award-winning and ultra-fit physique and for being the Fairy Godmother of Flat Bellies recommends the following, in order of importance:

1. DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATH (quickest) = “I AM SAFE’

2. NATURE THERAPY (most effective)

At Home Substitutes

• Plant Therapy (Visual)
• Pet Therapy (Somatosensory)
• Aroma T herapy (Olfactory)
• Sound Therapy (Auditory)

3. DETOX and ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET (WITH CARBS)

4. MEDITATION and MINDFULNESS

5. REST and MOVEMENT

Watch this for more:

Stress Belly Syndrome: 5 Ways to Treat And Prevent It

Part II: 21 FOR 2021: 21 NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION IDEAS