Watching the sunset at the Hanoi Botanical Garden

“What we held onto holds us back. What we release allows us to fly.”

– excerpt from the poem Shattered by Leza Lovitz

 I never thought that releasing and letting go of old energies will mark my 2013. I after all, started the year with a bang, with a very ambitious theme of Go BIG or Go Home. My plan then was to make The Gypsygals as the premier multimedia resource for solo female travelers. I was thinking then of boosting traffic, publishing guides and apps and raking in revenues through ads and an exclusive membership site for women travelers.

 Well I sort of attained that goal but not the way I pictured it. To give you a better idea of what I meant by this, I decided to answer some of the questions which were loosely based from Leonie Dawson's workbook and present to you a comprehensive review of my life and career in 2013.

What Dreams Came True in 2013?

1. Launched Gypsy Gals TV – I finally did it! I put on my own YouTube channel for Gypsy Gals TV . I also launched a podcast  making The Gypsy Gals a real multimedia site. It was also a fulfillment of my long cherished dream of becoming a travel host slash travel journalist slash media businesswoman. Indeed, The Gypsy Gals by itself is the best way to cap my rewarding career as a journalist.

2. Established my position as a solo female travel expert – I love to travel and I absolutely love to share my insights and knowledge on traveling alone as a woman to inspire and educate other aspiring solo female travelers.

 I'm happy to say that I finally secured my niche as a solo female travel expert in 2013 as evidenced by several requests for interviews and guest posts. My FB community continues to grow and engaged. It was also last year, that I finally got invited to talk about solo female travel. While that was not my first public speaking gig (I have given talks on journalism in Manila), that was the first time that I got to talk about solo female travel.

3. Monetized my travel blog – This is every travel blogger's secret dream – to travel all over the world and get paid to do it through blogging. I didn't get tons of moolah from blogging but thanks to ads, affiliate sales and sponsored posts and links, I get to take in a small income from blogging in 2013.

4. Discovered my (spiritual) teachers – I first received my spiritual calling about ten years ago, but I refused to follow it, believing it was all a bunch of crap. Things changed around two years ago when I started to learn more about intuition, Goddess spirituality, energy healing and chakras. In 2013, I was “called” again and this time, the student was more than ready to meet her teacher(s). I went through a very powerful karmic release and cord cutting healing sessions and attended a life-changing class on spirituality in (of all places) Kuala Lumpur. And thanks to social media, I reconnected with an old spiritual teacher in Singapore and I'm looking forward to learning more from her again.

5. Lost a few pounds and maintained a daily fitness regimen – I'm too lazy to go the gym as the routine bores me. But I also wanted to feel strong and sexy and fit, so in order to force myself to maintain a regular fitness regime, I joined a weight loss contest in the local gym. I didn't win it, but I did work hard to train and control my diet. I also renewed my love for Kundalini yoga and got to do some kriyas with teachers I met in Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh city and Hanoi. Oh, I also tried Pilates for the first time in Hanoi and absolutely loved it!!

6. Teaching in Vietnam and Thailand – I always believe that I'm destined to teach and to this end, decided to get teaching creds in order to teach ESL and hopefully, travel the world as an English teacher. I did get certified and had the chance to teach kids and adults in Koh Samui and Hanoi. Well, that experience was a mixed bag of the good, the bad and the not-so pretty. While I did get to teach, I also discovered that teaching ESL was not for me. But I did learn teaching techniques that I'm planning to use as I pursue a different kind of teaching career in 2014!

My students in a Hanoi language center

What were the challenges I encountered in 2013?

1. Time management – I was trying to do so many things at a time that I ended up mostly exhausted in 2013. I still had a full time job then and in between editing and writing, I had to build The Gypsy Gals, go to the gym at least three times a week, study TEFL and CELTA, study Mandarin, and write for other publications to earn extra income. That was also the reason why I didn't manage to sustain my podcast and YoutTube channel,. as I can't find the the time to produce more videos and interviews even if i have an assistant who can help me in editing and uploading them.

2. Too many distractions- I focused on the wrong thing. I followed what others were doing instead of doing what was aligned with my heart and soul. A lot of travel bloggers became ESL teachers in order to travel, blog and monetize their blogging business by selling ads and travel guides. So I spent a lot lof money and time getting certified, quit my job, relocated to Vietnam, with the intent of publishing a Solo Female Traveler's Guide to Hanoi and Saigon. I wanted to produce both an e-book and an app.

 That didn't work out because I realized that I hated teaching kids, hated being discriminated against owing to the color of my skin (one employer rejected me because he said that I look too southeasr Asian) and that I was a non-native English speaker. Plus, I prefered to be a journalist more than anything else and earned more money freelancing for international publications than teaching ESL to kids.

 There's also the fact that I didn't want to live in Hanoi. I can't take the cold weather, I missed the malls and a more cosmopolitan way of life, and deathly scared of riding motorbikes (or even crossing streets filled with motorbikes coming out of nowhere). To be fair, Hanoi is a good place to travel but it's not a good place for me to live.

3. My heart chakra was blocked- The year 2013 proved more than anything else that the heart knows best. For the longest time, I feel guided to offer life/career coaching services through my blog, but my fears held me back. This, despite the fact that I'm a very good pro-bono career coach to my friends. I used the following excuses to keep me from moving forward: "I'm not certified. “Getting cerification is too expensive.” “I'm not a clairvoyant. "There are so many coaches out there, what else can I offer?" “This has nothing to do with The Gypsy Gals” etc. I decided to be in the media business, intent on driving traffic, thinking that ad sales and sponsored posts will finally bring in the revenues. I had some success on that but it wasn't what I truly wanted.

Exploring Saigon -Selfie

4. Financial (mis)management – Mainly because I wasted money on stupid stuff. I wil forever cherish my teaching creds because I worked soo hard to get them. But looking back, I wished that I spent my money instead on building a real location independent business. For example, I could have pitched to travel magazines, organize tours or asked my community what they really want.

What were the most important lessons I learned in 2013?

1. Let go and let God (dess) – I have the power to manifest but I tend to defuse this power because it was difficult for me to let go and just trust the Higher Power will always bring the Highest Good. But after a depressing experience in Vietnam, I learned that I can't always insist on what I want, especially if this is not in accordance with my soul's purpose. For this reason, I decided to let go and release everything that no longer serve me including teaching ESL, living in Vietnam, friends who betrayed my trust, my plan to become a Kundalini Yoga teacher and my plan to set up an exclusive membership site for women travelers.
 

2. I am loved even (and most especially during ) my darkest moments – My failure to launch a travel blogging business in Hanoi left me depressed for several weeks. I was crying all the time and was trying to numb the pain by gorging on sweets (chocolates, pastries). But thaks to my prayers and meditation, thanks to the support of my friends, family and teachers, I pulled myself back and realized that whatever happened to was not a failure but a wake up call. It was a life changing experience that forced me go deeper within and pursue a different path.

3. I need to honor my true calling – I never listened to my first spiritual teacher who encouraged me to develop my gift. I had to go through some painful episodes before I finally accepted my life's purpose. So now I'm owning this: I am an intuitive, a writer, a teacher, an Indigo adult, an Earth Angel. It's time for me to not only to be more open about my postmodern spirituality (for lack of a better term), but also to promote it and help others who were also called to follow this path.

4. I need financial security – I made peace with money and accepted that I'm not comfortable with uncertainty. Some are better risk takers than me and that's ok. I can't not have a Plan B as I get sick (literally) if I don't have a steady source of income. Building my business on the side is to me the best way to nurture The Gypsy Gals.

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 Lastly, I would like to thank the people who made a difference in 2013. I learned a lot from every person I dealt with last year but I'm especially thankful to the following: my family – Nanay, Daddy, Rico, lil sis Nina, Yaya and Kahlil; Avie Olarte, Alwyn Alburo, Joel Adriano, Shiela Briol, Rossana Llenado, Natalie Macneil, Natalie Sisson, Sandy Sidhu, Arcy Cabadz, Ruby Amador, Daphne Koh, Sherwin Ng, Christina Ambubuyog, Cara Lopez Lee, Mila “Shanti Devi” Sanders, Raj Palsingh, Diana and Joanna, Arch. Michael, Nefertum and Goddess Isis

(Coming up next week: my plans for 2014 and how I'm refashioning The Gypsy Gals to serve you better.)