New Year! In 2013, there's no excuse to fail

I have no excuse to fail.

This is what I always tell myself whenever I reflect on things; whenever it's time to look back in the past then forward to the future; whenever I brace myself for bigger things to come. 

Needless to say, 2012 has been an amazing year for myself and it's not too ambitious to expect 2013 to be a lot more fruitful. Writing this blog entry from Sydney, I feel blessed to have so many things working on my favor--a supportive family, a wonderful writing career, loving friends, and opportunities that don't present themselves to anyone on a daily basis. (If there's anything missing, it's in somewhere in the love department. Ha!)

Because both of my parents grew up in a modest household (they would go to school without shoes sometimes, they would tell me), without any sure springboard to success (except for determination to make it), there has always been a part of me that appreciates every little thing that I have now.

The past year was full of personal successes--I logged more than 600 kilometers of running; traveled to countries such as Australia, Singapore, and Thailand; visited many local destinations such as El Nido in Palawan, Lake Pandin in Laguna, and Pearl Farm in Davao.

In 2012, I also made good use of all of the social networking websites to keep close with friends from all corners of the world and reconnect with old ones who I have not seen in years. In fact, I write this entry from a high school classmate's house here in Sydney. We have not seen each other in more than 10 years but we kept close contact through Facebook.

For TWIST, there were 100 posts in total for 2012, which helped this website garner more than 204,000 views since it went live back in March 2011. This post is the blog's 267th post. How time flies!


But like everyone else, I'm sure, 2012 didn't go without a few bumps. During the past year, there were times that some issues at work really put me down. But this is something I'd rather bury in the past rather than dwell on today. It's a happy beginning and I intend to keep it that way.

This 2013, I'm making a commitment to continue living a healthier and more active lifestyle; to try to procrastinate a little less (ha!); and just be a more patient, more sensitive, more loving individual.

Life has been good to me and I'm humbled by that every minute of the day. From here at TWIST, Happy New Year! May 2013 be a fierce, festive, fruitful year for us all! :)