Soon, I was worried I might fill up too much resources on the previous site. I finally decided to give it it’s own hosting. It fully standing on its own now.

There are advantages and disadvantages that I saw in having your own hosting and sharing other domain’s hosting. First, having your own hosting helps you lessen the clutter in maintaining your sites as your files don’t mix up. You could also generate more income and more subdomains for such site. The disadvantage is, of course, you have an additional bill to pay annualy.

Nevertheless, I’m still happy to have it hosted on its own. Since this is a personal site, I feel I have just rewarded my self

Just today, my website where two of my top earning blogs got penalized by the big G. Zaaap! In a moment.. in a blinking of an eye. Hehe. I wasn’t really shocked though. It was something that I saw coming. I just stared at it straight in the eye until it hit me in the face

Oh well. It has been happening to bloggers exponential in number. I am just one of the statistic . Kidding aside, I have just reaffirmed that life is full of surprises – may it be positive or negative. Some get promoted while some get fired in one day within one company. These things are never going away as long we live. The important thing is (as I said before), these things happen for a purpose and that these things happen to us to make us persons of experience and wisdom. They try to teach lessons. You may find out that hard work pays and the opposite robs. You may learn that procrastinating leaves you cramming which then causes you not to meet an important project deadline which then leads you to packing up things in your big brown box, going home and telling your wife that you lost your job.

I might have not lost a job today but I had my share of life’s down time – a discouragement only if you let it. If there’s one thing I learned today, it’s this: “There are a lot more things that are beyond our control than we know. The best thing that we can control is how we react to these things and situations. Mastering your thoughts and reactions is a huge thing to do, requires mental and emotional hardwork but pays off really big”.

Then comes a time in your life that this self-image we are projecting becomes the very thing that cages us from our potentials. I didn’t realized this until recently.

I grew up through my teenage years and into my adulthood thinking that I am an introvert. True to my thinking, I became one. I don’t go to parties unless I need to. I sometimes dish out invitations to what could have been a nice and fun celebration. Soon, being with a crowed stresses me out. I always looked for excuses not to be there.

When I entered the professional life, that self-image of mine did a huge part in my decision making. I declined offers to jobs that deal mostly with people. I often say “that job is inviting but I’m not that good with people.” Because i say so, then i became so.

Just this morning, I received a text message from a local company to be in their office by 2pm for a job interview. I was delighted to have such opportunity but knowing that the position available is that of a project coordinator, I was having the idea in mind how difficult the job would be for an introvert like me (self-image doing its thing again). I knew that the job would entail me to deal with clients and handle the team doing the projects. I arrived and we went on with the usual interview process. The bottom line, the job didn’t fit me as I always had excuses locking me up in my mind.

Some time during the interview, he asked me if I have any personal messaging account and I answered that I only have one and its with Yahoo Messenger. At the back of my mind, I was asking myself why should I have more than one private messaging account. Thinking that having more than one account for personal messaging is absurd, I was again caging my self to such belief. “Why not?” I ask my self now. “It’s just an account anyway.”

I would like to give credits to the book Follow Your Heart by Andrew Matthews. I am reading it now and I highly recommend it. Just start reading and you’ll know why its a best seller.

The book was subtitled Finding Purpose in Your Life and Work. Andrew mentioned something in it that really struck me. He said “Whoever you are, you aren’t STUCK – you are a human being, not a tree!” He was absolutely right for the situation I was in. I was stuck in something that bore me all because I decided to disconnect with people, for the simple reason that I believe I am an introvert. I was depriving my self of excitement, of discoveries and of learnings that I could never experience when I lock my self out from everybody else.

If there is one lesson I learned today, here it goes: I am a dynamic person very much capable of change and adaptation. My self-image should not be one that’s as stiff as a metal rod, unbending to the changes of time.

Those who adopt, survive. Those who don’t either left frozen in the ice age, left alone in an island during the continental drift or get eaten by predators who have changed well enough to run faster than you.

Crossroads

Shall i follow the stream
or cross the sea
Strive for a dream
or let life be?

Shall it be on neon lights
that spell success?
Or flickering lamplight
for happiness?

Follow the thunder?
Follow the storm?
Follow the whisper
that breeze and leaves for?

Follow my heartbeat
Follow my head
What shall each bring me?
Where shall each lead?

I encountered this poem when I was in high school. It was in our English language class I believe. I was able to grasp the meaning before but it was not that real for me until recently in my life.

The poem really talks about choosing whether to take the road that leads one to a city life and corporate world or the one that leads you to live a simple life in the comforts of your home, your own small business or your farm. I guess it applies more to those who live in rural areas where the city seem to be an elusive corporate paradise where money and success is.

Still, I can relate to the poem. For those of you who know me, you know how I left my job to pursue a career in information technology. The decision wasn’t bad really. I learned so much more about the thing that just started as a hobby when I left than when I stayed. Later on, I realized that it was more than the choosing between my previous career and my current career. It was actually a difficulty in choosing whether to live a run-run, chasing-those-deadlines, keep-your-butt-moving life or live a simple, passionate, laid-back, slow-paced, calm life.

I believe many people feel this way at times. For me, I guess I easily burned out at that time. I realized now that I was just too hard on myself and my attitude towards my job took its toll on me. I was looking at my job as something that can be accomplished or finished one time through careful planning – much more like a project. I forgot the fact that a job is something that constantly tests your skill and your character day in and day out – more like life itself. It would only end if you decide to leave the job. Then you go find another, get disappointed and quit again. The loop will never end.

Being jobless and having time for yourself have benefits. You get to wake up in the early morning breeze, drink your favorite coffee while reading the latest in the newspaper. Better yet, look outside and rest your eyes in the garden for hours – a relaxing feeling that you seldom have when you are always in a hurry for work in the morning and fairly exhausted when you go home at night. When you’re jobless, you get to think of your life a lot. You get to think of finding purpose in the things that you do. However, you also get to think about your joblessness especially when your finances are drying out already. This is dangerous as this can lead to depression that lasts for months, even years.

All in all, my hopes are high. The world does not remain as it is. It is constantly changing. Thinking about the poem, maybe I don’t have to make a choice in the first place. Maybe creating a balance between the two is actually possible. Finding peace amidst chaos is a higher challenge for any of us. Finding success in flickering lamplights gives a deeper meaning to life. I shall not know the answer if it is really possible unless I go through it myself. Life is just like that.

Lately, I realized that there is a great difficulty in letting go of things that you are accustomed to. Just as a butterfly who earns its strong wings by breaking through the cocoon, so does a person who is able to get out of his or her comfort zone to explore and see things for himself. Money earned is way more fulfilling than money given. Self preservation however is innate and getting out of that thinking requires determination and maturity.

For now, I would have to do with the best way I could with what my hands find to do. Little meaning is given for lives constantly spent on yearning for something not yet achieved for humans would always find something that is lacking, whatever it may be. Plan ahead if you must. Dream for reaching the top of the mountain but don’t forget to smell the flowers and hear the birds singing along the way.

First of all, I do not claim to be a top expert and master in Wordpress. This blog is really about my challenges in doing websites with Wordpress or Wordpress Multi User as the Content Management System used.

I have designed and authored different sites that include Hugsmiles.com which is a free blog hosting site, Toinky.com which is a shopping and lifestyle site, Tagadabaw.com which is a Davao web community based in Davao City, Hugs-u.com which is also a shopping site, Life is a Bowl Full of Cookies which is my personal blog and several others which uses Wordpress or Wordpress MU. But honestly, there is still a lot to learn in this very generous and helpful open-source CMS.

Soon, I will be posting tips on simple topics that many ask about in handling or authoring a wordpress site. Most of these are probably from my own experience so what worked for me should hopefully work for you as long as the basic conditions are met.