Rough Drafts and Real Thoughts by Francheska

  Mental Health is Physical Health I recently came across an article on WebMD by Dr. Jennifer Robinson, MD, and felt compelled to reflect and amplify this message: Mental health is physical health. (Read it here.) There’s no separating the two—they are one and the same. While we often treat them as different aspects of well-being, they are deeply interconnected. Let me explain why. The mind and body constantly influence each other in ways we can’t ignore. My Story: When Stress Took a Physical Toll When one part of our health suffers, the other follows. I learned this firsthand. As a content writer, my job often comes with tight deadlines. My team relies on my work before they can create videos, graphics, and other content, which means the pressure is high. On top of that, success is measured by results, so overthinking, stress, and even people-pleasing became part of my daily routine. The constant stress took its toll. I started feeling burned out, numb, and disconnected—even from...

My Journey to Rebuilding Self-Confidence by Francheska Camille  Self-confidence, they say, is the foundation of success. For me, it was once a faint echo in the background, drowned out by years of people-pleasing, self-doubt, and an overwhelming sense of invisibility. If self-confidence were a building, mine had been demolished, brick by brick, over time. And now, I’m painstakingly rebuilding it—one wobbling step at a time. Growing up, I was the “well-behaved” child—the silent one. Every year, I’d win the “Most Well-Behaved” award, a shiny badge of my ability to follow the rules. I thought it was a good thing. After all, my teachers relied on me to lead by example, to keep the chaos of the classroom at bay. But what I didn’t realize back then was that my silence came at a cost: I was teaching myself to blend in, to be unseen. By high school, the shy little girl wanted to shine. I found an outlet in music, writing my graduation song and watching my classmates sing my words. For a...

   Words in Progress: My Journey to Find My Voice Hello, reader. I can’t say for sure why I started this blog, but I’ve always been drawn to the idea of creating something from the skills I’ve learned—and the ones I’m still discovering. One thing I do know is this:  Every great writer once started with a blank page. Right now, I see this blogging journey as my blank page, and I am the pen, just beginning to write my own story. I’m Francheska, and I’ve spent the past four years writing for clients. But as a writer, I’ve always had to channel someone else’s voice. I’ve crafted words that speak for others, not for me.  For years, I’ve been speaking through someone else’s lens, but now it’s time for me to speak through my own. I’m still learning how to let my voice come to life. But I know this: if I can share something real, something that resonates with even one person, then I’ll have done what I set out to do. And maybe, just maybe, my words will help someone who, lik...

 Surviving the Days After Typhoon Odette (Rai) by Francheska Camille April 17, 2022 In my previous blog, I explained to you how strong and damaging the Typhoon Odette (Rai) was to my home, Talisay City, Cebu. The remnants of the hurricane's ravage can still be seen everywhere, including in the hearts of the people of the Visayas. Many have had their homes disfigured, and many lost them for good, and that's the most painful part of it all. After the night of the 16th day of December in 2021, we woke up to a cloudy morning on the 17th. The sun slowly peeked through the thick, grey clouds, as if reminding us of hope, despite the most fateful event that left us hesitant to believe in it. I mean, who can blame us for hesitating? We were left anxious because of the destructive experience that had us thinking twice about whether to come out of our homes.  The wind still had an eerie ambiance, the darkness of the night, and the shadows of the storm still lingered all over the town. Ou...

A Cruel First Day of Christmas: Surviving Typhoon Odette on Day 1 Misa De Gallo by Francheska Camille April 16, 2022 The First Day of Christmas 2021 It was the first day of Christmas, and it left a vivid picture in my mind. It was a regular day on the morning of December 16, 2021, with no signs of the storm. The news report revealed how powerful the approaching typhoon was, but we were unfazed since we assumed it would be just like the storms that had occurred in the previous months of that year.  We misjudged the power of Typhoon Odette (Rai) since we were resilient to tropical storms. We only realized it was coming to give us an early CRUEL Christmas gift and gloom in the coming new year of 2022, after it devastated the whole Visayas in just one fateful day and night. Inquirer.net reports: On Dec. 14, 2021, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) announced that a severe tropical storm, Rai, had entered the Philippine Area of Resp...