Our WeAreAyala Community shares how to face the new year with a refreshed mind, body, and spirit

3 sanity-saving tips from Abby Patacsil

1. Get your stuff organized. Abby Patacsil’s strategy to keep her stress at bay is to make things around her colorful and neat. “Every problem has a solution if you utilize all resources at hand and stay organized,” she shares. As a working mom, creativity and organizing skills are essential at home. “Since I am homeschooling my very active child, I need to use all ideas I have—mostly from Pinterest—to keep him interested and focused on learning.” At work, Abby finds her creativity and organizing skills useful in HR work as well.

2. Decorate your home. You don’t have to break the bank to spruce up your home. Abby says you can be thrifty and resourceful. She buys items for decorating and organizing the house at a bargain and makes décor out of recycled materials, too. Her mom, who loves to decorate their home, is her inspiration. “I have always loved decorating, making arts and crafts, and organizing my space,” she says.

3. It helps to belong to a community that cares. A supportive Ayala community that synergizes and cares for employees’ health and safety keeps Abby going. She confesses that frustrating moments will always be there, but her loved ones and colleagues give her a renewed sense of hope to keep fighting and trying and being a better version of herself. “Take time to achieve them, but if you continue to work hard towards it and put faith in yourself, you will get there,” she advises.

Jen Viray’s De-Stress Strategies

4. Look for a creative outlet. Decorating for parties and events in a do-it-yourself style is Jen Viray’s detox and rehab from stress. Creativity and patience push her to rise above life’s challenges. “Once you start DIY-ing kasi, your patience and creativity will be tested. You envision something, but sometimes the outcome is different. You should have the patience to continue what you’re doing and improve, so you can get the output that you want,” she says. Her DIY décors evoke happiness in people who see them, instantly uplifting their mood for the day. “Sometimes, when I see something I like online, I copy it and give it a twist,” she shares. She even enjoys decorating for Ayala events like Halloween and Christmas parties. It’s the good mood she is able to put those around her in that make her efforts worth it.

5. Be open to change. What started as a survival strategy in college has remained helpful to Jen through any crisis. Despite her dislike for numbers, she took up an engineering course. She had to be creative and patient to make it through college. She read a lot and found worthwhile and enjoyable course-related activities to learn as much as she can. Her experiences in life give meaning to what renewal is for her—it’s evolving and being open to change. Whether Jen is decorating or working on her tasks, one thing is for sure—she will continue giving her time, heart, and creativity to enrich her personal life while nurturing her loved ones and colleagues.