I have always believed that doing work all day and studying all night is detrimental to one’s health and well-being. Self-care is as important as being productive with school and work. Last year, when I was still a 3rd year student, I had a lot of readings and exams and so I needed to study a lot but I always made sure that I would provide ample time for relaxation with family. My parents have been supportive of taking me out for a breather and on a Sunday morning at around November of last year, my father, who bikes a lot at the mountainous areas of the city, drove my mother and I to Sirao Flower Garden, located in the mountainous area of Cebu City, Philippines.

Upon arriving at the place, I was glad to see that there were only a few people visiting because at that time I was quite skeptical to visit crowded places as it was during the height of the pandemic and no vaccination took place yet. I could vividly remember how captivated I was with the view. I am a flower person. And upon seeing the different flowers and different ornamental plants, my heart was filled with so much joy because apart from being to take time off school, I was able to see beautiful flowers which I only got to see in pictures.

At that time, I was with my mother and as an only child, I have always been close with my mother and apparently we treat each other like siblings! She was also so supportive of taking pictures of me and I took photos of her as well.

Photo on the left was taken by my mother and apparently I was not ready for the shot while the photo on the right is my mother. I would like to introduce my mother to all of you

Sirao Flower Garden is also famous for the Celosia flowers grown there. However, I got quite disappointed during my visit because apparently the Celosia flowers were harvested. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed seeing different variety of flowers which I am not quite familiar of and I indeed enjoyed every single moment I spent with my family even if it was just a meager portion of our weekend.

Some of the picturesque views that you can witness at Sirao Flower Garden.

I have always believed that we should never feel guilty for sparing some time for ourselves and most especially our family. As what people always say, tomorrow is never promised. Whenever you have the opportunity to do so, file that leave and take time off work or if you’re a student, use your weekends to take a break.

Although my face says otherwise, as my position in the photo was directly hit by the sun, I was very amused and happy to be able to spend time with my family.

If you want to know more details about how the transportation towards Sirao Flower Garden and some more background information about the place, click here.

How about you? Are you planning to take some time off work? How do you like spending your day off or weekend?