Everyday Life

❤️Does your vision go on and on?❤️

Rhythm
Montalut Daily Rhythm

Here’s a painting I did 7 years ago. I was at my fitness peak and felt I finally made peace with my body.🤝 It turned into a whole series called “I Love My Body”.💃

This vision took a backseat when I became a mom, and my relationship with my body changed.🤱 It got…messy and contradictory. There was “Wow, my body birthed and nurtured a whole new human being, amazing!” Vs. “I don’t like how I look, I don’t own my body anymore.”🪞 I lost interest in taking care of my body, eating well, sleeping well, even dressing well–because, hey, the baby came first.

In 2022 I launched the series as NFTs, and relaunched them again in 2023, I guess as an attempt to again make peace with my body.🧘‍♀️ There were small wins thanks to IF and Zumba classes, but they were fragile and short-lived. The unpredictability of a nomadic lifestyle also made sticking to a routine extra challenging.⏰️

Loving my body is a fragile vision that is still very blurry for me at this point, and maybe the way forward is not to revive the old, foggy lenses.👓 Maybe I need something more drastic, like vision surgery. Or as my therapist says, start with a lot of self-love and self-compassion. 💅🤲

❤️ On Red Day, here’s a full stop to check how far do you actually see? Does your vision go beyond what’s already visible? Can you see what’s not there yet? And can you keep seeing it into the future? What helps you see?

💜How do you powerstart your day?💜

Rhythm
Montalut Daily Rhythm

Here’s mine: with quiet time to remember what happened in my sleep the night before. 😴

Both science and spirituality ( i.e. consciousness work) say to always go to bed with a question we need help with, and let the divine forces and/or our subconscious do the answering for us while we sleep🛏. Our job is to be ready to receive the answers the next morning.🌤

This only happens with a clear mind and heart, without the clutter of errands or news or social media feeds🤯. Blank slate mornings are critical.

💜How about you? What power move starts your day right?

🤍What were you doing 7 years ago?🤍

Rhythm
Montalut Daily Rhythm

Who had the bigger smile here, the baby elephant or me?🐘

This popped up on my feed today, taken in the Elephant Sanctuary in Chiang Mai 7 years ago.🌴 This was right when I started to actively explore the digital nomad culture.👩‍💻 I’d heard Chiang Mai was rivaling Bali in that respect, so I went to see it for myself. Coliving wasn’t a thing yet, and coworking was the new buzzword. The mood was fresh and excited, and youthful energy filled the air, even for the thirty, forty and fiftysomethings I met there.🧘‍♀️

They say every 7 years we are born anew; literally the cells of our body are new.💎 We also go through seven-year cycles in our Biography, and this year I entered the new stage of 42 to 49yo.

Tbh I’m still on the fence and lingering in my Sun stage, which was home to me for the past 21 years, equivalent to three full cycles: 21-28, 28-35 and 35-42yo.🌞 Each life cycle has its own energy and challenges, and the Sun agenda was to consolidate what we learned during the age of exploration💡, come into adulthood and fulfill our mission during the Christ years of 30 to 33 (Crucifixion year!).⏳️

Who I am Right now:
✅️ I’m a startup founder implementing my lifelong dream to build a global creative community @leadiagrowth
✅️ Community Mom for Leadia and gathering people for the Festival this October to finally get the ball rolling
✅️ New expat in Turkey and learning the language
✅️ Soon-to-be expat of Portugal, Greece or Albania, prepping to build Leadia Campus there and simultaneously doing research in all countries
✅️ Artist navigating next generation art 🎨 with NFTs and AI
✅️ Mom to a 5yo who is also braving new cultures and languages
✅️ Spouse to my co-founder @korayerimez who is also navigating through a new life cycle in his 50s
✅️ Daughter, sister and friend to many 🤍

Feel like I just wrote my autobio! 😅
👉Sidenote: my epitaph will read “She was brave.”

With all the transitions in my life now, easing into 42 is happening whether I’m ready for it or not, and just like this elephant, I’m reminded to smile through it and just have fun!

🤍 On White Day, let’s just get wet, make a mess, and smile. 😊

💙Do you climb trees?💙

Rhythm

Our 5yo learned to climb trees yesterday.🌴 İt’s now the first thing she wants to do when she wakes up, and such a welcome change from wanting to watch tv!

In two days, she’s gone from scared to fearless to scratched all over.🩹 She’s finding her balance and is more surefooted, wanting to climb higher and higher with each step.🏃‍♀️ It’s a good thing the fruit trees in the garden are not that tall, or else I’ll be a pinned to the garden too, watching her like a hawk.👀

It’s amazing to see her having fun and learning to trust her body at the same time. Hats off to her babanne and visiting abla (older sister or friend) who showed and encouraged her to do it.🏋‍♀️

From scared to fearless in under 10 minutes–we have so much to learn from children 💪

Some other things I learned:
✅ ️Plum trees are small but terrible: they’re super strong and are good for climbing.
✅️ Apricot trees are strong too and easier to climb because they fan out in a more regular way.
✅️ I should’ve climbed trees as a child! So glad Su got to climb her first tree today.
✅️ Grandmothers are really konsintidor 😂

💙On Blue Day, why not try something that will let you get to know your body in a new way: a new HIIT routine, dance move, go through hoops or ninja class or maybe, even climb a tree!🌳

💚 What’s your happy chore?💚

Rhythm

💚 What’s your happy chore?💚

Here’s a typical kitchen scene in our home: Mommy and Su play-cooking, while Babam does the serious cooking behind-the-scenes.🍳

I’ve been told many times that I’m lucky🍀 I don’t need to do the cooking for the family, and sometimes I counterargue and say I do have my signature dishes too.🏆 This week, for example, I learned to cook carbonara with no cream, just eggs and cheese, and Su loved it so much she asked for it again the next day 👩‍🍳. For the most part, I am super thankful @korayerimez loves to cook. It’s his happy chore, just like clearing the dishes is mine.🍽

💚 On Green Day, tell those who do the not-so-fun chores for you that you appreciate them. And give yourself a pat on the back too for all the heavylifting you do to keep your home and castle nice and shiny.🧹🧺

🤍What’s your big picture?🤍

Rhythm,

Our 5yo wanted a dollhouse, and in the spirit of doing projects to get her off gadgets, I told her we would make it.💪

Here we are halfway into it, doing some testing. I thought all along the house was for her Lego dolls about two inches high. Turns out she wanted her Barbies to stand in them 😅

🤍On White Day, I’m reminded to look at the bigger picture and make sure I still see it while I work on the details. How about you? What big picture guides your everydays?🧐

For Next Time

Everyday Life

Su found a cupcake display plate the day after her birthday. Cupcake decorating was the main event. She asked me to take a photo of it so we don’t forget we have one. For next time.🤣

I have tons of Su pics (I take too many!) that I don’t get to sort through and share, and everyday moments like this are solid gold.✨️

Thank you my darling, for being a curious little scavenger. I’m loving the forward-thinker in you, already planning what theme goes well with unicorns so you can reuse your decorations for your 6th birthday party 360 days from today.🥳

Istanbul from Up High

Life in Turkey

🔥Hot tip: Don’t leave İstanbul without visiting a rooftop bar! Really loved the peace and quiet here, and of course that amazing view 🤩

Weekend vibe on Bağdat Street

Life in Turkey

🛳 Back to the Asian aka Anatolian side of İstanbul, and enjoyed the weekend vibe on Bağdat Street. I had to ask Koray if there was a football match or concert going on because the street was so busy and alive, but he said it’s just another Saturday afternoon on Bağdat. It was really nice to see residents enjoying their neighborhood.🏘

Istanbul road trip!🚗

Life in Turkey

Business meetings + slow travel + big city recharge + family time = fantabulous first trip with Sulana in the city of transformation 🕌

Istanbul is a beautiful city with such a rich history–it’s over 3,700 years old!

✅️ From Izmir we drove over 400km of highway in 4 hours, including 1.5 hrs of traffic in the greater Istanbul area. It’s about 100km longer than Manila to Daet (Bicol) and Koray says when he was a kid this trip was also about 8 to 10 hours. Amazing they cut travel time to less than half today. Hoping PH can catch up and do the same.

✅️ It’s a hilly city! ⛰️ Much like San Francisco, walking around İstanbul will definitely up anyone’s fitness level. Izmir is mostly flat and very organized, with reliable public transportation from end to end (about 250km). İstanbul is a different story…more rowdy and chaotic, difficult parking, drivers are hotheads that honk at you for being slow (parallel parking here is on ninja levels), and cab drivers are a mix of really nice to really shady.

✅️ On the upside, Su got to ride the subway for the first time and enjoyed it so much that on her second try said, “Can we pretend it’s my first time on the subway again?”

✅️ The drive home was a different story, because Koray wanted the scenic route along the coast of Çanakkale. We were almost 12 hours on the road with slow driving and pit stops, including a short walk around the old city of Troy, which deserves a proper revisit.

We weren’t in a hurry to visit everything (we knew we’d be back), so we just took in the city slowly.

Non-touristy Highlights for me:

🚶‍♂️walking around local neighborhoods, shops and malls AND being able to chat up people in English (yay!)
🍪getting our fill of non-Turkish foods and flavors including superfudgey brownies and cookies
🌉driving around the Bosphorus road at night
🇵🇭 visiting the PH consulate and talking in Filipino again
🏙 visiting the Anatolian side and seeing the street come alive with residents just enjoying their neighborhood on a Saturday afternoon
😎 just vibing with the city and its super friendly people, who are extra nice to children (Turkey is really known to be children-friendly)