Cebu Island Stay: How to Pause and Reflect on Life (Sequel)

Today, I am back on Cebu Island in the Philippines.

I first visited this island in 2014. More than 10 years have passed since then, and I have lost count of how many times I have been to Cebu. If you add up all my stays, it would easily exceed half a year.

In the past, booking a flight and flying off to a foreign land required a certain amount of determination and preparation. However, today, the feeling of "taking the plunge to travel" has completely disappeared for me.

I just throw my passport, a few changes of clothes, my usual notebook and pen, and my MacBook into my bag. For me now, coming to Cebu Island has become as routine and light as going to a local cafe with my PC on the weekend.

Today, based on my current state of mind, I will write a sequel to "How to Pause and Reflect on Life."

Part 1: [Cebu Island Stay: How to Pause and Reflect on Life]

An interesting realization taught by a "silly answer"

During my stay in Cebu in August 2025, I wrote an article on note titled "How to Pause and Reflect on Life".

When I asked Chat-GPT how to pause in life, it gave me a silly answer like "take 10 minutes in the morning to put your phone away and drink coffee" or "go to a cafe on the weekend with just a notebook and pen," and I wrote an article harshly criticizing it for suggesting that such "small pauses you can start today" are necessary.

I wrote that you cannot possibly pause to think about a massive issue like life with such 10-minute distractions. If you are going to pause, you need a drastic review, at least a long vacation or a resignation-level change.

However, while writing the note at a cafe in Cebu, I suddenly had an interesting realization.

For me now, traveling to Cebu has become as easy and casual as the "going to a cafe on the weekend" that Chat-GPT suggested.

For the me of the past, summoning the courage to travel to Cebu was undoubtedly one of the biggest actions I could take to "pause and reflect on life."

However, because the hurdle for traveling has become extremely low for me now, coming to Cebu itself has changed from "a way to pause and reflect on life (a drastic review)" to "a simple daily refreshment."

In other words, once an action becomes easy and simple to do, it can no longer be a pause that shakes up your life. You cannot pause your life with easy methods. That is why, through the changes in my own behavior, I am once again convinced that what I argued in the previous article was indeed correct.

The "big event" of 10 years ago does not fade

Even so, no matter how many times I visit, my first trip 10 years ago was a major event that I cannot forget.

In the winter of 2014, I was running at full speed as a company employee. Although I enjoyed my work, it was a life without any breathing room, where I even forgot to breathe slowly and deeply. It was an era when I cared about the evaluations of others and believed without doubt that continuing to grow in a competitive society was the only justice.

That was when I decided to take a long vacation and, for the first time in my life, embark on a two-week short-term study abroad program—a "pause in life." And that was where I encountered the reality of the impoverished in the Philippines. The shock I felt when a 17-year-old mother I met on a street corner told me, "I am happy because my child smiles," was profound. It felt as if the values I had built up were crumbling away. At that moment, I definitely paused and seriously thought about "What is happiness?" and "What am I living for?"

That first trip took the shackles off my life and brilliantly shattered the fixed idea that "a life as a company employee is the only right way." As a result, I was able to break free from the "ant's values" and find my own axis: "not to 'become' happy, but to 'be' happy." It was because of that big event where I summoned the courage that I decided to take early retirement at 56 and now have the free second life I enjoy today.

A place that pushes my "buttons"

Cebu Island has now become a part of my daily life, a place I can visit as casually as a neighborhood cafe, yet it still holds a special meaning for me.

Every time I come here, the memories from ten years ago come back vividly, and I feel like something here pushes my buttons.

The scorching, glaring sun, the jarring noise of car horns, the sound of roosters crowing early in the morning, and the smiles of Filipinos who are unfailingly bright no matter how poor they are. Every time I encounter these things, I have the sensation that a button inside me is being pressed.

What kind of button is it?

"Are you living by your own axis right now?"
"Are you able to be grateful for the small joys of daily life?"
"Are you limiting your actions because you care about what others think?"

It feels like a mental button to ensure I don't forget my original intentions, and a button to recognize the concept of "knowing enough is enough."

I wonder if there's a good name for it?
"The Heart's Return to Origin Button"
"The Life Tuning Button"
"The Self-Axis Focus Button"

The air in Cebu reminds me of my original intentions in that way. That is likely why I continue to support the NPO DAREDEMO HERO as a social investor and continue to cherish my connection with this island.

It's scary for everyone at first

To pause and reflect on life, you need a major action that requires resolve (a fundamental review). A casual "weekend cafe" visit won't change your life.

For me now, a stay in Cebu at the level of a weekend cafe is no longer enough to pause and reflect on life. It's just at the level of going to a cafe, after all.

However, once you have truly paused, taken the steering wheel of your own life, and established your own axis, the rest of your life becomes surprisingly light. Just as my trip to Cebu, which was once a life-risking grand adventure, has now become a level of going to a cafe, the hurdles that many people feel are too high should drop dramatically once you jump over them once.

I believe that a life where you make excuses like "it's a hassle," "I don't have time," or "I don't have money" and avoid taking risks also lacks growth.

A stay on Cebu Island might be a form of life maintenance for me. I am spending my time here feeling the joy of being able to face my inner self in a cafe like this and turn it into text on Note.

The details of today's article are published as a book below

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