Happy New Year everyone! How did your holiday go? I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
During the break, I took the time to pause, reflect, and give thanks on the thing that was good to me. My project… my Friendillion.
What started as an itch for writing, ended up as gaining more than what I expected.
I gained new friends during my 1st year with Friendillion. Learning from these individuals and picking a slice of inspiration on their success stories. During that process, I happened to get Free accommodation, Free Lunch and Dinner, Free Chocolate cakes, Free Tour, and yes… some of that micro influencer earnings.
During that long Christmas break, I did some soul searching if I was still to proceed with the program. Make no mistake, it was more than beneficial but I feel that I haven’t really given inspiration to my readers and followers.
I feel I have more to give. More stories, more inspiration, that hopefully could change or uplift the lives of the people.

So starting this 2019, I decided to make a change. Instead of making stories of my existing friends and family, I am now on the lookout for strangers.
The objective is to interview strangers and showcase their lives through Friendillion.com
I will get a deeper insight into their lives, their livelihood, their biggest challenges, their happiness gauge, and their goals. I will know them personally and share their inspiring stories to each and every one of you.
Together, we will learn from these strangers and together we will try to adapt something from them and integrate it into our everyday lives.

If I interview strangers every week and become friends with them on Facebook. I’ll basically be acquiring 4 new friends every month.
If I do it every Friday, I’ll be having 52 new friends before the end of the year. And I continue doing this habit, I’ll be receiving 520 friends in 1 decade… Wow! And let’s not forget my existing friends before them and my immediate family members.
That’s a strong positive network!

Believe me, regardless of your status, your profession, your beliefs, and your goals in life… meeting new friends (though not everybody’s objective), is something you won’t mind having.
With our lives getting cruel year after year and old friends transforming into entirely different beasts. Some people believe it is best to replenish their departed friends (both the living and the dead) with fresh faces.

Do you want to learn to play the Piano?
Get out and meet someone who can teach you. Befriend that tutor and spend the time to learn to be like Beethoven, Chopin, and Mozart.
You wanna go surfing in Siargao?
Get somebody to surf with you. I’m sure there is someone out there who is willing to hit the waves and get tanned on that beautiful island.
How about a movie companion?
Invite that someone you’re dying to date for almost your entire life. It’s just a movie date. Dinner is not even included. Who knows, he or she might decide to go out with you even for a lousy movie.

This is not the time to be shy or be doubtful. We only had one life to live… what are you waiting for? Life is out there for the taking. We should enjoy every moment of it.

I’m glad I accidentally created Friendillion. I met new friends from countries I never taught I will get to meet.
I have a friend girl who loves to surf from France. 2 Web Developers from Japan. Several drinking buddies from Spain. Animal lovers from Australia, Aspiring Entrepreneurs from Germany, and clients who became friends from Canada and the United States.
I got to meet a lot of fellow Filipinos too and we still managed to stay in touch through social media.

Some say that I became a known authority in regards to relationships and human behavior.
I don’t know about that. I’m just here to “Scratch my itch” for writing and somehow managed to meet new friends along the way.

As I walk this path to gaining new friends and adventures, I invite you to join me on this journey and together we will unravel about people and learn from them.
We will make our lives even more exciting. We will gain networking opportunities, have a greater sense of empathy for the world, make that cultural exchange, and we will feel our lives better with a purpose.

Watch for my next article, interviewing my 1st ever acquaintance for the year.
Let this year be the year for Acquiring!