MAKING MAYHEM
Actor, fitness instructor, and now, creative director, Alexander Diaz is a veritable man of many trades. Throwing himself at every beckoning of an opportunity, he finds his true purpose far from the world he had imagined
You are not supposed to get life in your twenties, much more during the earlier part of it. Whoever says otherwise is a straight up liar, trust me. As someone raring and ready to shake off the dregs and excess of this age bracket very well understands at this point, this stage is meant for going off on adventures to explore the greater world, making mistakes (mostly brought about by the devil they call tequila), and even taking on the notorious quarter-life crisis. “I wonder sometimes about the outcome of a still verdictless life. Am I living it right?” John Mayer introspects to melody in Why Georgia from the seminal classic, Room For Squares, 2001. Look it up.
A life without verdict sounds so lofty, intimidating, and paralyzing even, especially when one is on the precipice of pulsating verve and nerve. “It might be a quarter life crisis or just the stirring in my soul,” he sings further, not quite answering what is weighing heavily down on your thoughts. Where Alexander Diaz is concerned, however, he simply has no time to entertain a potential quarter-life crisis, mainly because he has engineered an armor that prevents him from being affected by its treacherous, tormenting talons. This isn’t to say that life is or will be less challenging for him, because he will be the first one to volunteer how much he has gone through despite his age. The difference between his contemporaries and him is that he did something about it.
How? He got creative.
MAKING IT HIS OWN
“In the industry, there’s the cream of the crop, the crop that’s gets chosen and for some reason just gets things. And I was so angry that I wasn’t that person,” he says. “But I realized, contrary to popular belief, that isn’t the only niche in this industry. There are so many ways to excel in this industry. You just have to get creative, right?” This meant recalibrating his vision and relenting to the proverbial ebb and flow of life. “I [don’t want things to] just be handed to me,” he furthers, which is why he chucked the blinders he had on and widened his horizons.
Where he wasn’t necessarily getting what he wanted from show business, he found in his foray to fitness, which eventually turned into a lifestyle for him. An anchor that kept him moored amidst the tempestuous waters of life, he soon found solace as an indoor cycling fitness instructor for Ride Revolution which arguably gave him a renewed purpose.
At the risk of sounding like it was an effect of being a disgruntled player in the game of fame and fortune, Alex explains what compelled him to seek a world beyond the glare of the klieg lights. “I’ve always felt that I was too outspoken, especially as an actor in the Philippines. You know, I’ve risked scrutiny [because of it,]” he says. “I’m definitely my own palette of colors when it comes to my personality, and I realized that I want more for myself. So, that’s when I decided to branch out.”
This period in his life has also accorded him the appropriate leg room to think things through and to come up with a plan, which as life would have it, presented a whole world of possibilities far from the glittered edges of the entertainment industry. “For me, I believe in synchronicities, like unrelated events that happen coincidentally, [all leading up] to my dream,” he begins. “I remember specifically saying eight months ago, if I can’t climb the ladder in my career through the conventional route, I’m going to carve my own path.”
CREATE YOUR OWN FUTURE
No, Alexander Diaz isn’t leaving being an actor behind. He is just paying close attention and honoring every swerve that life requires of him. Needless to say, he is carving out something else of him to be an even better human being beyond the limits of a personality at the beck and call of public fodder, perched atop a pedestal to just ogle at. “The thing about life is it isn’t linear, and the most beautiful thing is that there is a greater plan for all of us, much more than we can perceive,” he says, fingers gesticulating far more animated for emphasis. “The sooner we let go of what we want to happen in our lives, then we really start to see how the universe is moving. It’s about realizing the synchronicities and how everything happens for a reason.”
Unknown to many, when at the strict confines of show business, he wanted to be someone else. A far cry from the man sitting comfortably before us, bathed by a glorious wash of light that highlights everything from his sharp jaw, his eyes that speak of coy wonder, and even catching the glint of the multiple piercings that decorate his ears, he once thought of fitting in an awww shucks boy-next-door template that many have attempted to before. “I wanted to be a Daniel
I REALIZED, CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, THAT ISN’ T THE ONLY NICHE IN THIS INDUSTRY. THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS TO EXCEL IN THIS INDUSTRY. YOU JUST HAVE TO GET ?” CREATIVE, RIGHT
Padilla,” he reveals with a laugh. “But I’ve gone on so many different adventures in my life, because I’ve been trying to find my ways to fill the time that I’m not Daniel Padilla. Ang dami ko ng nagawa: naging fitness instructor ako, naging host ako, naging MYX VJ ako, naging recording artist ako, naging kontrabida, naging events coordinator,” he recounts. “My gosh, life is so beautiful, and I invite everyone to come and experience it in its full spectrum. I’m not a Daniel Padilla. I’m Alex Diaz.”
Today, he is firmly and fully Alexander Diaz, an actor, fitness instructor, content creator, and now, a creative director for Cinco de Mayhem, a unique musical effort from the hearth of ProMedia Productions. “I realized when I joined ProMedia Productions, that I’m being put in a situation where I’m equipping myself with the tools to create my own future. I’ll admit that I’ve been scared since I’ve been sort of out of that world in show business, being focused with Cinco de Mayhem, these last few months. But really, it was this work that is putting me back in the spotlight for the hard work that we’re doing. All this is like a nudge telling me that I’m doing the right thing.”
Make no mistake about it, he isn’t just sitting pretty with a big boy title appended to his name. No, the young man knows his stuff. “The vision for ProMedia Productions is that we aspire to create exceptional experiences. Cinco de Mayhem is not a music festival,” he reiterates. “It is a Mexican cultural experience.”
At his helm, he wants Cinco de Mayhem to be an energizing and enriching experience for everyone from teenagers wanting a good time to families wanting to enjoy something different together. “For one day, we want you to forget about all your problems and all the shit that’s happening,” he says. “Step out and experience a different culture.”
And on the fourth of May, we will see and experience this vision come to life. Is he worried about the reception? “I realized in this whole journey that the validation wasn’t the goal, but it’s the hard work. It’s just the by-product of all the blood, sweat, and tears that I’ve poured into creating this experience,” he muses. “I learned to respect everybody and their space. Just do your job and try not to give people a hard time. So ‘yun, I gained so much respect and experience like no other.”
JUST KEEP ON GOING
A true case of going through the famed School of Hard Knocks, Alex threw himself completely at every opportunity, making sure everything added up to his well of experiences. Understanding how he is a culmination of life thus far, he makes sure he is at least doing something. “You’re right, I always have to do something, and I always challenge myself that in whatever I do, [I ask:] ‘Is it going to make me a better person?’ At 24 years old, I can confidently say that I’m at a point in my life that everything has a purpose.”
To be completely honest, finding purpose in one thing is already a lifetime of an achievement, what more several other facets? Apart from being able to do something productive from his passions, he is able to encourage people in the process. “I want to be a good example, period. With fitness, I teach because that was my guide when I feel lost. Events, I wanted to find a way to materialize what was in my head. Acting and music, it’s a way to express myself,” he details. “The ultimate goal is to show everybody that it’s okay to be every single thing that you are. You can be crazy, you can be loud, you can have many ideas, you can talk too much, and you can be quiet…whatever you are, wear it like armor and wear it proud.”
Here’s the verdict: A year short of stepping into life’s quarter mark, Alexander Diaz seems to have a good grip on things. While others take a lifetime to figure things out, it can be said with confidence that he gets it. More than being too busy to even entertain a crisis of existence, he has willed himself to keep things at bay, insulated of course by his unique human circumstances. And where he is concerned, he just hopes that anyone, his younger self even to just persist— despite anything and everything. It will all amount to something, he assures. “Love yourself through the shit. Can I say that? Because there will be so much thrown at you: rejection, pain, amazing nights that have left you tired in the morning, relationships that didn’t work out… Don’t let that take your humanity away from you,” he says. “Pay attention to what’s happening around you, because the greatness can come today or tomorrow. It all depends on your willingness to be better and to accept change, because that’s when it gets hard, when we resist the current. Go with the flow and just keep going.”
If this is what mayhem is in his dictionary, then sign us up. This isn’t just creative. It is real as real can definitely get.
THERE WILL BE SO MUCH THROWN AT YOU: RE JEC TION, PAIN, AMA ZING NIGHT S THAT HAVE
LEF T YOU TIRED IN THE MORNING, REL ATIONSHIP S THAT DIDN’ T WORK OUT… DON’ T LE T THAT TAKE YOUR HUMANIT Y
YOU” AWAY FROM