Motherhood, a good balance
Here’s a story of a “supermom.” It was in 2002 when Yoga instructor Joanna Christina Lizares-Co, 46, married Dabawenyo businessman Zosimo Co. She moved to Davao City in the same year and since then, Joanna has considered the city as her second home. The couple is blessed with two beautiful girls—Gianna Simone, 12, and Simmina Christina, 9.
But a loving daughter that she is, she has remained in close touch with her family in Cebu even if it has meant regular visits to her father and siblings.
“I moved to Davao in 2002 and when I went home to Cebu, my time centered on my dad. Whenever my dad asked me to come home, I was there right away.”
As a Yoga instructor, Joanna has a tight schedule holding three to four classes a day. Joanna started to practice yoga in 2011, which she describes as “a holistic approach to health, wellness and mindfulness.”
But this never affected her responsibility as a mother and a wife. She knows how to deal with this.
“I’m up at 5 a.m. Monday to Saturday since my first yoga class is at 7 a.m. Some time after, I check if my girls are up for school. I teach three to four yoga classes spread out in the day so I get to go home in between classes or do my chores,” she said.
While at home, Joanna makes it a point to work on her other interests, spending an hour doing calligraphy, another hour practicing with watercolor or craftwork, another hour to write on her diary, journal, update her schedule.
“Dinnertime is with my husband and kids, where we talk about anything,” she said.
Joanna isn’t the shopaholic type, but for arts and crafts, she is one, making it a weekly chore. “For clothes? Only when I need to and when the occasion calls for it,” she said.
She admitted to being a classic dresser and does not sacrifice function for form or style. This is why she loves shopping at Marks & Spencer because the selections fit her fashion style.
“You won’t find me jumping on the latest fashion just because it’s the trend. I have to like it a lot and be comfortable in it for me to wear,” she said.
What occupies her closet aside from, of course, yoga pieces? “It’s shoes and bags! Stretch pants, white shirts, cardigans, day dresses, sleeveless tops, scarves and shawls,” she said.
The way things are going for Joanna only proves the possibility of living life to the fullest with focus on improving it as a career woman, a loving sister and a responsible wife and a mother.
“It is a happy, healthy life purposefully lived. At the end of my life, I would want to be able to say that with all the talents God has given me, I have multiplied it, and spent it well for the purpose given me,” she said.