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Healing Journey in the Philippines Episode 11: Healing & Gardening in Pangasinan | DIY Plant Box

Original was uploaded on 2026-02-12

Hi everyone. Good morning 🌿

Today I finally started something I promised myself before this trip — building a DIY vegetable garden here in the Philippines. What began as setting up a simple plant box turned into something much deeper. Gardening has become therapy for me. It’s grounding, humbling, and healing in ways I didn’t expect.

Using leftover wood scraps and heavy bags of soil, I started planting the foundation for tomatoes and purple camote from Tubao, La Union — where my dad is from. There’s something emotional about that. Planting something that carries family roots while I’m trying to strengthen my own. Life doesn’t always give us perfect materials, but we can still grow something meaningful with what we have.

This healing journey has been about slowing down, choosing myself, and realizing that peace doesn’t require a dramatic life change. Living simply here — eating camote for breakfast, hearing tricycles pass by, buying fresh produce from neighbors — has reminded me that gratitude is a practice. I don’t need to escape my life to appreciate it.

In this episode, I reflect on:
• Gardening as therapy
• Mental health and expectations
• Rebuilding my relationship with my mom
• Living between the Philippines and the U.S.
• Choosing myself without abandoning my dreams

We’re leaving for Bangkok in two days, but today was about planting roots — literally and emotionally.

If you’re on your own healing journey, I hope this reminds you that starting small still counts.

Thank you for being here. Please like, comment, and subscribe to follow this healing journey 💛

With love,
Jasmine

This vlog episode follows a Filipina woman tending to her garden and building a DIY plant box on her sunny patio and balcony. She wears a low-cut pink tank top and tight white shorts while climbing ladders, digging soil, and caring for potted plants amid tropical greenery. Casual moments capture her cheerful energy in a healing lifestyle routine at home in Pangasinan.