Read an excerpt on how with a new mindset, Nadine Lustre is now able to live, love and fight for the things that really matter to her.
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In 2021, Lustre decided to spend more time in Siargao. Her move was well documented by fans. Like many others, she found solace in the island, the beauty in simplicity. The infamous image of her buying lechon sauce in a sari-sari store perhaps speak of how she’s come to embrace this way of life.
“When I flew to Siargao in July last year, I thought to myself ‘Freedom!’. Thats when I knew that I’m free from whatever thought or baggage that I have been carrying,” she recalls.
“After a couple of weeks of being in Siargao, tita Cindy, my life coach, we started talking again and she reminded me of one of our sessions. Kasi we had this one session where she asked me where I would see myself in six months or in a year, like what would I be doing, what do I want for myself. So it’s in a piece of paper, I would write the questions—it’s more like manifestations, right? And she was telling me that in one of the questions, where do I see myself, I wrote as my answer, somewhere close to the beach and the mountains the ocean and the mountains. And she told me about that and I was like, shit, that’s Siargao.”
Hand-beaded gown by RAJO LAUREL and jewelry by V!
“So it’s really a manifestation, because ever since last year pa, I’ve always had this feeling na I wanna move somewhere, somewhere in nature,” she muses. “I love the city, but I’m a huge nature girl. It made sense.”
Aside from falling in love with the island, Lustre also found new love. She’s not really hiding her newfound beau but she admits that both of them are very careful and prefer to have a bit of privacy.
Lustre decided to take a perilous journey back to the island after it was destroyed by Typhoon Odette, which also decimated other provinces in the Philippines. She took a flight to another province and took a six-hour land trip through the typhoon’s devastating wake. He was okay, but the island wasn’t. And while she was mercifully spared from experiencing nature’s wrath, she did see firsthand its aftermath. She shares about how many people, farmers among them, who lost their homes and means of living. Lustre is currently gathering help, calling for rebuilding materials to help the people there, literally rebuild their lives.
When Lustre talks about Siargao, she regards it as her home. It’s where she learned to truly enjoy her life.
“I’m calmer now. I’ve learned to slow down. In Siargao, everything, everyone is chill. They like taking their time. Here in the city, everything is too fast paced for me. And to be honest, there was a time when I was just tired of it. I get it, it’s different for everyone. But for some reason my life has just been me rushing doing five things at the same time. When I moved to Siargao, that’s the really the time when I got to pause my fast life and just enjoy myself. It’s really different. It’s weird, you really pick up the energy of the place. I noticed that when Im in Siargao, I was really slowing myself down and I was just taking my time. I loved it—I got to savor my life even more.”
It’s tempting to round out Lustre’s story at this junction in her life. We already got the fairytale in Greece, the tragedy of the second act in Brazil. We want a conclusion, the tidy ending where she lives happily ever after.
Except it’s real life and Lustre, by her own accord, is a very real person and the sole author of her life. And she’s honest enough to admit that she’s still very far from where she wants to be.
“I still have a long way to go for sure…it’s easier for me to understand things. But at the end of the day I am still human. At the moment, when I get overwhelmed with just everything that’s going in my life, I still have those days. When I feel like I’m not 100%, it’s normal.”
Nadine Lustre
I kind of already know how to catch myself when it comes… when I start getting those thoughts, I already know how to catch myself. Before I’m always just panicking, I’m like, oh no, oh shit, I can feel it, it’s coming, it’s coming. Then I start getting my anxiety and panic attacks. But now, before it even happens, I’m able to catch it. Now everytime I go through shit, I know I’m going to be okay but I know I have to go through it. There’s a solution for this. I already know, not naman control, but to navigate through these things and how to handle myself. I used to be a worry wart. Worrying about anything that I could think of. I had to go through so much to learn how to calm my mind and accept that I can’t control everything. It was tough and it was a lot of work… I’m happy that I can flow with life with no fear.”
Nadine Lustre talks more about life coaching, island living and using her emotions to create art in MEGA’s Anniversary 2021 issue now available on Readly, Magzter, Press Reader and Zinio.
Photography DOOKIE DUCAY
Creative direction NADINE LUSTRE
Art direction JANN PASCUA
Fashion direction and styling LYN ALUMNO assisted by RAF VILLAS
Makeup JELLY EUGENIO assisted MARIEL MUNSOD
Hair PAUL NEBRES
Photography assistants MARK CATUNGA & ANTHONY LUMAGBAS
Shoot coordination KZ FRANCISCO and MJ ALMERO
Sitting editor PEEWEE REYES-ISIDRO
Production Design ROCKET DESIGN STUDIO
Shot on location at BULB STUDIOS
