It has been over two months since Ylona Garcia returned to her hometown in Australia.
The former Pinoy Big Brother housemate is currently living with her parents Peter Garcia and Caridad Navalle-Garcia.
How is her life away from the limelight?
"Life has been pretty hectic amidst the pandemic and everything that’s basically going on in the world," she says in an exclusive interview via e-mail with PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal).
Ylona continues, "For me, I think it’s all about perspective.
"Living life in the limelight and living life out of that sort of bubble, it doesn’t make a difference to the goals I’ve set in my mind."
FAST-FOOD CREW
Ylona says she has always wanted to experience working as a crew member.
She tells PEP.ph, "Before entering the entertainment industry, I’ve always wanted to work at McDonald’s.
"Now that I have the chance and time, I just went for it and I’m learning a lot."
Ylona is grateful to her fans and everyone who gave her a thumbs up.
"I feel absolutely blessed and am very much grateful for their support.
"It’s been like this for 5 years straight and I can’t express enough how overfilled with joy I am to have people like them by my side.
"I’m also extremely excited to show them everything that I’ve been working on besides working at McDonald’s."
Ylona, however, sympathizes with people who lost their jobs during the pandemic.
The 18-year-old actress says, "It’s a tremendous loss to experience losing your job especially one that you’ve devoted your time to and grew to love.
"My advice will always be: 'If there’s a will, there’s a way.'
"Believe that if you put your mind to it, you can do it.
"'Sky’s the limit,' well actually scratch that, the universe is the limit because people have already travelled to space.
"Please know that I truly believe in you."
HER ROUTINE
What else has been keeping Ylona busy during the break?
"I’ve been studying (almost done and ready to graduate), I’ve been going to the studio to create the best pieces I can.
"I’ve been trying my best to keep my family’s household together by doing household chores, going and of course, working at a fast food restaurant."
But Ylona assures her fans that she will still actively work as a singer.
In fact, before she left, Ylona was able to write songs which she hopes to release soon.
She says, "I am going to be releasing music very, very soon."
Ylona has also been taking advantage of her free time to do some self-reflection.
When asked what she has learned to appreciate more about herself, Ylona replies, "Patience and creativity."
She explains, "With everything that’s going on in the world, I’m sure people are getting quite impatient because this is something that took everyone by surprise and now, all of a sudden, we have to stay in our homes, becoming well aware of the fact that we can’t leave for a long period of time.
"I’m relieved with my upgraded patience because it gave me heaps of time (due to the pandemic) to make me see things for what they really were, to always look at the bigger picture.
"To observe, analyze, understand, accept, and move on."
The 18-year-old star has not been idle during the break.
Ylona adds, "I’m very appreciative of my ever-growing creativity because with the time span given for people to stay in their homes, I had the chance to really dive into create things with much more depth and also try new things that absolutely terrify me."
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