The Adulting Handbook: An Introduction

You know what’s funny? I had this shirt as a kid that said “Prevention is better than cure.” I wore it like I understood it.

I didn’t.

Growing up, I discovered a lot of things. Some fun, most of them not exactly health-conscious. Staying up until 4am, skipping meals, drinking through college, treating sleep like it was optional. I operated on two hours of sleep more times than I’d like to admit. I was always underweight, which I never took seriously because on the surface everything seemed fine. I’d think about that shirt sometimes. And then immediately forget about it.

Then my body started keeping score.

In 2011, I was diagnosed with Pulmonary Tuberculosis. I’ve been anemic for as long as I can remember, and consistently underweight on top of that, which doesn’t exactly help. And in 2019, at 29 years old, I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer. Twenty-nine. I genuinely thought I had all the time in the world. And then suddenly I was in a hospital room rethinking every single choice that led me there.

Cancer has a way of making that shirt make sense again.

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In the years since, I’ve been doing the work. Learning what I should have been doing all along. Building habits that actually protect me. Paying attention to my body in ways I never bothered to before. And along the way, I kept accumulating knowledge about tests I should’ve been getting, vaccines I’d missed, routines that matter, financial decisions I should’ve made earlier, and thinking: someone else needs to know this.

This series is me documenting everything I’ve learned. Not as a doctor, (very much not), not as anyone in the health or finance industry. Just as a person who got the wake-up call early and wants to pass the notes along.

If even one person reads this and books a test they’ve been putting off, that’s enough for me.

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What This Series Covers

I’ve organized this into chapters: Health & Wellness and Money & Life Admin.

Health & Wellness

Part 1: Medical Tests & Screenings The tests and screenings everyone should be getting, by age, by frequency, and why each one matters. APE breakdowns, what labs to ask for, ECG, Pap smear, mammogram, all of it.

Part 2: Adult Vaccines Vaccines aren’t just for kids. There are shots most adults have forgotten about, boosters that have lapsed, and vaccines that simply didn’t exist when we were children. Full list here.

Part 3: Head-to-Toe Wellness Routines Skincare, haircare, dental health, and sleep, the daily and weekly habits that add up to a lot over time. This one gets personal.

More parts to come as the series grows.

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Who This Is For

Everyone, really. I’ve tried to write this in a way that’s useful across ages, genders, and locations, while being honest about my own Filipino context where it’s relevant. Whether you’re in your 20s and just starting to take this stuff seriously, or your 40s and realizing there are gaps, there’s something here for you.

And if you’re someone who, like me, had to learn all of this the hard way, welcome. You’re in the right place.

Let’s get into it.