Marina Benipayo on dealing with stress

Thank you for asking me how I felt during those times,” said the actor-ramp model Benipayo Marina when Lifestyle sought him out for an interview a few weeks after the game Ricardo Cepedahis partner of 13 years, was released after 11 months in prison.

“Whenever someone asked how Richard was doing, I said, ‘He’s fine but we can’t talk about that.’ But no one ever asked how I was doing. I still say it’s good that I’m strong. What if this happened to someone with a weak personality? Asking how someone is living is very important,” said Benipayo.

Cepeda went to jail on charges of estafa but was soon released after posting bail.

Benipayo said he experienced what he thought could be the first stages of depression. He said that for several weeks, he saw a dark cloud hanging over his head, which is consistent with how many people diagnosed with depression describe their condition.

“I’m not a self-pity person. And I don’t cry when I’m around people—I don’t even cry when I’m alone. I just noticed that a dark cloud was hovering, and it tried to play with my mind… It gave me this heavy feeling of self-doubt, self-pity, and loneliness,” he recalled. .

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Artificial intelligence

Benipayo said it helped him to take his counseling and counseling courses. Another reason was because he wanted to understand himself better, he added. “I could not finish my thesis but I finished all my studies, so I am very familiar with depression. I told my brother about it. I said, ‘I want you to know that I can see it, that it is slowly taking over my body but, thankfully, I can recognize it, accept it and control it,’ ” she said. said.

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“This is the reason why children kill themselves, or turn to drinking and taking drugs. The prefrontal cortex is not fully developed, so what they do is accept it. By the time they want to quit, it’s too late. They no longer know right from wrong, and they just want the mental and emotional pain to end. I was not happy when I heard it, but I learned a lot about myself when it happened,” he pointed out.

Benipayo also dealt with Cepeda’s problem in a systematic way. He began by saying: “When Richard called to say that he was in custody, the first thing I thought of was that I had to protect his name.

He then posted a video on Tiktok informing his followers of what had happened and denied Cepeda’s involvement in the case. Benipayo then spoke to their children—his sons Mark and Joshua, and Cepeda’s daughters, Sam and Sachi.

I told them, ‘I want you to continue what you are doing every day. Don’t let what happened with Paps (Cepeda) affect you because eventually this will pass. It is very important that you do not talk to anyone about this if people try to contact you.’ I also spoke to my other daughter Julie. I told them I would take care of Paps.”

Exercise

Life is back to normal now, said Benipayo. “I am not sure if that dark cloud will return. Indeed, I had an experience because of what happened to Richard,” he said. We both have strong personalities, but we are also introverts. When Richard came back, it took us a week to get our strength back. People kept asking us to have dinner with them, but we were too tired to go out. The first thing we did together was play badminton. Exercise is good for the mind and body.”

In the first months of Cepeda’s imprisonment, Benipayo said he started selling on TikTok as a game. I did it until I got tired. There was a time when I lived for two to three hours, twice a day,” he remembers. But when Richard was home, three hours seemed like forever. These days, I don’t do it every day. It seems like I was running on adrenaline the whole time. ”

When Benipayo started selling in March 2023, her fans often asked her for fashion advice. “This was before I focused on bags. I demonstrated how to sew bags when I first started living. People started asking for the link (to the yellow basket)—that’s how I started selling. in a living way,” he said.

Personal advocacy

Helping promote local bag factories has been Benipayo’s advocacy. “Finally, I realized that many sellers would get bags from China, but none for local firms. These firms can’t afford to pay celebrities to show off their bags. , so I said I would be happy to do it for them,” he said.

He explained that many factories were closed when exports and distribution were suspended during the epidemic. The two firms he is promoting are among the few that are still working. “I decided to help them because if this industry dies, we will be buying bags from abroad. Now, I have managed to convince other partners to put in their bags as well. ”

He continued: “I don’t see why people fail to see the beauty of these handmade Pinoy bags, compared to the ones from China. When you buy a locally made bag, you’re also supporting local workers. I have to introduce this concept to them gradually. I included this when I was selling. It is only through repetition that you can impress your audience. Most of them realize that now. I’m glad that now their minds are open.” INQ