Ian Veneracion enjoys his coffee after a motorcyle ride
As an adventure and extreme sports enthusiast, Ian Veneracion had to reshape his attitude toward death. He can’t—and no longer—fears it, he stressed. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the adrenaline rush that comes with skydiving, flying a plane, racing a motorcycle or paragliding.
“Some would consider these things very dangerous, but I don’t fear them, I have no issues. ‘Di ako kinakabahan kay kamatayan—siguro sa asawa ko! But seriously, it plays a big role in me wanting to live life to the fullest. I have to have a certain detachment from it,” he told the Inquirer at a recent press conference.
“I’m afraid of heights, if I’m afraid of pain, getting hurt, then I wouldn’t be able to enjoy these things … activities that test my physical capabilities or laws of physics,” added the actor-singer, who recently held a solo concert at the Winford Manila Resort and Casino.
That’s not to say he purposefully flirts with death or carelessly risks his life in his pursuit of thrills.
“I’m not saying I’m reckless. I take calculated risks. The more you do dangerous stuff, the safer you become … because you’re aware of the things that could go wrong—and you prepare for each one of them. There’s redundancy in the procedure. But I’m willing to take those risks,” he said.
Ian flies a private plane.
If anything, he gets more nervous if it’s his equally adventurous children—Draco, Deidre and Duccio—who are up in the sky or on the racetrack.
“All my kids are into them, too; I introduced them to these sports. But I do get scared for them when they fly or do the other stuff. But then, I realize that they learn very quickly. The things that took me a year to learn, they learned in about two months,” Ian said. “And when we go motorcycle riding, I can’t even catch up with them, even if I’m using a more powerful bike.”
‘Ever-changing interests’
And Ian is fortunate to have a wife like Pam Gallardo, who never tried to stop him from pursuing his hobbies.
“She’s really the most supportive person in the world. She was already aware of my different hobbies before. She knows about my ever-changing interests. One moment, I’m fixated on sailing and that’s all I ever think about. But then, I might do something different after six months. That’s how it is,” he related.
“So yeah, I have no issues with [death],” said Ian, who’s a licensed private pilot. “I’m a student of life trying to enjoy everything that can be discovered.”
Still on the topic of living his life to the fullest, the 48-year-old star said another thing that made life easier and more enjoyable was cutting out his excesses in every sense of the word.
“In the first 40 years of my life, my goal was to add: I want to have this, I want to have more friends, I want another house and save up for another car. But I think what my midlife crisis made me realize was that I have to start subtracting,” he pointed out.
Veneracion in his paragliding adventures.
Quality over quantity, so to speak. “I don’t need 100 friends. I just want a few ones who are reliable. It’s like filtering life,” he said.
The same goes for his career. Ian would rather choose his projects carefully and surround himself with competent people who also make him happy.
Quality of the experience
“I’m very particular now with the people I work with. Good vibes lang. We’re here [on Earth] for a limited time so you might as well work on the quality of the experience, your relationships and how you do things. When I work, I choose people, not because of friendship, but because of competence and my confidence in them,” he said.
And as the saying goes, Ian said, “true power is not about having more, but needing less.”
“I work with new artists and creatives if I know they’re good. Back then, I just wanted to do a television show or a movie. I will do it, no matter what it’s about. But that’s not the case now. I won’t do anything if I’m not 100 percent about it, or if I’m just going to be half-hearted,” he said.