Thanksgiving and Why There’s a Lot to be Grateful For
This year was a rather life-changing, nerve-racking, and exciting year all jumbled together. If you read my earlier post, How I Turned the Scariest Point in My Life to One of the Best Moments, you’ll know that I had to pivot not only my career by also my life in general.
But despite all the changes that had happened, there are a lot of things I am grateful and thankful for this year. Let me share a bit of them with you!
Gift of Family
Family is always an important part of life. Being Filipino, family has always been one of the top priorities growing up. They will always have your back. They will always be your worst critic, but your best supporter.
In a nutshell, my family has been very supportive of all the big life-changing decisions I had to make in the past couple of months. They never judged me and only encouraged me to do what I think was best for me.
This thanksgiving, my family (and my fiance’s family) would be one of the top ones on my list of what I’m grateful for so far.
Friends who have become family
I can’t stress this enough. This pandemic has made communicating and connecting harder. We haven’t had a decent vacation for the past two years because of all the back-to-back lockdowns in our country.
But my closest friends have always been there for me. When I found out about the status of my visa, the time I left the corporate job I loved, even down to running my own consultancy practice that I never thought I would do. My friends have become the extended family I never knew I needed so badly until now.
Lessons from the corporate life
I cannot say I am who I am today without being grateful to my corporate career and all the lessons, failures, and successes I’ve gone through in the past 12 years. Everything I know today I learned from all the experiences during my early days in my career.
Key things I am grateful I have learned over the past years:
· Life isn’t all about work. You have to enjoy living to really understand what LIVING means.
· Never be afraid of making the first step. It will get you places.
· Don’t fear failure. Failure makes you strong and resilient, and keep you motivated.
· Keep pursuing your dreams.
· Be motivated no matter what.
· Always choose to be kind even during the most challenging moments.
I thank my past company for taking me in as part of the family. For trusting me to build a team, for believing in my capabilities and that of my team’s. Thank you for never treating me otherwise.
Entrepreneurship Life
You read that right. This self-doubting, sometimes unconfident gal is grateful to be learning and going through her first entrepreneurial journey. My Vineyard family has been nothing short of supportive over the past few months and I’m grateful to each and everyone of them.
Being an entrepreneurs has its ups and downs. No 13th month pay, no bonuses, no perks that corporate life has. But you know what I realized and what I’m truly grateful for?
· While there are days where I spend longer hours working vs my last stint, working on my own time and on my terms make me the happiest.
· I am now able to choose the clients I get to work with.
· Helping more people, startups, and entrepreneurs within the restaurant and food and beverage industry makes my heart skip a beat.
· I am thankful and blessed to be working with clients who see you as true partners. They listen and learn, and we make amazing things happen.
There’s still a lot for me to achieve and I know I still have a long way to go, but hey, there’s no other way but up!
My rock
And lastly, I am most grateful for the love of my life. I know it hasn’t been so easy on us being apart for almost two years now. But my fiancé has been my rock and my constant reminder that everything I do is for our future. There’s nothing else I want but to build a happy family with him and I know this will happen in the next few months.
So there you have it. The top things that made it to my list of things to be grateful for this 2021. I’m really excited for the following weeks.
Happy Thanksgiving, friends and writers on Medium!
