My friend Trina once told me about this indie film called HappyThankYouMorePlease, which was written, directed, and starred in by Josh Radnor, one of the stars of my fave TV series How I Met Your Mother. It pretty much talks about figuring out what you want and who you want to be and, as the title suggests, being happy and grateful for blessings that come your way—and being open to more! “Thank you, more please!” has since become my little mantra, whispering it to the heavens each time a blessing, big or small, comes my way. It makes me feel all warm, fuzzy, and positive inside.

Back in June this year, I blogged about the general things I’m grateful for. I wanted to end 2011 on a grateful note, because--its dramas and disappointments notwithstanding--it was, indeed, a great year. In “thank you, more please” fashion, allow me to identify the 11 things on my 2011 gratitude list. More in 2012, please!



1. My relationship that’s going strong—one year and three months and counting! I’m in love and happy. ‘Nuff said.

2. I travelled to soooo many places this year: Singapore, Boracay, Bohol, Hong Kong, Macau, Baguio, Tagaytay, Batangas, Laguna, Pampanga, and more! The best part: A lot of them for free or with the best travel companions I can ever wish for.

3. Whatever little thing I wish silently to try (be it a new beauty product, restaurant, or service), I miraculously am given the opportunity to do so for free--and later share it with Cosmo readers! Gotta love the perks of this job!

4. Lots of happy bonding moments with my family—whether in or out of town or the country. We each have respective dramas in our own lives, but when we get together to talk about it, we end up just laughing about it all and feeling (being) all right.

5. Super cool gadgets! It was this year that I received as gifts from people dearest to me the gadgets I’ve been sorely needing for over a year—a digicam, a smartphone for live social networking updates, a tablet for keeping up-to-date on apps and being able to take work wherever, and a dual-sim phone. Salamat sa pagmamalasakit n’yo!

6. Meeting lots of new friends. I’m grateful that I’m in a job that allows me to meet all sorts of interesting people, and I only hope to meet more of them in 2012! You can never have too many friends!

7. Keeping my truest friends. While it was difficult to let go of friendships that turned out to be sour and could not withstand the test of trust, tough careers, and unfortunate alliances, I’m glad to know the friends I have now can go through all of those with me—and manage to stay loyal to our friendship.

8. Trials that made me wiser and more mature. We could all very well do without bitches, backbiters, two-faced frenemies, crab mentality, and ugly office politics, but these people and things made me stronger, told me a lot about who I really am and who my real friends are, taught me how to read people and identify those who can't be trusted, and made me realize that I can choose to not be a victim of these things and be above it all. At the end of the day, we all move on, move forward to something better. Walang permanente; kaya okay lang.

9. True mentors. In the three jobs I've had, spanning seven years of being part of the work force, I’ve only had a few mentors—I can count them on one hand. These people took the time to patiently teach me the ropes, reprimand me constructively (without making me laglag or pahamak) when I make mistakes, recognized all the hard work I put in and all my successes, and--though I no longer work with them--have managed to stay my true friends. I can only hope to one day be a mentor like them—because I realize now how hard that is—and to one day be able to find and work with mentors like them again.

10. Being secure with who I really am. When you’re surrounded by so much drama, so much negativity, it’s sometimes tempting to become what all these nega people push you to be—a negative, heartless bitch like they are. Thankfully, I’ve learned the art of building walls and keeping my real self intact.

11. Hope. Certain unfortunate things happened not necessarily to me but to people dearest to me in 2011. But, they turned out to be beacons of hope—rising up, dusting themselves off, and walking away unscathed and brighter than ever. While nothing good is permanent in this world, nothing bad is either. They may take everything away from you, but they can never take away your hope and your will to go out there again and make it even bigger. I know these people will continue to give me strength to face whatever 2012 has in store for me.

So, thank you for these. More (of the positive), please!

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