7-day Gratitude Challenge - In Retrospect

it all started with a notification that i was tagged by Thirdy on a facebook post. however, it did not end there. it actually came with this:

"The challenge is to post 7 things you are thankful for in 7 days. Tagging 7 people each day, a total of 49 people in the process."

i had a whole lot of excuses not to do it.

i am busy.

i might not be able to finish the challenge.

i don't want to challenge people who are not willing.

what if i cannot come up with 7 reasons per day? or worse, tag a total of 49 willing friends?

what's in it for me?

but then again, i asked myself, what have i got to lose? probably 49 unwilling friends, who will "unfriend" me on facebook. but i don't think they will do that.

so there, i started taking the challenge last september 10, and my 7th day was yesterday, september 16.

in retrospect, what did i gain out of the challenge?

i have learned that "thanks," along with "sorry," is one of the most overlooked words. to cite an example:

i entered a fastfood ahead of 3 ladies, and held the door open for them as they enter. then they walked past me and lined up at the counter ahead of me.

at that moment, i wanted to call their attention and say, "excuse me, miss. baka lang napansin nyo, hindi ako naka-jollibee uniform. hindi rin ako nag-'welcome to jollibee!' sa inyo. therefore, hindi ako nagtatrabaho dito at hindi ko trabaho na pagbuksan kayo ng pinto. thank you ha."

a simple "thanks" from even just one of them would have made the difference. or just a smile to show appreciation.

mahirap ba talagang magpasalamat? probably sa kabisihan natin sa araw-araw, nakakaligtaan natin ito. or maybe it speaks also of our values as individuals.

this challenge did the trick for me.

was i convincing others that i am happy? no. it never was part of my intentions.

was i just convincing myself that i am happy? maybe. but it is actually not a bad thing, if you ask me. when things aren't really going your way, baka it is time to look at the littlest things and you'll be amazed at how blessed we are actually, and uttering "thank you" is just in order.

selecting the people to share the challenge was challenging itself.

the foremost criteria i had in mind was that the people i select should be heavy facebook users, so it will be easy for them to see.

my other criteria was that i should have a good mix of the people in my network: office friends, travel buddies, close friends, office people, people from the past, family.

on my last day of the challenge, i believe i was able to meet these criteria.

so again, for those who i have challenged and actually took part, thank you for accepting. i hope you enjoy the experience as i did. i am actually happy to read your daily posts on the challenge.

for those who did not accept the challenge, as i kept saying, walang pilitan. and i honor your decision. my consolation so far is that nobody has unfriended me for sharing the challenge with you. :)

thank you.