Starting 2022 with a Grateful Heart | How We Celebrated the New Year

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With a heart filled with gratitude, I'd like to express how thankful I am to all the generous people here in Hive who have helped and shown support through the rewards you have given on my previous posts related to the supertyphoon Rai (Odette). THANK YOU SO MUCH! Daghan'g salamat (thank you in Cebuano-Visayan dialect)! ❤️ Our house reconstruction will start next week, and the money we gathered here in Hive will be used for the repair. Moreover, I am overwhelmed and humbled by the support, care, and help of family, friends, students, and colleagues who comforted us and wished our family well after I posted how we were affected by the supertyphoon. I cannot tell you properly how grateful I am for sympathizing with us in our time of need. I am indebted with gratitude to you all, daghan'g salamat. I know how all Cebuanos have been severely affected by the typhoon, but you guys spent time to message us with your consoling words. Thank you so much, we appreciate it, your support helps us to carry on amidst the hardship. Thank you for your prayers, we need it so much as well!

To all Cebuanos reading this, I know we all have lost a lot after the typhoon destroyed most of Cebu, and I'm sorry if my previous posts focused only on what we lost and our pain, that I forgot we all are hurting. I'm sorry. All of us are struggling, some are more furtunate than others, as the challenges are bearable.

I've read an article once that every struggle is meant to teach us a lesson. I'm figuring out what the lesson is.

Maybe it's that everything we own and everything we have are all temporary? Maybe life is teaching us that we ought not to hold on to Earthly possessions because they are not meant to last forever?

Maybe the lesson is to evaluate one's life and look at it from a critical lens of what truly is important. Maybe life is teaching us that the only way to strengthen oneself is to overcome difficulty by developing inner resilience and redefining one's mental power.

Maybe the only way to better one's character is to test it with fire, the way a metal is forged into a beautiful sword, hardened by each time it's being put in the heat. We're tested so we can come out stronger than before.

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On Being Thankful

I've been told that I'm a generally optimistic person. And yes, I am. This is actually the first time in my adult life that I am not so myself because I guess that's what fatigue and stress bring to a person.

But as I look at the sky earlier, the sun reminded me to be grateful: I am alive, my family and I are all safe, we have roof on our heads at the moment (our evac place is my sister's house), I have air in my lungs, my family and I are healthy and we're not in the hospital, we have food on our table. As the sun hit my face, I am reminded to be thankful that I can still feel and breathe and that even when I'm a sinner I have been given another sunrise and I've been given mercy when I do not deserve any.

I silently cried and whispered "thank you" to God, for encouraging me to go on, even when it's difficult, and even when there are so many adjustments, even when I'm uncomfortable. Life has to go on. And life is not about me. After all, the life I enjoy is not mine to begin with.
I am just a steward with a borrowed life. This fact humbles me. Because it reminded me of the fleeting life I have and that I am not in control.

I am thankful for all that's been given to me and the chance that I get to have them.
I am grateful my family and relatives are safe from the typhoon.
I am filled with gratitude that despite all the chaos in the world, I have my Peace. And I hope you find yours. ✨

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Happy New Year: Hurray for 2022 🥳

Today is the first day of the year and my heart is swelling with nothing but love and gratitude. My parents are both healthy and good, as well as all my brothers, sisters and nieces. We are all safe from the covid-19 virus. We may not have a house now but we're in a home because home is not a place but it's the people. 💛

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Looking back, I can't help but be teary-eyed at how far we've come as a family. Growing up in a middle-class big family with seven siblings, life was hard for us. My parents worked so hard for us to have education. They believe that it's the only thing that can get us out of poverty. My Mama and Papa used to wake up as early as 12 midnight in order to cook Puto Maya, it's a delicacy that's made of sticky rice with coconut milk. They did this for more than thirty long years. They sold this on our street at dawn time until sunrise. Life was difficult, but they did not give up on us. That's why I always look up at my parents because they are my real-life heroes. I could never imagine all the hardships they had endured just for us to graduate college and get a bachelor's degree. We are so blessed that our parents' hardwork and efforts have finally paid off, as the eight of us now have work and we have our own income as we support our parents. It's our payback time.

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fam photo for 2022, missing Sway who's in Dumaguete for work

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Goofing off before eating, attracting positive vibes

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Hurrah for the feast, yay!

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We played Bingo cards earlier. It was so much fun!

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A silly money game

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my baby Pebbles and I, our first Christmas and New Year🥰

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wacky and happy 2022 to all, from our family to yours

God has been so gracious and loving as He blesses our family with harmony, peace, understanding, and above all, love. I am humbled with the love I receive, and it's definitely a great start for year 2022.

Happiest New Year to you, Hiver on the other side of the screen. May 2022 be a gloriously abundant and spectacular year for all of us! ✨💜

‘Til the next post, hivers! Remember that you are loved beyond borders and beyond time & space. Okay? Okay. 💛❤️

Ciao for now! 🤗🥰

This original article is written by Jong, the blogger behind writetowander.com. All photos are hers, too.


Jong CL

Hive-llo, everyone! Welcome to Jong's little buzz-y corner in Hive. Jong believes that every person she meets can teach her a thing or two (or three, or more) about life. She shares her love for life here-- the captivating beauty of life! To be more specific, but not necessarily in this order, she's interested in: wisdom, love, poetry, single life, books, travel, health&fitness, fashion, gratitude, unspoken hurts, heartbreaks and healing. Lastly, she loves Jesus.

Do you like her content? Make sure to upvote, then! Drop some love by leaving a comment-- she really appreciates listening to your thoughts! 💛 Feel free to reblog if her post resonated with you. Kindly follow her to not miss a post! Happy hiving, loves! 💛

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13 comments
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Happy new year 🍷👌👌👌 I hope all going good there in this new year. 🍹🍻🍸👌👌👌

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Happiest 2022 to you and your fam @foxkoit 🥳🎊 It's definitely a fresh beginning for all of us. 🙏🥰😁

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Happy new year to you and your family!! Glad to know that you are all well and safe. Here's to a better year, a year of rebuilding after the storm. Take care and stay safe 🤗😘

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Happiest 2022 to you and your fam, Era! 🥳🥰 It's definitely a better year. Kamo pud, stay safe and amping pirmi😘🥰❤️💕 @lifewithera

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Laban lang jud ta ani sis!, 🙏. I'm glad nga safe ra jud mu. New year, new beginnings.
Stay well and healthy to you and your family 😘

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Yesyes sakto jud, labannn ta sis 💪🙏 Happiest 2022 to you and your fam 😘🥰 Kitakits soon when everything's settled down and maka bangon nata from the storm❤️❤️❤️ @queenmeiko22

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HAPPY NEW YEAR! :) your baby is sooooooooooo cute! and did u win all that money?

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HAPPY 2-0-2-2 to you and your fam, @chinito 🥳🥳 I didn't win all that money but I did not come out empty-handed 😅

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Nice to see you all *almost complete! Happy New Year Jong and Fam. Makagutom inyong foods ui!

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