A Time to Reflect and to be Thankful

Holy Week starts on a Palm Sunday and ends on a Easter Sunday.  As a Catholic or a Christian, it is a tradition to commemorate the sufferings and sacrifices of Jesus by reflecting, praying and sacrificing. Families celebrate this time of the year by taking a vacation, going on Visita Iglesia and letting go of the things or hobbies we thought we couldn't live without. Some reflects on the sacrifices and death of Jesus Christ.
We usually go on Visita Iglesia. A tradition where people visits 7 or 14 Churches and prays the Way of the Cross. We missed it this year. So I did my own reflection. 
I asked myself What am I most thankful for?
When a person was asked with this question, the common answers would be their family, friends, wife/husband and kids or their career. Well, it's true! We are always thankful for those persons that are always there to support and to give us strength during our most vulnerable time. We cannot thanked them enough for loving and for caring. I do! I am thankful and blessed for having my family. But did you ever appreciate yourself?
For this Lenten season, I am most thankful for.... MYSELF. I know people who loves and appreciates me but it isn't enough. An act of gratitude should also come from within. We should love and appreciate our own self. As an individual, I am expose to being hurt; being lied to; being rejected and being taken for granted. The downside of being a vulnerable person. I've experienced bad things in the past and no matter how it hurts, I cannot ask my family or friends to be there for me. I don't wanna drag them to my misery so I took every ounce of courage to recover by myself.
Fast forward to 2012, I am now happy. Cliche as it may sound but I am. Family and friends were there to help me cope but of course everything that is to be done starts from yourself. If I didn't force myself to move on, I wouldn't feel this way. I am happy, I enjoy the things around me, I dream a lot, I love my newself and I am ready to face every obstacles I am destined to encounter. Yes, there are scars from all the things that happened in the past but a scar means that you are stronger than whatever tried to hurt you.
I wanna thank myself for being strong; for being the best person, if not, for at least trying to be the best person and for not giving up; for being determined and being open-minded; for being a source of my family's strength; for being a true friend to my friends; for being a normal person who wish no harm on those people who had hurt her and for forgiving those who wronged her and for being sorry for those she have done no good.
I wanna continue dreaming and achieving things that I enjoy doing. I wanna explore the world to continue discovering myself.

I believe everything happens for a reason! People change so you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you can appreaciate them when they're right. You believe lies so that you will learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes, good things fall apart so better things can fall together. -Marilyn Monroe