As Thanksgiving approaches, I’ve been thinking a lot about gratitude—not the picture-perfect kind, but the kind that comes when things are hard and you still find reasons to say, thank You.
Building Sulit Spot has honestly not been a bed of roses.
There have been slow days. Days when I wondered if people would understand what we’re trying to build. Days when a sale felt so far apart from the next one that I questioned whether we were really getting anywhere.
And yes, doubt sets in.
There are moments when you wonder, Am I crazy for still believing this can work?
When you’re putting in the time, effort, energy, and heart—and the results don’t always come as quickly as you hoped—it’s easy to question yourself.
But I’m learning that each step counts. Every sale counts. Every person who visits, shares a post, tells a friend, donates an item, or chooses to support Sulit Spot counts.
And today, I’m simply thankful that Sulit Spot is still here.
Still learning. Still growing. Still figuring things out. Still believing. And most importantly, still here to serve.
I’m grateful for the close friends who have been there from the beginning—and also for the not-so-close friends who have surprised me with their support. A share, a purchase, an encouraging message, a referral… minsan hindi mo talaga mare-realize how much those simple gestures mean until you’re the one building something and hoping people will believe in it too.
I’m also grateful for a summit I attended recently.
It honestly felt like a breath of fresh air.
Meeting women who are building, trying, figuring things out, doubting themselves sometimes, getting back up, and continuing anyway.
Women who are, in many ways, in the same boat.
There’s something comforting about realizing, Ah, hindi lang pala ako.
Sometimes you don’t need someone to tell you exactly what to do. You just need to be around people who understand the season you’re in.
And thinking about gratitude brought back a family tradition that somehow got lost along the way.
We used to keep Post-it notes and write down the things we were grateful for.
Hindi naman kailangang malaking bagay.
Sometimes it was something as simple as finally finding time for a date night when life had gotten so busy.
Or seeing a really beautiful sunset—yes, as cliché as that may sound—and actually stopping long enough to appreciate it.
A good meal together.
Someone checking in on you.
A sale that came on a day when you really needed that little encouragement.
An answered prayer.
A quiet moment.
A laugh you didn’t expect.
Pickleball days with family and friends. Not just the games, the laughs, and the friendly competition—but the fun after playing too. Sitting down together, eating, sharing a meal, kwentuhan, laughing some more, and stretching what could have been just an hour or two of playing into real quality time with people you enjoy being with.
Sometimes the best part isn’t even the game.
It’s what happens after.
And something I never want to take for granted: the good health of our aging parents.
As we all get older, you begin to appreciate this blessing differently. Every gathering, every conversation, every ordinary day you still get to spend together becomes that much more precious.
At the end of the month, we would sit down and read our Post-it notes together.
Then at the end of the year, we would go back and read them all again.
And somehow, when you see all those little pieces of paper together, you realize:
Ang dami pala.
So many moments we could have easily forgotten.
Somewhere along the way, we stopped doing it. Life got busy, and the habit slowly disappeared.
But it’s something I really want to bring back—just like our baon notes.
Because there’s something about actually writing gratitude down that makes you pause.
Parang mas nagiging totoo siya.
You see it in front of you, and somehow it affirms the magnitude of the blessing, no matter how small it may have seemed at the time.
And when you go back to it months later, you realize that what felt ordinary then was actually something worth remembering.
Beyond the business, this Thanksgiving reminds me of something even bigger:
The gift of life itself is already something to be thankful for.
We can get so caught up chasing the next goal, the next sale, the next milestone that we forget how much we already have.
A family to come home to. Parents who are still healthy and present. Friends who support us. People who understand the journey we’re on. Food on the table. Time for a date night when life gets busy. A pickleball game followed by food, laughter, and kwentuhan with friends.
A shared meal with the family. A beautiful sunset on the drive home. Another morning to wake up to. Another opportunity to try again.
Minsan, kailangan lang talaga nating huminto sandali and notice what’s already there.
Because even in the middle of uncertainty, doubt, and wondering whether what you’re building will actually work, there can still be so much to be grateful for.
Maybe gratitude doesn’t mean everything is going perfectly.
Maybe sometimes it’s simply being able to say:
This is hard. I still have doubts. But there is still so much good here.
So this Thanksgiving, maybe take out a Post-it note, a piece of paper, or even the Notes app on your phone and write down one thing you’re grateful for.
Kahit maliit lang.
Keep it.
And maybe at the end of the month, read it again.
Then come back to it at the end of the year.
You might realize that the year gave you more than you thought.
As for Sulit Spot, we’ll keep showing up.
One step, one customer, one item finding a new home at a time.
