Thanks! is our co-worker loyalty programme that rewards your years of energy, effort, and dedication. Thanks! is inspired by Ingvar Kamprad’s wish to share the success of IKEA with the many co-workers.

This time, our office made a great initiative to have badges in the office, so we can give them to the ones we appreciate – with small notes on them.

I gave some to my close colleagues and also received some back: “Thanks for being here” from an older sister who mentioned I brought a fresh mind into the company; “Thanks for being here” from a colleague as I am his buddy; and “Thanks for listening” from my closest sister at work. And I gave myself one badge – “Thanks for not giving up.”

During the journey in our company, there have been many times I got rejected, and sometimes I heard stories from other colleagues about how they felt – and I felt it deeply too.

• When I applied for a programme in our company, I got rejected many times, in different projects, and fortunately ended up in the project I love the most – Social Entrepreneur.
• When I started applying for different jobs in our company, and got rejected – more than people can imagine.

It’s the same with my colleagues – when they get rejected the first few times and share it with me, I always try to be with them: it’s just the beginning of the journey, don’t lose hope.
Even if I only hold 0.0001%, I still want to hold it. The scariest thing is losing all hope in yourself. As I carry the strength of connectedness, I try to remind myself and others to see connections and purpose in everyday life. Things happen for a reason – to them, and to me.

So I decided to give myself this badge, “Thanks for not giving up” on Thanks! Day – to remind myself of our resilience journey.

Thanks for being resilient together – for bouncing back from difficult situations instead of breaking down or giving up. Resilience isn’t about avoiding hardship; it’s about how we respond to it and what we learn from it.

Thanks to my colleagues for trusting and sharing your worries with me.
I hope one day, not very far from now, I can once again be an example of how resilience brings positive results – again and again.