Dear 25-year-old me,
You were sitting there, on the brink of your quarterlife crisis. You achieved everything you wished for when you were in school and you seemed to be someone who already had everything figured out. But in reality, you were questioning all the things that you were going through, including your self-worth. No matter how hard you tried or what you achieved, you never felt that you were enough. You felt lonely and unhappy.
But my dear, you were brave, strong, and resilient.
Thank you for allowing yourself to make mistakes and be ok with it (given you're a Virgo, consider me impressed). You started learning about yourself and struggled with trying to navigate through your logical mind and your emotional heart that made you - you, but you tried both the good and the bad, so I now know what's good and what's bad, what I want and what I don't want.
Thank you for allowing yourself to be sad, to be vulnerable and honest with yourself that you were not feeling at your best. Even at your worst, you still kept faith in yourself, and myself. Even at your worst, you knew all the trembles were there only to test you and guide you, not to define you.
Thank you for never allowing yourself to treat other people based on how you were treated, but based on how you'd like to be treated. You constantly looked for the best in others. You were hurt and afraid that you might lose some people in your life, but my dear, you'd learn that by believing in yourself, you would attract people who share the same values with you, care about you, and bring out the best in you. Those are the ones that matter.
Thank you for taking small risks every day. You felt stuck but you weren't stuck, you opened yourself to the world of opportunities and possibilities of your future. You didn't let anything stop you - when you hit the end of the road, you made a turn and kept moving.
Thank you for allowing yourself to be spontaneous despite the five-year roadmap you probably recreated ten thousand times already. You would think that everything you planned out would be your recipe for success, but little did you know some of the best things that happened in your life came from what the universe had plans for you - not what you planned for yourself.
Thank you for being who you were so I can be who I am, for overcoming your fears and pushing them through so I can feel comfortable and complete with myself today. If I told you that there would come a global pandemic outbreak about a year later and everyone had to 'social distancing,' you'd think I must be out of my mind. But you'd be surprised. You didn't know, but you prepped me to be well and appreciate solitude, especially when that day of 'social distancing' arrived ;)
You were enough.
And you teach me to realize that I am, too.