To my friend who is struggling,

I know we met only two months ago but college has this really funny way of making you closer to people in two months than your entire childhood did with other people. I think it comes from living with everyone you have to interact with during the day. So, awesome human, I’ve come to notice in this short time that you are so good at taking care of yourself and identifying your needs. But, I also see that you may lack purpose sometimes. It’s hard to take care of yourself when you can’t answer the question why?

With all that said, here are the reasons for staying with it. Here are the reasons to keep getting better. Here are the reasons from someone still looking for their own purpose.

1. You have a way of making everyone in the room just a little bit happier and a little bit lighter. Your presence lifts people up rather than tearing them down. You are the opposite of toxic. People need that in their lives. I need it in mine, for sure.
2. Your respect for other people proves to me over and over again that chivalry isn’t dead. You respect boundaries and privacy. You don't push people to make decisions they may be uncomfortable with.
3. You have so much potential. I might go as far to say that it’s unlimited. You are in college. You are in the prime of your life. However, nobody expects anything too crazy or great from you, even though you can do whatever you set your mind to. It’s like having unlimited money but no bills to pay. The fact that you are using that time to better yourself-- to keep learning-- to make your family so proud of what you can do is inspiring.
4. You are so down to earth. Your goals are reasonable. You don’t expect too much from anyone, including yourself. You make people want to be better by you, but they never feel like they are disappointing you when they don’t live up to those expectations.
5. You know when to put yourself first, like, 98.7 percent of the time. You know how to say no to people when what they ask of you will cause you unreasonable stress. It’s not selfish. It’s healthy.
6. You use your story, your struggle, to make other people feel better. You don’t try to elicit empathy or pity. You bring out the good, always.

I hope you always know your worth and if you forget, I'll be here to remind you with a hot bowl of ramen, a great Netflix cue, and open arms. Keep going. I am rooting for you. You've got this.

Love always,

Your friend who sees how great you are