Dear Boy Who is Always Beating Himself Up,
I know that you've had a rough past and it weighs you down pretty often. Some days you just don't feel good about yourself because some days you don't do as good as you should when you compete or you do something that your parents are upset about. Whatever the reason is, I know you're harder on yourself than most because you were raised to be tough and perfect. But because I love you, I want you to remember these things when you feel like you're not good enough.
You can't be perfect; it's physically impossible. We all make mistakes and pretty often. That is what makes us human. I want you to remember that mistakes are normal and they're meant for you to learn. When you compete and you do less than you know you're capable of, look back and figure out what you did wrong and learn from it. If you just didn't have a good day, that's OK too. Just stop beating yourself up — you're doing all you can.
It's OK to talk about how you feel. Society makes it seem like all boys should be tough and not be emotional, and on top of a lot of people disobeying your trust, it can be hard to open up afterwards. You'd be surprised how much it helps though. You don't have to be a hard ass and block everyone out because you don't want to get hurt. You push way too hard on yourself to not burden people with your problems, but they're actually here to help (especially me). So when you're having a bad day where you just don't feel good enough or you did something wrong, open up to someone. It'll help.
Please stop stressing over making everyone happy. You will never be able to make everyone in your life happy, so you need to prioritize. Figure out who is the most important to you and who's happiness brings you happiness. Trying to make everyone happy will only result in you feeling bad when not everyone is happy. So just save yourself some stress and a bad day and prioritize.
Find your outlet. Since it's hard for you to talk to people some days, get your outlet and stick to it. Make it something you love and something that calms you down. It'll help so much to have something that will release your stress and not add stress in the long run.
Last and definitely not least, please remember that you are loved. Not only by me, (and I love you more than I can ever say or show) but by your friends and family. You have a huge pool of people who are here for you and are more than willing to help you with whatever you need. Plus, I will always be bugging you and finding new ways to make you smile.
Love always,
The Pushy One
P.S. Thanks for putting my ice-cream away while I wrote this. You're the best, honey bunches.
