You are worthy.
Even when you don’t believe it.
Even when you feel tired, distant, unsure, you are still worthy.

Not because of what you give.
Not because of what you carry.
But because of who you are, at your core.

Still, I need to say it clearly:
You give more than anyone sees.
You love harder than most know how to.
And you do it quietly, without ever asking for anything in return.

You are a good son.
Better than most.
You’ve sacrificed your time, your comfort, your peace for your family more times than I can count.
You’ve stepped up in ways many people your age wouldn’t, shouldn’t have to, but you did, without bitterness, just out of love.
And that matters.

You’re the rock for so many of your friends.
You’re the one who listens when no one else does.
You’re the one who answers the phone, shows up, helps people move, fixes things that feel too heavy.
You make impossible things possible just by being there.

But I know you don’t always see it.
I know you brush it off, or tell yourself it’s nothing.
I know you downplay how important you truly are, how much lighter the world is for the people who get to exist beside you.

And I know that maybe part of you feels like you have to keep being “the strong one.”
That if you stop, even for a second, everything might fall apart.
But even the strongest things need rest.
Even rocks erode when they’re never allowed to be still.

You are allowed to rest.
You are allowed to ask for softness.
You are allowed to be cared for, not because you’re failing, but because you’re human.

You don’t have to earn that.
You already do enough.
You already are enough.

I know I’ve contributed to the weight you carry.
I’ve said things I should never have said. I’ve hurt you in ways I’ll always be sorry for.
But that hurt doesn’t change the truth of who you are:
Kind. Capable. Generous. Deeply, endlessly good.

Please don’t let the world, or the silence, or the voices in your head tell you otherwise.

You are not just worthy of love.
You are worthy of ease.
You are worthy of being chosen without conditions.
You are worthy of waking up one day and finally feeling light.

And until that day comes, I’ll be here, quietly, softly, holding that truth up for you,
like a lantern in case you ever need to find your way back to it.

—Xinlin