You don't have to be perfect. Not now, not later, not ever.

I know how easy it is to feel like every mistake proves something about you — like one wrong step means you're not good enough, and you have to do more and be better and try harder just to feel okay.

You don't.

You don't have to have it figured out. You don't have to get it right the first time. And none of it makes you less than anyone else — it means you're learning, even when it doesn't feel like learning.

There's something in you that matters more than you probably realize. The way you care. The way you keep going when things are heavy. You might not see it yet. I do.

I'm sorry I haven't always been there the way I should have been. I'm sorry for the times I wasn't present, or didn't show up the way a brother is supposed to. There are things I'd go back and do differently if I could. But even when I'm not around as much as I want to be, I'm here. That hasn't changed and it isn't going to.

I've learned more from you than you know. From how you handle things. From the fact that you keep going.

I think you're going to do something that matters. Not because you're perfect. Because you care.

So when it gets heavy, and your head starts telling you you're behind or you're not enough — come back and read this.

You're not behind. You're not broken. You're learning.

You're a work in progress. That's exactly who you're supposed to be.

I love you. I'm proud of you, even on the days you aren't.

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Always your brother