Dear believe in yourself more

I certainly do. 

You’ve changed the structure of this letter but saying you were excited for brutal honesty. Instead of a stream of consciousness looking at our friendship, you’re getting this reflection:

Thank you for your honesty and support over the last two years. The coffees, lunches, drinks and dinners. You’ve made my life better.

And this interpretation:

You are overly realistic (read: pessimistic) in the expectations you have of yourself. On the one hand, it means you don’t disappoint yourself. On the other hand, if you don’t extend your notion of what is realistic, and push your ideas and yourself forward, you will not grow. I worry about that for you. Last night — or rather, the early morning of June 1st — provided further evidence of this.

You are allowed to change your mind, to want to grow and develop differently than you currently are. If you’re unhappy (and admitting it is the first step) you need to deal with it. You need to push yourself into uncomfortable zones and actively seek the unknown. Realistically, you can do whatever and be whoever the hell you want. You just need to be willing to try (and fail, in some instances).

Secondly, your brutal honesty is brilliant and much appreciated. You need to do the same to yourself. I’m not privy to your internal dialogue, but I doubt it is as honest as you sometimes are with your friends. Again, this means you are not facing things head on and pushing through them.

Thirdly, you rarely complain, but when you do it is for good reason. Afterwards, you move past it. This is not to say you are not analytical, but rather that your gut instinct is so strong — and as far as I can tell, so accurate — you don’t need to over think the issues you face. This is an amazing quality, and many (including me) could learn from your example. But you too, could make sure that moving past these complaints involve actions, that you are not just “getting it out of your system.” Trust yourself.

Finally, I didn’t know you identified the two of us as being so similar, and I am truly honoured by the comparison. Through the last two years you have been an inspiration to me, with regards to they way you see the world. I just wish you believed in yourself as much as I believe in you. You seem to know you are amazing in theory, but still need to put that knowledge into practice. You deserve the world — the world you want, not the one you think you ought to have. Please know you can count on me to help you get there.