The Letter I Wish I Had at 16

Querida,

If I could sit across from you right now. Eyes full of questions, shoulders carrying more than you should I’d tell you this:

You don’t need to earn your worth.

Not by grades, degrees, silence, hustle, or being the “good one.”
Not by holding it together for your family.
Not by translating life for your parents.
Not by sacrificing your softness to be seen as strong.

You are enough. Even when you’re doubting, unsure, tired, healing.
Even when you’re “just figuring it out.”

I didn’t believe that then.
At 16, I was trying to blend in and disappear all at once.
I was told to “stay quiet, get good grades, don’t cause trouble.”
So I did.
But inside… I was shrinking.
I was existing, not living.

It took years (and a lot of tears) to unlearn the lie that I had to be perfect, pleasing, polished.
That being an immigrant, a mother, a leader, and a Latina meant I had to be twice as good to be seen as just enough.

But the truth is… I was never too much. I was never not enough. I was just becoming.

And so are you.