An Open Letter to the Girl Who Thought She’d Have It All Figured Out by 25

Dear Younger Me,

You thought 25 would be the age of freedom, didn’t you? The year of spontaneous travels, brunches with friends, and maybe a little extra in the bank for shoes you didn’t really need. Instead, it was the year of night shifts in the BPO industry, headset permanently denting your hair, and stress that even coffee couldn’t cure.

You weren’t a college graduate yet. You had pressed pause after two years, not because you didn’t want it, but because life demanded your paycheck more than your diploma. You bought a house and lot, not for Instagram aesthetics, but to bring your family under one roof. You paid the mortgage, the bills, the groceries. You sent siblings to school. You were 25, but you carried the weight of 40.

And let’s be real. It wasn’t pretty. You cried in bathroom stalls between calls. You laughed with friends at 2 a.m. over cheap food, but your brain was secretly calculating how to stretch the grocery budget for one more week. You walked into work exhausted, overworked, and underappreciated. But you walked in anyway. Every single day. Because you had no choice but to keep showing up.

What you didn’t realize back then was that every sacrifice was laying the groundwork for something bigger. That the endless responsibilities weren’t a detour, but a foundation. That being the eldest daughter in a Filipino family came with invisible medals of grit, patience, and discipline.

You thought you were behind because you didn’t have the degree, the car, or the passport stamps. But you were far ahead in ways you couldn’t see yet. You built a home when others your age were still figuring out where home even was. You carried the weight so that I, your future self, could carry the dream.

So thank you. Thank you for your tears, for your long nights, for the bills you paid and the dreams you postponed. Thank you for teaching me resilience, for proving that late is never too late, and for never letting go of the vision of a better tomorrow.

Because of you, I get to live that tomorrow.

With love, pride, and a little more grace than you ever gave yourself,

Signed,
Jalyn