The world we live in today can sometimes feel cold and indifferent. So, remaining warm-hearted is a radical act. It is easy to build walls in the face of cruelty, to close off your heart when the floodwaters of life threaten to sweep you away. But you did not. You chose healing, even when it felt like everything around you was broken.

I am proud of you for that.

Healing is not linear. Rather, it is messy, filled with steps forward and backward. Yet, you kept going. Even when the weight of unfairness pressed against your chest, even when the sting of rejection burned deep, you found a way to breathe. A way to remain tender, meaning good-natured.

You did not let the world harden you, though it tried.

Instead, you chose depth over distance. You chose to keep showing up—to connect, to be vulnerable, to hold space for others even when your own wounds were raw. That takes courage. Because sometimes, staying soft in a hard world feels like you are inviting more pain. However, you stayed anyway. That is a testament to your strength.

Healing is not about forgetting the past or pretending the hurt did not exist. It is about learning to live in the present without being defined by the weight of what was. You did that. You took the broken pieces of your story, and you used them to build something whole…not perfect, but whole.

You made the choice to dig yourself out of the dark. That is no small feat. It takes grit to look at the shadows and say, “I will not let this define me.” It takes even more to shine your light for others, to remind them that they, too, can make it out of their darkest days.

To the person you were: thank you for surviving.

To the person you became: thank you for thriving.

Finally, to the person you are still becoming: I am proud of you for continuing to heal, to grow, and to live with an open heart.

Your tenderness is not a weakness. It is your superpower. Every time you choose compassion over bitterness, every time you show up for yourself and others, you are proving that the world does not need more hardened hearts. It needs more people like you—resilient, kind, and unapologetically human. It is perfectly fine to be warm-hearted and tender.

So, keep going, my dear friend. You are the light you have been searching amid darkness

Unapologetically tender,

Coach Erika.