As I approach another birthday, I’ve realized there’s a point in your career/life when you’re planning in years, not decades, and experience is your greatest asset.
That realization changes things.
It changes what you tolerate.
It changes which risks feel worth taking.
It changes what you’re no longer willing to postpone.
Many people look at me today and see success.
What they don’t see, and what I think matters, is that the journey here was hard. Not abstractly hard. Practically hard. I lived out of my car as a teenager. I sacrificed, struggled, and worked through setbacks long before there was any visible momentum.
For some of us, life didn’t suddenly get difficult. It always was.
That perspective is missing from a lot of success advice. Much of it comes from people who started with safety, support, and a sense of belonging. Incredible accomplishments, yes, but not the same starting line.
This year, I’m choosing to share my story and the lessons I learned along the way, more visibly.
Not because I set out to build an audience.
But because one honest post about a life lesson reached millions more people than I expected, and it made something clear to me.
There are a lot of capable, driven people who think they’re behind, unsupported, or failing, when in reality they’re doing something far harder. They’re building without a net.
One question has guided many of my decisions, especially when fear was loud:
What will I wish I had done?
That question has led me to choices that felt exposed, uncertain, and deeply human, and almost always to growth.
As I step into this next (birthday) year, a few things feel non-negotiable:
🎂 Don’t delay the things that bring real joy.
🎂 Slow down when stress goes up.
🎂 Invest in people. Life is better with them in it.
🎂 Seek balance where connection energizes you and solitude restores you.
I’m looking forward. This year, I finally put my story into a draft manuscript. Not because it’s finished, but because it deserves to exist. I want to write the book I wish I had been able to read.
Life isn’t linear. It doesn’t unfold the way we planned.
But we still get to choose whether we live it cautiously or fully.
Live fully.
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America Turns 250
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