Reflections from 32. 

Today, February 5, 2021 marks a “legendary” moment that I call My Scottie Pippen Birthday. I remember being in my early 20’s thinking to myself how being thirty-something just felt so far away and nearly impossible to imagine. 

BOOM. It’s here. 33. With all of its sore muscles, a worsening metabolism, and a disappearing hairline. But in 2021, I’m rocking all of that and then some. 

In many ways, it feels like we just sort of skipped a year, with cancelled trips, no vacations, and a much different weekly schedule. But in that, there was a global pandemic, a boatload of controversy, some extremely necessary social awareness and movements, and a changing of the guards in political leadership. Then, it gets even more personal. 

• I launched a new company: I started assembling a team, took on a variety of clients, and began plugging away at solutions, products, and pathways to offer up for people looking for a good marketing partner. It was exhilarating and thrilling to get started, and now it feels like Angry Bison is evolving into its own identity. 
• We got pregnant! After a two and a half year-long journey with infertility, Jessye and I were able to celebrate a new member of our family that is coming in just a few months. Starting our family has been a priority since our early days of “not dating, but dating”, and a lifelong aspiration for both of us even prior to the meeting. I’ve never wanted something so badly but had very little ability to control the circumstances. This process has taught me patience, grace, and anticipation unlike no other.
• I grieved some loss and absence: 2020 took a few very important components of my rituals and rhythms as we shut down the nation in hopes to curb the global pandemic. I always said that my dream of starting my own company was connected to the ability to work, meet, and connect with my favorite people around the city at that old garage building called Mission Coffee Co. While “meeting” looks so much different today, perhaps the hardest part has been losing the rhythm of the gym, shower, espresso, emails, then workday. New rituals have come, but there’s definitely a large part of me that wakes up and misses those interactions on a regular basis.
• I learned how to be home: Within that absence of social activities and outings, I’ve learned how to fall in love with our home. I’ve never been a homebody, and prefer patios and parks over living rooms. But when COVID dealt its hand of cards to us, I began embracing more spaces in our house and came to love a backyard bonfire or kitchen table chess game. 
• I’m experiencing a new cost-analysis mentality:  For a long time, my career and my daily rituals were rooted in a focused effort of financial freedom and preparation for a future with my family. I’d spend hours each week looking at bank statements, crunching numbers, and building out prospective budgets to figure out how it’d all play out. Preparing to be a dad while also growing a business, trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and seeking an active social life makes life fly by quickly, with a new resource scarcity in place: time. Author James Clear writes about the time vs. money dilemma, and it’s changed the way I spend money and the way I earn money. It’s changed where I invest in time-efficiency and where I decide something isn’t worth the resourcing. I’ve realized that allowing piles of stuff and things to accumulate in my house is both a waste of money AND time when its used once and then stored away (and if you’ve ever helped me move one of the many times in my life, you know there’s plenty of stuff and things in my life already, BEFORE having a kid). So, while it’s helped me be more conscious and aware of what I consume and where I invest, it’s also turned me into an analytical machine of value – a 5-course meal that can’t be shared with anyone else I love and takes 3 hours of work to pay off isn’t likely to make it into my schedule. A pre-made meal under $15 that means no evening dishes or prep time with a cutting board? Sign me up. 

I’ve created an annual bucket list on every birthday since I was 22 years old, and this isn’t the time to change that. Stay tuned for a hindsight on 33 before turning 33 and a look into the new 34 list. Coming for ya, Shaq Birthday!