Turning 30 - It's Been Quite a Trip

Today, I have already received many calls from family and friends asking “How does it feel to be thirty?” While I am thankful to be alive and employed, I do not feel particularly different than I felt yesterday. I hadn’t made any lists or plans but I do realize that for many people the day they turn thirty is a day for reflection so here goes.

I thought that turning thirty would be some kind of milestone in aging. The only thing that has changed is I’m smarter and in better shape, physically, mentally, and economically now than I was when I turned twenty. And I feel incredibly lucky to have had the past decade. I've been fortunate to be able to travel to interesting places around the world, and experience things I never would have imagined both as part of my job and outside of work. I have won all night poker tournaments, jumped out of airplanes, jumped railroad tracks in a freaking ford tempo, enjoyed dinner and company with people who did not speak a word of English, passed out blankets, pens, and clothing at refugee camps, raced a 10,000lbs forklift across loose sand, got into countless concerts and movies for free (previous job perks), and even been spent a couple of moonlit nights asleep on top of an old truck somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Texas, surrounded by cows (it’s a complicated story, me and another person where there solely to guard a group’s tents from being vandalized by cows and wild pigs. The first day, the job was pretty easy because the cows where wary of us, by the second night, these 2-ton bovines attacked the camp like ninjas.)

Yet, surprisingly, I've survived my first thirty years without losing limbs or teeth (which is certainly a big accomplishment for a South Carolinian), being shit-canned from a job (and I have had some pretty horrible ones – see the “cow-crow” job above), or being summoned for jury duty. (Crossing my fingers for another thirty years of that.)

I'm lucky, though, to have ended up working in a career that I love. I have been accused of being a workaholic, but it's not because I love working in general--it's because I love the work that I do. It's surreal to me now that I'm here teaching mentoring and working along side young people who sacrifice so much on a daily basis to take care of others. The most fun part of my job is that you impact so many people; it also has meant opportunities to meet and correspond with fascinating people around the world. Those experiences are immensely satisfying to me.

The best part of my twenties: I was so fortunate to find a beautiful, caring, amazing woman who became my wife. She also happens to be the smartest person I know. As important to me as the great companionship and the love that we have for one another is that she inspires me to be a better person in every facet of my life and work. I am so lucky to have found her.

Now I know what makes me happy and I have a beautiful woman to share that with. So, while I've done many things and had many experiences I'm proud of in my twenties, I'm not feeling melancholy thinking about everything I didn't do and won't have a chance to do again. And although I own a rocking chair, I’m not sitting on the porch whittling and talking about the weather…at least not yet. There is so much that is still in front of me and a lot of the insecurities of my teens and twenties have given way to the desire to do and be more, even if I stumble and embarrass myself from time to time. At thirty, my goals are clear and my life is fuller than it ever has been. There's so much more I still have to accomplish in my life and in my career, it feels like I'm behind. No regrets about my twenties, but I'm ready to hit my thirties full-throttle.