27 today, writing this from Lisbon

I turn 27 today.

I'm writing this from Lisbon and honestly I've been sitting here trying to figure out how to say this without it sounding like a highlight reel. So let me just be real with y'all, because this is the inner circle and I don't post like this anywhere else.

There was a stretch where I was sleeping in the back of the office at my grandma's house. Not a bedroom. The office. That's not a story I tell on Instagram. But it's the part that matters, because everything after it only makes sense with that as the starting line.

21, I finished my undergrad at NC A&T.

22, I started at Northrop Grumman.

23, Travelled the world

24, I finished my master's.

25, I bought a house on my birthday.

26, I married my wife.

27, I'm across the ocean watching the sun go down over a city I never thought I'd see.

I didn't think I'd be this far. I want to be honest about that. I had goals, but there's a difference between having a goal and actually believing it's coming. Somewhere in there the believing part caught up.

Here's what I actually want you to take from this, because I'm not posting to be congratulated.

Every single one of those years, I felt behind. All of them. Even the good ones. When I was finishing the masters I felt behind. When I closed on the house I was already stressed about the mortgage. The feeling of being behind never left, it just changed what it was pointed at. So if you're in here feeling like you're late, understand that the feeling doesn't go away when you win. You just have to keep moving with it.

And none of this was me. I say that plainly. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17). I didn't out-hustle anybody into a life like this. God kept opening doors I had no business walking through, and I just tried to keep showing up on time. I am blessed and highly favored!

Right now I'm in the messiest middle I've been in. Five entities, a lot built, revenue not where I want it. I'm not standing on a mountain telling you how I got here. I'm mid-climb telling you what I see from this spot.

But the kid sleeping in that office would trade places with me in a heartbeat. So I'm not going to spend today complaining about the gap between where I am and where I'm going.

27- 28 is going to be the year the systems start paying. I'm expecting it, not hoping for it.

Thank you for being in here. Genuinely. Building this with people instead of alone has changed what this whole thing feels like.

What's one thing this year gave you that you didn't expect? Drop it below, I want to read them.

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27 today, writing this from Lisbon