I write this pleasant Friday evening from a place of gratitude, happiness, and peace.

I’ve got little Lola curled up and napping on my lap, my laptop in front of me, and the waves of the Pacific Ocean crashing about a half mile away from me. Yeah, life’s good.

Recently I’ve had a meditative spirit about me, partially from just taking a step back to appreciate life, and partially out of the necessity of taking a moment from all the big changes that are hitting me fast this year. I’m getting married to the most awesome girl of all time, I’ve moved to a beachfront condo, and launched several new businesses. For the first time in my professional career, I feel that the real growth is about to happen in a next-level kind of way.

Nowadays is an interesting sort of absorbing of wisdom in my life. I read lots of books, I have a physical trainer coaching my exercise, I listen to podcasts of eclectic people, I go to church to listen to sermons, I read up on teachings of philosophers ancient and recent past, and I listen to the people I look up to in my own life. It’s definitely been a season of being a sponge for significant learning, and humbling of my own spirit and mind.

I’ve definitely been tested this year more than I have before. I’ve had to check my attitude, my judgments, my anxieties, and my ego. For the first time in my life, I now have several options before me in terms of business opportunities and chances to grow in several lateral directions that I can engage in simultaneously without overlapping risk. I feel like things are generally all going in the right direction.

I’m now 37 years old. When I look back at the last 10 years, it feels like a distant world to me. The immature 27 year old I was still had a crazy adventurous spirit that ran unfettered, without the experiences that would educate me of the consequences (for better or worse) of my actions. I had little vision back then, and little intention of developing one in the name of a purposeful future. Even a promotion at my company seemed blasé to me – what, would a promotion mean that much to me? Come on. Somehow, the last 10 years were truly the most formative years of my life, and I feel that now, this is the springboard by which the rest of my life will be directed.

It’s what’s forward that is the great mystery, the great abyss that awaits. I approach it excited, anxious, a bit scared, but hopeful and with great positivity. I know that there will be challenges coming at me in every direction, but I rest in knowing I have a good group of close friends and family, my Korean work ethic, and my faith in a God that has his way in all things, amidst my faults and numerous shortcomings. It’ll be alright.

Happy Friday night y’all. 🙂