Wow, 34 years old.  Where has the time gone?! For the past few years, every year around my birthday, I try to take time to write and reflect on the past year and look ahead to the upcoming year.  I find this exercise to be helpful for identifying areas of strength and weakness, and for setting goals and creating a process to work towards them in the future.   I usually keep these reflections to myself, but given everything that has happened over the past year, I figured that this year, I’d try something different and share them.  Below, are 5 of areas and people in my life that I am most grateful for: 

  1. I am thankful all the wonderful friends and family in my life, past and present.   I’ve always felt extremely fortunate for the incredible friends and family I’ve been blessed with in my life, from childhood, to college (shout out to my CP crew… You guys have no idea how much I miss you all!), to the friends and coworkers I’ve met more recently as I’ve gotten older, settled down, and slowly transitioned to adulthood (the struggle is real).  I appreciate all the love and support I’ve gotten from you over the years- I honestly couldn’t have gotten through some of my hardest times without you.  
  • I am thankful for my beautiful, sweet, kind, and caring wife, Roya.   Thank you for choosing to me as your partner- to love, support, spend your life and build a family with.   Thank you for always loving me, for supporting my dreams and aspirations for the future, even the ones you don’t totally share or understand (YET!).   Most of all, thank you for always being my best friend.   I love your endlessly- there is truly nobody I would rather have my side to go through this crazy-little-thing-called-life with J
  • I am thankful for my beautiful daughter, Norah, the best thing to come from 2020.  I love everything about you- from your sweet smile that you flash when I come get you from your crib in the morning to your adorable, curious, sweet personality I see slowly developing before our eyes.  Watching you grow up is amazing, and I know will be one of the greatest joys of my life. Even though I feel like I am a perpetually sleep deprived, hot mess running on fumes, you give me more motivation to wake up early each morning, work hard, and continue to improve myself.  You are truly the greatest gift I could’ve ever asked for.  You’ve made our lives so much better and more meaningful, and I am so excited and lucky to watch you grow up and see you slowly become the amazing person I know you will become.  
  • I am thankful for all the haters out there.  Seriously (Yea, you know who you are… I am sure some of you are even reading this post right now, silently and miserably passing judgement.  Don’t think I don’t notice and won’t remember…).  Thanks for all times you’ve ever doubted me or talked smack about my back- for the endless fuel and motivation you’ve given me over the years (and continue to give) to push myself and prove you wrong.   

I’ve learned a thing or two about haters over the years, and here’s the unfortunate truth: We ALL have haters in our lives- they are everywhere around us, and they are never going away.   And beyond that, the more successful you slowly grow to become, the more “undercover haters” you’ll slowly discover.  The sooner we can acknowledge and move on from that unfortunate reality, the better off we’ll all be. Don’t let them get to you- always remember that the haters are either a) jealous of you or some aspect of your life, b) are unhappy (and unable to change) something in their own life, or more likely, both!  More than anything, remember that any hate or shade thrown your way is just a reflection of the struggles and insecurities in their own lives.  

But here’s the good news- we have the power to choose how we react to their hate- and instead of letting it get to you, you can also choose to simply accept it, laugh at it, and use it to add fuel to your fire!  So thank you, haters, for helping motivate me to be better- you make accomplishing all my goals infinitely more enjoyable J

  • Last but certainly not least, I am thankful for this amazing, beautiful, challenging, once-in-history, never-to-repeated life of mine that I’ve been blessed me with.   I am thankful for the struggles that I’ve had to overcome in the past that have helped me develop resiliency.  I am thankful for all the challenges that lie ahead that will continue to challenge me and force me to continue to grow and work to improve myself`.  If I’ve learned anything from both my own past struggles over the years and everyone’s struggles this past year, it is that how precious life and our health is, and how quickly it can all be taken away.  

I am thankful for the many people in my life that have continued to inspire me with their own stories.  From athletes past and present like Tom Brady, Bill Russell, Jaylen Brown, who I respect to as much for their mental approach and mindset as for their incredible athletic accomplishments to the many podcasters and leaders in personal development, people like @Brandon Turner, @David Greene, @Josh Dorkin @Tim Ferris @Tony Robbins, and so many more!  

Thank you so much sharing your stories, for introducing me to personal development, for teaching me the importance of a growth mindset, and for giving me the courage to work hard and dream big and a most important, a blue print for how to succeed.   There is truly SO much to be thankful for and look forward to in the future, and I can honestly say I’ve never been more grateful for all the blessings and optimistic about the future.  I can’t wait to see what lies ahead.