45—54.

This year marks my last in a demographic age range commonly used in drop-down form fields. Most people celebrate decade milestones that end in a zero, but for me, the real marker ends in a four. Thank you, Jim Avery, and my college degree in advertising. On his 60th birthday, a family member told me that when you hit one of those numbers, you're starting the next decade. That’s been on my mind a lot since the ball dropped a few months back.

Ten years ago, I’d just lost two companies and slogged through countless job interviews that went nowhere—some after multiple rounds and in-person sessions. I started to wonder if I’d ever work again. It was a rough time like it is now for so many. A few months later, I landed a good job and kicked off an incredible decade of leadership, growth, and transformation—personally and professionally. I came out of that chapter changed in ways that never would’ve happened if I’d stayed where I was, doing what I knew. It was the kind of evolution that only happens when you leave the familiar behind.

Recently, a friend in my same drop-down age range asked if I’m getting more grizzled as I get older. I told him: no, not grizzled—but I am done. Done with surface-level relationships. Done with people who coast through connection. That reaction isn’t coming from bitterness—it’s coming from lived experience, good, bad, and brutal. I’ve earned my way to a deeper clarity, and I’m not going to apologize for it.

As I map out this next decade, I’m investing more time than I ever have to figure out what I want from it. A big part of that means drawing harder lines around what I’m here for and what I won’t tolerate—especially when it comes to human bullshit.

T L ; D R : I’m done with it.

If you keep reading this blog in the weeks ahead, you’re going to hear that line a few more times as I think through and synthesize what this next phase means for me—and maybe for others like me. So, welcome to the text version of my YouTube-TED-Talk-TikTok with zero advertising and much more clarity. For those of you who belong to younger demographic ranges consider sticking around or subscribing because I’m going to share perspectives—no cap—that I wish someone would have handed to me a long time ago.