the first pic is baby jordan, somewhere around four years old. almost the exact same age my son is now. and the second pic is me today, achieving a milestone i could have only dreamed of earlier this year… a substack orange check, aka the badge for ‘thousands of paid subscribers.’

and it’s not all about the numbers (if it was, i would have quit being an influencer and writer years ago) but my god, how often do we stop and celebrate our achievements, our little victories, the moments where we’re most making our inner child proud?

when i was little i would say with conviction time,

“i WILL be a famous author one day.

i’m going to write hundreds of books in my lifetime.

i don’t care if people know who i am, but i want them to know my words.”

imaginary fictional worlds started building in my head when i was as young as the photo above. i could barely write fast enough to get all of the ideas on paper.

when i got older, it was all about the blog life. first it was AOL chatrooms and then it was myspace and then my actual first real blog… as soon as i had access to a computer, i was trying to figure out how to write to as many people as possible.

so today, hitting this milestone, exactly a week after i turned in my manuscript for my book (!!!!), feels very monumental. and i share it to celebrate, but for a much deeper reason than that… i want to inspire you to go after your inner child’s wildest dreams.

if you need this reminder:

your childhood dreams are not random.

your desires are not accidents.

your gifts are not mistakes.

they’re breadcrumbs from the timeline that already belongs to you.

♥️♥️♥️

to baby jojo, we did it and we’re doing it!!!! to future me, i’m coming for you next 🥹

celebrating today!!!!! WITH YOU!!! thank you for being here!!!! 💞 what’s your inner child’s wildest dream? i wanna know!!!!!