So in 3 days I will have to say goodbye to 20's.

I swear it feels like I'm saying goodbye to an old friend I’ll never going to see again. My 20's taught me so much and I'm so grateful for the experience. The universe has been good to me. I entered my 20's living in Dryden NY and I was attending TC3 completing my Associates in Human Services. It's crazy how much my perspective has changed since then. Ten years ago all that mattered was if girl I was talking to, the new sneakers that came out, making sure I had something to wear with the sneakers. Then making sure I had a party or get together to attend. Life was way more simple. My grandfather was still healthy and enjoying that all his children was on their own journey. It's funny how much you can appreciate life when you don't have a lot of responsibilities. I didn't get the best grades at this junction in my life. I did enough to graduate. At 20, I wrote in one of my sociology papers that I wanted to abolish poverty, the only thing was, I didn't know how to do it.

After graduating, I was 22 years old and I moved back to Brooklyn to live with my grandfather. I felt so good to be home. I got a job working at this agency called Elmy's Special Services. I got hired to be a Medicaid Service Coordinator. Basically my job was to help children and people with mental disabilities receive government services. I stayed at the job for a year and decided to quit. I decided to make a complete 360 in my life. I felt like working a 9 to 5 at the time was never going to get me to where I wanted to be in life. That was an immature decision and I learned so much from quitting my job. Not working led me to having dreams of being an entrepreneur, so I decide to get a part time job and sell weed on the side, which led to me to stop working and sell weed full time. A lot of people were disappointed in me but I was finding my way so everybody had to respect it including my family. Let me make this clear I’m not glorifying selling drugs. I had dreams of being an entrepreneur and I didn’t have the resources to do so. Instead of becoming a product of my environment, I made my environment a product of me. Selling weed gave me a clearer perspective of poverty. Although I was making money, I spent it just as fast as I made it. I was surrounded around drugs, poverty, and a broken community so I made the best of it and thought that selling weed was going to help me accomplish my dreams. I learned the hard way that there are no shortcuts to success; you have to pay that bill in full. From 22 to 27 I became a man, I learned how to stand up for myself, I found out that most of the people around me were not my friends; I learned that instant gratification is your fastest way to prison. All good things take time; I had to learn that lesson the hard way. Although many people told me that I wasting my life selling drugs, I didn’t listen until I got myself in trouble with the police. So in 2011, I decided to get a job working at Boys and Girls High School and it changed my life for the better. I realized after working in Boys and Girls that I wanted to dedicate my life to giving back to the youth and making sure I was a form of inspiration just like somebody was for me. During that time frame, my grandfather had three strokes and was diagnosed with dementia, and I was his main caretaker. Watching my grandfather’s demise was the hardest thing I have ever experience. One day he was fine, the next day he couldn't remember where he was at. But I handled the situation the best way I could, and that's by taking it day by day. My grandfather passed away 5 years after he was diagnosed with dementia. When I look back, I did everything I could and I don't have any regrets. I know my grandfather is watching me and I will see him soon, just not too soon. My mid 20's were rough, I had a lot of trials and tribulations but I overcame them. I lost my way and then I found it. I fell out of love and I fell in love. Truthfully my 20's have been the best years of my life, it made a man out of me and I will never forget that.

So as I write this I'm 1 day away from my 30th Birthday. This year has been good to me. I started my own company called Koolforlife, I made the Dean’s list and have a 3.5 GPA. I started my t-shirt line this year; I have spoken at forums at my school which is Medgar Evers and I did one of my speeches at LIU. I have been a part of panel discussions where I have been the moderator and participated in the panel myself. I have grown so much spiritually and I understand that working on myself is how I evolve into my best self. I will graduate with my Bachelors in Social Work in December. My 20's have been so good to be that I cried as I was writing this as if I was dropping my best friend at airport and I never was going to see them again. Change is inevitable and thus far in my life I have faced all adversity with a smile. If we were born perfect in the physical, we wouldn't have anything to work toward in our life. I recognize my greatness and I will continue to evolve to become my best self. My new religion is love and I take full accountability over my life and my destiny. I have been blessed since the day I arrived on this planet and I will be blessed always. Writing this made me feel better, it made me realize that I lived a life with few regrets and all my experiences have made a stronger and a better Kirrick. So I go into 30 knowing that I know actually what I want to do with my life and I’m going to do it. No more excuses, I will maintain my focus. I will remember that I come from decedents of Kings and Queens and as the saying goes, heavy is the crown. I going to 30 taking full accountability over my life, and am fully prepared to turn the dreams into my head into goals and then into reality. My spirit has allowed me to manipulate my pain into joy and then use that joy to inspire others. I know why exist on this planet and the world will know soon enough who KoolforLife is. There have been many people that have assisted me on my journey. If it wasn’t for my great grandmother, my grandfather and my Aunt I would be another statistic. I remember when I was about to graduate in 2005, my family drove all the way upstate to see me graduate. After the graduation I found out that I still needed 6 credits to graduate. I was upset and I wanted to quit. I told my Aunt how I was feeling and she told me that I came too far to quit and that I had to come back and finish out my degree. Thank God I had a great support system.