Lean In
The First Drop In
I remember dropping in for the first time.
For those who don’t know what dropping in is—it’s when you step up to the coping at the top of a ramp at the skatepark.
You set your board down, place your foot on the nose, and in that moment… you commit.
You lean in.
I was about seven or eight years old.
I can still feel it—the butterflies, the hesitation, the overwhelming feeling of standing at the top and looking down.
From the bottom, it didn’t look that high. But standing up there?
It felt like everything.
My mind started racing.
What if I fall flat on my face?
What if I lean the wrong way?
What if I don’t commit all the way?
And then I remember the instructor at the skate camp telling me something simple:
“Lean in. Bend your knees.”
That was it.
But here’s what I learned quickly—if I didn’t fully lean in, I would fall every time. I’d hesitate, pull back, try to control it… and it never worked.
But the moment I committed—really committed—and leaned in, something shifted.
Even if I didn’t land it perfectly, I felt it.
A little bit of confidence.
A little bit of trust in myself.
And over time, dropping in stopped being fear… and started becoming freedom.
Your Moment to Lean In
If you’re reading this, maybe this is your moment.
Not a loud one. Not a dramatic one.
Just a quiet nudge.
Lean in.
Maybe it’s your business.
Maybe it’s your relationships.
Maybe it’s something you told yourself you were going to commit to this year… but life got in the way.
Maybe you’ve been waiting to feel ready.
But leaning in has never been about feeling ready.
It’s about trusting yourself enough to take the step anyway.
Recently, I had to do that in my own life.
Toward the end of last year, I felt a shift happening. Not just in my work, but in who I was becoming—as a person, as a father, as a partner, as a creative.
For a while, I had been moving nonstop. Building, working, creating. But if I’m honest, I was also hiding behind that.
I had the skill.
I had the consistency.
I had the drive.
But I wasn’t fully there.
My voice wasn’t fully showing up.
Leaning in, for me, meant facing that.
It meant stepping into something deeper than just photography. It meant asking myself what I actually wanted—not what worked, not what looked good, not what made sense to others.
What felt like me.
And one of those moments came when I said yes to helping my friend Hannibal build visuals for his brand.
I didn’t fully know what I was stepping into.
At first, I thought it was just about photos and videos.
But it became more than that.
It became about positioning.
About presence.
About how people feel when they walk into a space.
And by leaning into that, something unlocked.
Not just in the work—but in me.
Clarity started showing up.
Direction started forming.
Momentum started building.
Not because I had it all figured out…
But because I leaned in anyway.
Becoming What You Lean Into
Leaning in is only half the battle.
The other half?
Staying there.
Staying committed when it’s unclear.
Staying present when it’s uncomfortable.
Staying open when it doesn’t look the way you thought it would.
Because most of the time… it won’t.
But something happens when you do.
You don’t just move forward.
You become someone new in the process.
Every time you lean in, you build trust with yourself.
Every time you commit, you reinforce who you’re becoming.
Not a perfect version.
Not a finished version.
A real one.
So wherever you are right now—whatever season you’re in—
Lean in.
Not out of fear.
Not because you have to.
But because something in you already knows.
The answers you’re looking for…
The clarity you’ve been waiting on…
It doesn’t show up before the step.
It shows up after you take it.
So take it.
Lean in.
