Renee
Lately, it feels like everywhere I turn, people are talking about Fire Horse energy, and I even mentioned it in last week’s blog.
If you’re not familiar with that language, it’s a Chinese Astrology cycle often described as a season of fast-moving energy. Momentum. Intensity. Things are accelerating quickly.
Whether you follow astrology or not, I have to admit…
We’ve been feeling it.
There’s a lot happening at once right now.
We just wrapped our event, we moved, the kids turn sixteen next month, which somehow feels impossible to say out loud. Eden is planning a big Sweet 16. Xen wants something more low-key, but still his own kind of celebration. Clients are onboarding and projects are moving.
It feels like every week something else gets added to the list.
Not necessarily bad things, just movement…
Fast movement.
Mark
Some seasons really do seem to arrive with their own rhythm.
You can almost feel it.
Not because life suddenly becomes chaotic, but because multiple things start asking for your attention at the same time.
Family. Business.Decisions.Logistics.
And even when each individual thing is manageable, together they create a different kind of pace. A perfect example showed up this week.
In the middle of moving, I was also driving Eden and her boyfriend, Jack, to MegaCon three days in a row.
That’s about a 45-minute drive each way to the Orange County Convention Center on International Drive… on a normal day. Add an event that draws over 160,000 people, and traffic becomes its own experience.
On one hand, it would’ve been easy to focus on the inconvenience. Three hours a day in the car. Stop-and-go traffic. Tourists everywhere.
On the other hand, I kept coming back to this: We live in Orlando.
People travel from all over the world for experiences like this, and here we are, able to drop our daughter off and pick her up.
Renee got Eden the Ultimate 4-Day Pass, and Jack’s parents did the same for him. They had early entry, all the swag, and the kind of experiences they’ll remember for a long time.
Friday night, I pulled into the pickup spot right at 6:30 as we planned.
Eden and Jack came out the wrong entrance and ended up on the opposite side of the building. It took them about ten minutes to make their way back through, which honestly was faster than me trying to loop around in that traffic.
Eden knew I was frustrated and apologized.
And then she said the words that melt me every time: “Thank you, Daddy. I love you.”
And just like that, the traffic didn’t matter.
The time didn’t matter.
That’s the pace sometimes. Full. A little chaotic.
And filled with moments you would never trade.
Renee
The interesting thing is, I already naturally live at a pretty fast pace.
I always have.
Running has always made more sense to me than yoga.
HIIT feels natural. Slow workouts do not.
Even around the house, I move fast.
For years, Mark has called me a human tornado.
Not in a destructive way, just because when I decide to do something, I move quickly, touch ten things at once, and somehow finish in half the time.
Sometimes I think one of my favorite quotes explains it best, a line from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll: “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
Some days that feels less like imagination and more like a typical Tuesday.
I honestly do most things at least twice as fast as Mark.
That’s not criticism. It’s just true.
Mark
It’s true.
Renee can move through a room, solve three problems, answer two texts, and reorganize something before I’ve fully decided where to start.
It’s impressive.
And sometimes exhausting to witness.
My pace is different.
I tend to think while moving.
Pause before jumping.
Take one thing at a time.
Which probably explains why we balance each other well.
Renee
But lately, it feels like life has been sending me repeated reminders to slow down.
Take this week, for example. The movers brought everything into the new house on Monday.
Wednesday, I had surgery to remove a skin cancer from my shoulder.
And because of where the stitches are, the surgeon was very clear:
No heavy lifting. No moving boxes. No lifting my arm too high for a few days, and definitely no running!
Talk about being forced to slow down.
For someone who naturally wants to jump back in, organize everything, and keep momentum going, that was harder than it probably sounds.
Not emotionally, just practically.
Because my brain immediately goes to how do I keep things moving?
Mark
Sometimes, slowing down by choice and slowing down because you have no choice are very different experiences.
Renee does not naturally stop.
So when life creates a reason she has to, there’s usually something worth paying attention to.
Not every pause has to be dramatic to be meaningful.
Sometimes it’s simply life reminding you that not everything has to be handled at full speed.
Renee
The older I get, the more I realize efficiency and presence are not the same thing.
I still don’t think I’ll ever become someone who fully loves slow workouts. That probably isn’t happening.
But I do think there’s wisdom in recognizing when life is already moving quickly and choosing not to match that energy every second of the day.
Some things need speed.
Some things deserve space.
And knowing the difference might matter more than ever in seasons like this.
Renee & Mark
Maybe that’s part of what this season is teaching us.
Some years gallop.
Some years ask more of you.
Some years carry momentum whether you planned for it or not.
But even then, just because the year is moving fast doesn’t mean every moment has to.