Sometimes Life Slows You Down for You

Renee:
There’s that saying that life whispers first.

And if you ignore the whisper long enough, eventually you get hit with a 2x4.

Now, for the record, I do not believe there is a man upstairs personally assigning bike accidents because I failed some spiritual lesson.

But I do think life has a way of getting our attention when we have been moving too fast to notice what is happening around us.

And apparently, in my case, life decided the message needed handlebars.

Mark and I recently bought new bikes.

I had not had a new bike in over twenty years. My old mountain bike had basically become garage décor by this point, sitting there in need of far more than a little TLC. We were excited because our neighborhood has beautiful trails, plenty of places to ride, and Mark enjoys biking. He had been looking forward to us taking regular rides together.

Part of the reason I wanted to lean into biking was practical, too. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed my joints don't love running the way they used to. Running and HIIT workouts have always been my thing because, if I’m honest, I tend to do everything fast.

Very fast.

Mark lovingly calls me a “white tornado” around the house because once I get moving, I move.

So two weeks ago, on a lovely Saturday morning, I decided to swap my usual run for a bike ride. We were teaching a full-day workshop for JV Launch Lab that morning, and I wanted to get in a quick but efficient workout beforehand.

Mark was still sleeping… or so I thought.

So I headed out alone.

This was only my third ride on my new bike and probably only the tenth time I had been on a bike in years.

As I was riding along the side of the road with cars flying past me, I remember very clearly thinking, I should really get a rearview mirror for this thing. I would feel so much safer.

That thought stands out to me now.

Because sometimes the whisper is not dramatic.

Sometimes it is just awareness trying to get your attention.

Yes, I was wearing a helmet.

Yes, I thought I was being careful.

But one car after another kept passing, and eventually one spooked me enough that I hit the curb hard and flew straight over the handlebars.

My sternum smashed into the bars before I tumbled onto the pavement.

And the pain was instant.

A woman stopped and asked if she should call someone for me, but I was still in that strange adrenaline phase where your brain insists you are somehow fine even as your body strongly suggests otherwise.

I told her I thought I would just walk my bike home.

Home was two miles away.

Which now feels completely ridiculous.

Mark:

I had been waiting all week to go riding together, so when I woke up and realized she had already left, I was honestly a little annoyed.

Then, suddenly, I get a call saying she crashed.

And what made it worse was that it wasn't even her calling me at first.

Her watch had triggered the emergency SOS feature because of the impact.

Apparently, when your body launches itself over handlebars hard enough, technology starts making decisions for you.

Renee:
The watch really wanted emergency services involved.

I declined it twice and called Mark myself instead.

By the time he picked me up and brought me home, the adrenaline had started wearing off, and I realized this was not a little bruise.

I immediately started icing my chest and had to consider whether I needed to go to the hospital.

The pain was intense. Honestly, worse than my partial mastectomy. Worse than my hysterectomy.

Breathing hurt.

Moving hurt.

Existing hurt.

But I could breathe, nothing felt unstable, and deep down I felt pretty certain I had just badly bruised my sternum.

Which thankfully turned out to be true.

The problem was… we were teaching JV Launch Lab in two hours.

A five-hour class.

Mark:
This was the part where I really saw how hard it is for Renee to fully slow down.

Most people would have immediately canceled.

But she was determined to still show up.

And I think the only reason it worked is that she finally let me carry more of it than usual.

One of the participants later said I held her perfectly, which meant a lot because sometimes partnership isn't about fixing the situation.

It is just stepping in where you can.

Renee:
That part stayed with me, too.

Because I am very used to being the one holding everything together.

Keeping things moving.

Pushing through.

Figuring it out.

And while there are definitely strengths in that, there is also something humbling about realizing your body eventually gets a vote.

Sometimes, slowing down arrives gently.

And sometimes it arrives with road rash and an ice pack.

I think part of why this experience hit me so deeply is that it happened right on the heels of everything else we have been talking about lately.

The firehorse energy.

Moving too fast.

Trying to slow down.

Presence.

Connection.

Even choosing biking in the first place was technically an attempt to move toward something gentler for my body.

And yet I still turned it into a high-speed efficiency project.

Which honestly feels very on-brand for me.

Mark:
I think a lot of entrepreneurs live this way without realizing how disconnected they have become from their own pace.

Everything becomes optimization.

Efficiency.

Momentum.

How much can I fit into the day?

How fast can I move?

And eventually the body starts asking for something different.

Not because ambition is bad.

But because sustainable success requires actually staying present in the life you are building.

Renee:

And of course, life did not exactly slow down afterward either.

A few days later, we had the Rolling Loud musical festival with Xen, something he had been excited about for almost a year, and I remember realizing I was now trying to recover from a bruised sternum while heading into one of the least gentle environments imaginable.

I definitely had to be more careful than usual.

After getting jostled around a little too close to a mosh pit, I very quickly decided Dad could take over that part of the experience.

And I think that ended up being good for both of them.

Because instead of me trying to push through and control everything the way I normally would, Mark got to fully step in and experience it with Xen in his own way.

Watching that reminded me that support is not always about someone rescuing you.

Sometimes it is simply allowing other people the space to show up fully too.

Mark and Renee:
Maybe slowing down does not always arrive as a peaceful meditation or a perfectly planned reset.

Sometimes it arrives bruised and humbled, icing your chest as you realize your body has been trying to get your attention for a while.

And maybe the lesson is not to wait for life to grab the handlebars before you finally listen.