Shake Shake Shake

I was on my way to the 3rd day of the Evolution offsite in LA at the end of October last year, when someone ran a stop sign and hit my car.

I was really excited to be with so many amazing humans in the new firm I had just teamed up with.

And instead of being there and taking it all in, I was on the side of the road looking at my totaled car.

I had been on my way to a breakfast meeting with a senior partner and I sent him a text telling him I wasn’t going to be able to make the meeting. I said I was ok but pretty shaken up.

His response to me still plays over in my mind.  He wrote:

“Shake shake shake”

It’s hard to explain how or why that hit me so hard.

We all talk a big game about being present in the moment, but doing that is so much easier said than done.

In that moment, my mind was already racing to insurance this and tow truck that.  And I was scared and annoyed and disappointed. My mind was in a million places.

Shake shake shake was like this instant permission to just be where I was. Physically, emotionally and temporally.

I was shaken up. That was ok. That was normal. That was physically what my body needed to go through to process the intense experience it just went through.

Being present in the moment isn’t just about appreciating the good times. It is about being real with yourself about what you are going through right now.  And right now.  And accepting all of it.

Shake shake shake gave me that permission and that perspective.


Ps - I was / am physically fine! And have a new more environmentally friendly car :)