What Surviving a Hit-and-Run Taught Her About Strength | Ep. 119 with Naseem Rochette
Naseem Rochette—speaker, author, and survivor—shares the shocking story of the day she was run over by a car three separate times in a hit-and-run… and lived without a single broken bone. Her story has captured national attention, including features in Vogue and Forbes, not just because of what happened, but because of how she chose to move forward.
Naseem walks us through the immediate aftermath of the accident, as well as her anger, confusion, and the difficult process of reframing that trauma. Over time, she started calling it her Unbreakable Day, a conscious choice to shift the narrative and take back ownership of her story.
She shares with us how letting go of the victim mindset, embracing vulnerability, and redefining strength helped her navigate pain, and why it’s something anyone can do.
Connect with Naseem by visiting her website at https://naseemrochette.com/naseem and checking out her best-selling book, “The Unexpected Benefits of Being Run Over”.
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No Grey Areas is a motivational podcast with captivating guests centered around how our choices humanize, empower, and define who we become. This podcast is inspired by the cautionary tale, No Grey Areas, written by Joseph Gagliano. Learn more about the truth behind his story involved with sports' biggest scandal at https://www.nogreyareas.com/
Transcript
Host
Today on the No Gray Areas podcast, we welcome Naseem or Shet speaker, coach and author of The Unexpected Benefits of Being Run Over. Not only was she run over by a car once, but three times, and yet she chose to reframe her pain. The purpose? Turning trauma into triumph and building an unbreakable mindset. Here we go.
::Pat McCalla
st,: ::Pat McCalla
Like I often will say,
::Pat McCalla
that all of us have these. I didn't see that coming. Moments,
::Pat McCalla
but that day for you was definitely. I didn't see that coming moments. So can you
::Pat McCalla
help our audience understand what happened that day? And then we're going to get into how that changed your life.
::Naseem Rochette
st,: ::Naseem Rochette
And that's the shorter.
::Naseem Rochette
Yes. So I'll give you the little bit of a longer version now.
::Naseem Rochette
so it was, you know, that day when I talk about that day, I like to, you know, let people know what an amazing day I was having.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, it.
::Naseem Rochette
Was a sunny spring day. I was feeling good and fabulous. And, you know, those days you just wake up and you're like, I feel great today. And, like, everything sort of goes your way. I was having that kind of a day and,
::Naseem Rochette
I get home a little early to have dinner with my husband.
::Naseem Rochette
I'm crossing the street in a pedestrian crosswalk. He was going to pick me up from the train station, and a car turned and hit me and Pat. When the
::Naseem Rochette
car first hit me, I was still standing and I was having such a good day. I thought, oh my gosh, you're hitting meet the day. I'm having a great day.
::Naseem Rochette
And you know.
::Naseem Rochette
Everything's in slow motion. So I wasn't really worried.
::Naseem Rochette
But then the car accelerated. I, you know, I flew on the hood, I flew down on the, you know, the ground, the car drove over me. And, you know, my husband was screaming, I started screaming, I was trying to get out from underneath the car and then the car reversed and I could hear in my husband's screams and, you know, other witnesses screams.
::Naseem Rochette
That he was.
::Naseem Rochette
Watching me die, you know, and I knew, you know, and I felt at that moment, you know, I'm not getting out of this like something. There's an issue. I shouldn't be run over again. And, you know, in that moment, I had lots of end of life thoughts. You know, reflected and.
::Naseem Rochette
you know, it's it's interesting. I mentioned I was having a great day. I should also mentioned for me to be having such a great day
::Naseem Rochette
was kind of a hard fought one victory, because I didn't really like who I was as a kid. I was really shy, you know, I paralyzed with fear. I didn't really didn't really like who I was.
::Naseem Rochette
I always felt different and uncomfortable. Now the misfit, and on that day, I had finally liked who I was. I'd become a person I was proud of. I, you know, three kids have three kids that are amazing, you know, a great husband, good job. Life was good, you
::Naseem Rochette
you know, and that was really big for me to be able to appreciate and enjoy that.
::Naseem Rochette
So, you know, as you can imagine, the the accident was pretty traumatic and life changing and, you know, really hard on me and my family. But we decided, you know, we didn't want this to be a tragedy. We wanted to reframe it as a happy story, you know? And that wasn't simple. That wasn't easy to do. But one of the ways we did that was by choosing to celebrate the day and the anniversary of the accident as a holiday, because I survived.
::Naseem Rochette
We.
::Naseem Rochette
Called it Unbreakable Day. We call it Unbreakable Day, and it's a day where, you know, we recognize and take a moment to appreciate. We got through. We navigated something really, really hard. And we were lucky enough to have, you know, wonderful family and friends and community that helped us. And we take a minute to thank them for for their impact and support in my recovery.
::Naseem Rochette
And, you know, we we've all got things that we've gone through, you know.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, I mean, it was it was a journey I'm never going to say it was, you know, it was easy. And I, you know, came out of it, you know, with that optimism.
::Naseem Rochette
But I think, you know, and part of what I love about what you're doing is, you know, I was lucky enough to hear stories of people surviving and thriving after a very tough things.
::Naseem Rochette
So I'd always said to myself, you know, if I go through something horrible, I hope that I can navigate through it, you know, with, with something positive.
::Naseem Rochette
and then when I was in the hospital,
::Naseem Rochette
I, miraculously found out that I did not break any bones. And all of the nurses and doctors were, you know, it was a miracle because I'd been run over three times.
::Naseem Rochette
The tires went over me five times and I survived. And so they kept saying, you need to pay it forward. And, you know, I had no idea how I was going to pay it forward. And, you know, I could barely open my eyes or walk or move or see, but it did plant the seed that I wanted to, you know, do something to pay it forward to, to put a little bit more good in the world and to share what I learned from the journey.
::Naseem Rochette
And so
::Naseem Rochette
that spurred us, you know, me thinking about how do we make it better. But then I also knew that it was our choice to to dictate how we want to
::Naseem Rochette
navigate the moment and what we we had to decide to reframe it.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah, I you know, I'm. I'm in. Say, I've been in technology sales for, you know, 20 years, and sales is full of rejection. So, you know, that's fortunate to to hear, you know, keynotes of people overcoming things. And I really think having that inventory of stories.
::Naseem Rochette
Is really.
::Naseem Rochette
Important. You know, before you get into the crisis, I mean, it's always valuable, you know, and part of the reason that I wrote I wrote a book about my journey, and you know that I like to talk about it is so people know, you know, that, that you.
::Naseem Rochette
Can.
::Naseem Rochette
Survive what feels like the impossible that you can.
::Naseem Rochette
You know.
::Naseem Rochette
Help and and survive the impossible. Not just when it happens. A tragedy happens to you, but when it happens to your family.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, one.
::Naseem Rochette
Of the things that I learned is that the accident didn't just happen to me. It happened to everyone that loved me.
::Naseem Rochette
13, 11 and nine.
::Naseem Rochette
know, it was it was a really hard year. You know, I think they really feel proud now how we've navigated it.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
Well, look, you know, as you said, we don't know the twists and turns. Life. Life is going to, you know, bring our way. And one of the lessons, the most important lessons that I learned, you know, is that we have. As you know, we talked about a choice also how we look at our journey. So during early on in in my recovery, I learned about the philosophy and art of kintsugi, of taking a broken vase, putting it back together with gold inlay and accepting and appreciating the cracks as part of the journey.
::Naseem Rochette
And that gave me a way to talk about, you know, the challenges and issues and things that I was going through, that this is part of my journey and I can accept it and embrace it and learn from it and share it,
::Naseem Rochette
But I can't change it.
::Naseem Rochette
and also by recognizing.
::Naseem Rochette
That.
::Naseem Rochette
And reframing to not be a victim, but accepting the experiences as part of my journey, it was easier to talk about and to share with the other people who
::Naseem Rochette
were also in my life impacted by this and needed to help me.
::Naseem Rochette
Kintsugi.
::Naseem Rochette
Yes.
::Naseem Rochette
Yes. So. So, Kim Suki, is this, Japanese art and philosophy.
::Naseem Rochette
Of.
::Naseem Rochette
Taking a broken piece of pottery? And when you glue it back together, you glue it with a gold inlay. And so you highlight and celebrate the cracks in the vase. You don't try to hide them.
::Naseem Rochette
think about it, is making the vase more beautiful because of those cracks? I actually, you know, early on when I had a lot of scars on my face, I used to wear gold glitter on my scars, on my face and my body.
::Naseem Rochette
I did, yeah. Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
do my makeup wasn't going to cover it, and I didn't want to pretend, you know, I wanted to embrace
::Naseem Rochette
the beauty.
::Naseem Rochette
you know, it takes a desire to want to navigate out of it,
::Naseem Rochette
you know, and to believe that there's more benefit in a life,
::Naseem Rochette
where you do. Reframe it, you know, and you look, I think, you know, we know people. We all know people that like being the victim.
::Naseem Rochette
But I don't think most of us do. You know, I think most of us want to have that strong posture, you know, where we feel in control of our lives. And I think, you know, when when something horrible happens, when something traumatic happens, we feel out of control. But if we start to,
::Naseem Rochette
you know, look at our narrative and build our narrative.
::Naseem Rochette
And.
::Naseem Rochette
Reframe the possibilities with positive language instead of negative language, you know, we take those steps forward.
::Naseem Rochette
You know.
::Naseem Rochette
One of the things that I did and look at, you know, kind of reframing it into a positive story and finding a victory was not, you know, something that happened overnight.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, I didn't wake up and say, hey, you know, you know, forget it. You know, all the issues don't matter. I'm just going to be happy, you know?
::Naseem Rochette
But what I did and some of the things that I was able to do that I think sustained my.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, positive or optimistic outlook that I could navigate through was the sharing the issues gave me an opportunity to share the victories in the celebrations. So, you know, when the accident, you know, first happened, I couldn't walk, I couldn't see, you know, I couldn't hold a coffee cup.
::Naseem Rochette
But as I could do those things, I would get excited.
::Naseem Rochette
I would tell the kids, I would tell my friends, you know, but if I said to you, I can hold a coffee cup today, pot, you would say, well, why is that news? You know, you only know that's news because I shared that I couldn't.
::Naseem Rochette
you know, when we start celebrating and recognizing that momentum,
::Naseem Rochette
It's easier to believe and to see.
::Naseem Rochette
We're making progress. And sometimes that progress, you know, and that progress doesn't just help us. It helps, you know, all of the other people in our life that want to move forward to.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
Just.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, I think let's just look at unbreakable day, you know, reframing that to, Not, as, you know, the day I'd, almost died, but as the day I lived. And if we, you know, let's just, you know, kind of use that, kind of tough moment that, you know, we've discussed everybody has a really tough moment.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, if we start to even just look at that one moment, you know, or those, you know, 2 or 3 years, there's life's most challenging days. And think about, you know, what if I learn there, how do I actually get through that? Oh my gosh, I did get through that, you know, and and start to build an inventory of, of wins to, of recognizing.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah. You know what? Maybe I'm a little stronger than I thought I was.
::Naseem Rochette
And you.
::Naseem Rochette
Know what? It was so great that, you know, my friends called and, you know, my family called were and let me acknowledge that, you know, and and even then be kind to yourself. And so, you know what? I can't get through that the way I wish it did, but I did still learn something. And next time I'll need to remember this.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
No no no.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, we actually, you know, we try to make May 21st, you know, an unbreakable holiday, you know, even for our friends and family and a lot of people.
::Naseem Rochette
You know.
::Naseem Rochette
We'll use that day as a day to celebrate or reflect on whatever it is they've gone through. You know, maybe it's not on their exact anniversary.
::Naseem Rochette
But the.
::Naseem Rochette
Other thing I'll say that's really important.
::Naseem Rochette
Is.
::Naseem Rochette
Also to be kind to yourself. You know, I am not the same person I was before the accident. There are some things that I have to do differently, you know, and even that, you know, I need to reframe and sometimes at hard, like, you know, I, my husband and I used to go to lots of concerts and we would have music playing through the house and, you know, dancing in the kitchen with the kids.
::Naseem Rochette
I can't do that. I have a traumatic brain injury. I can't have music playing in more than one room. I can't go to concerts. You won't find me at a club at 3:00 in the morning anymore. And, you know, it's sometimes that, you know, at first that was hard, but I've reframed it to say that, you know what?
::Naseem Rochette
Now I can enjoy things that I didn't appreciate before, you know? And you have to be kind to yourself and realize that it's okay if you're not the same person you were before. There are can be, you know, lots of new benefits and advantages to the new person with new insights.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, I used to be a master multitasker. You know, juggling 100 things at a time. My brain doesn't work like that. You know, I, I need to go deeper and be more focused on a project, but that, you know, there are some advantage to to my ability to get more focused and get more deeply engaged.
::Naseem Rochette
And the other thing, the other big change that's happened is, you know, through this experience, I've also learned to share more and share what I would have in the past called a weakness, you know, a vulnerability.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, a crack.
::Naseem Rochette
And by sharing those things, I have, you know, enabled or allowed people to share back with me, which is actually built so much more trust and deeper relationships. And it's been a hugely valuable, you know, both personally. But at work, you know, we're, you know, in a, you know, I'm in technology. We work on very large complex problems that can take months.
::Naseem Rochette
To.
::Naseem Rochette
Solve and to work.
::Naseem Rochette
Through.
::Naseem Rochette
And when you can build deeper relationships and get more focused and, and share and start to recognize the the journey where you came from and celebrate the milestones, it's much easier to sustain through difficult times.
::Naseem Rochette
Well.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
you know, we talked about everybody goes through something hard. I found that so many people that I knew, you know, I had known for years, you know, some even decades I didn't really know until I started sharing, you know, what was going on with me after the accident. They, you know, they had never shared lost jobs or cancers or things that they were dealing with because that sharing first, that's not something we've learned how to do.
::Naseem Rochette
And, you know, sometimes I'll talk to leaders and, you know, do you know, corporate events or speaking engagements. And I will always stress how important it.
::Naseem Rochette
Is.
::Naseem Rochette
to share, you know, especially as a leader, if you share first, you set a completely different.
::Naseem Rochette
Tone.
::Naseem Rochette
And accelerate the, you know, the the strength of the community.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah, I actually say so. You know, when I give talks, I talk about a strong, broken, unbreakable. You know how I went from being this very strong woman who juggled it all and like to make it look easy to all of a sudden being broken, you know, after the accident and where I couldn't do anything. And then learning of this new dimension of strength, which I also call unbreakable, which is about, and recognizing that that strength can be.
::Naseem Rochette
The.
::Naseem Rochette
Strength to let people help.
::Naseem Rochette
You because.
::Naseem Rochette
They need it in their journey. Sometimes I didn't need the help.
::Naseem Rochette
But I.
::Naseem Rochette
Knew that other people were feeling helpless, that other people wanted to take action and actively participate.
::Naseem Rochette
In.
::Naseem Rochette
My recovery. And by letting them help, I was helping them.
::Naseem Rochette
one of, you know, one of the things we talked about, you know, recognizing what you've learned in your your tough moments, you know, I like to call it, you know, reflecting on your inventory of wins, you know, goes through, you know, wherever you are today in your life, you, you know, you've probably we've all had some challenges, whether we're 20 or 50, you know, think about what you've learned, think about the moments that you're really proud of.
::Naseem Rochette
You're like, wow, I did that. You know, like whether I mean, I can remember up a, a second grade contest that I won, you know, for a little invention. And, you know, that still gives me pride. You know, what are those moments? You know, they're there might be some, you know, when you're young, they might be with your family.
::Naseem Rochette
They might be your career,
::Naseem Rochette
but have your inventory of wins. So on those days, you woke up and you're like, I just can't climb this hill.
::Naseem Rochette
You remember all the little other mountains, all the other little victories, you know? So I think it's important to to know, you know, have that, have that inventory.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
For the difficult times. And honestly, even, you know, if you're interviewing for a job, you know, you, you know, there are many moments where, where that, you know, it's it's good to know, you know, your strengths.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, I think another thing is really, you know, remembering. And this is harder, but remembering how your language influences your mindset.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, I talked about the positive and the negative bias. You know, it can be I am going to do this because I'm going to get these benefits.
::Naseem Rochette
Or you could say, I'm never going to get that done.
::Naseem Rochette
How do you think about the things you want to accomplish? And you know, challenges because it's not like, you know, life. You know, some days life is easy, but, you know, many days life is, robust and complex and, you know, a little messy, you know, but but how do you approach it?
::Naseem Rochette
Oh, I know.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
it is so important. And, you know, you also bring up the point that, you know, being kind to ourself is so important.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, just just giving ourself that little bit of grace too. And that's, it's, it's hard to do but it's really important.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
you know I'll tell you when I was in my, you know, right after the accident, my brain didn't really work. So luckily some of those things were already rooted.
::Naseem Rochette
Because.
::Naseem Rochette
It wasn't like it was easy for me to to draw on those memories and to think optimist, actually.
::Naseem Rochette
Oh, years. I mean, I still have a traumatic brain injury. I mean, I outwardly I went back to work after a couple of months, but, you know, for the first year I still needed like 16 hours of sleep a night. And, you know, I was still healing. I had surgeries for for many years, but
::Naseem Rochette
after probably, you know, by the end of the first year, you wouldn't look at me and know that I've been run over three times,
::Naseem Rochette
which honestly, was sometimes was hard because I looked fine, but I wasn't.
::Naseem Rochette
And I would just want to say, you know, I'm still recovering from a really big trauma and my operating system the way I think it's all out of whack and I'm still working through it, but I can't cross the street like you can because I'm having a panic attack and, you know,
::Naseem Rochette
but it also made me realize we have no idea what people go through, you know, you.
::Naseem Rochette
Can't see it.
::Naseem Rochette
Well. So there there were a lot of complexities, but my lowest moment was probably 4 or 5 weeks after the accident. So, you know, I mentioned I couldn't walk, I couldn't see, I had to have some, you know, surgery on my eye. My face was cut up,
::Naseem Rochette
I was just a wreck.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, I had nerve damage. Lots of soft tissue damage, you know, traumatic brain injury.
::Naseem Rochette
And about five weeks after the accident, I was at the courthouse and saw the driver. And the driver was maybe 5 or 6ft from me and didn't acknowledge me, you know, didn't look my way, didn't say sorry. And up until that point, I held no ill will.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, she wasn't a hit. She wasn't trying to run over me three times. You know, it was a lot of bad judgment. And when I saw her and had. And she had.
::Naseem Rochette
No.
::Naseem Rochette
Human empathy or, you know, I made no connection or effort, I lost it. I was there with my husband and my daughter, and we went home and I just pat, I was a crazy woman. I was screaming at my kids, you know, I was not rational. I, I, you know, just I just could not control any of my emotions.
::Naseem Rochette
And I remember thinking I'm like, I wanted so much to survive when I was under the car so I could be with my kids and back to our happy family.
::Naseem Rochette
And this is the mom. They. This isn't the mom I want to be me. This isn't a human I want to be. And it was also the moment that I realized I can't.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah, I can't do this alone mentally, you know? And that's when I got on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety.
::Naseem Rochette
Because.
::Naseem Rochette
Up until that, that point, I was also saying to myself, you know what? I've got two master's degrees, I've got a great mind. I'm a problem solver. I don't need any help.
::Naseem Rochette
I mean, yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. But you can't. You're way out of everything.
::Naseem Rochette
That was a really hard lesson, but I. I feel lucky that I learned it, you
::Naseem Rochette
Not.
::Naseem Rochette
tell you one, one other moment that stands out to me is,
::Naseem Rochette
you know, I mentioned I was this, you know, fabulous multitasking. Mom kind of got it all done. I always worked full time, but, you know, still try to be there for the kids. You know, the about five, six weeks after the accident, you know, my husband asked me to fill out a camp form for my nine year old.
::Naseem Rochette
I sat in bed and cried for hours because I had. I was scared to look at the form because I didn't think I could fill it out.
::Naseem Rochette
I mean, that's, you know, how broken my mind felt.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, but I but I'm also kinder to myself, you know, I when I work, I will tell my my boss or my teams, you know, this is how I can and can't work. You know, if I travel now, you know, I have to admit. Look, I might need to get there a little earlier and figure out how I cross the street, because, you know, that's that's a struggle for me.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, I can't do a very long drive because of, you know, some chronic, you know, back and leg issues, you know, so I just have to, to think about those things. I don't dwell on those things, but I have to be cognizant,
::Naseem Rochette
you know, in in the way I live.
::Naseem Rochette
Yes.
::Naseem Rochette
I know.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
I love that, you know, I love the way you frame that. The new normal is is spot on. And, you know, it's something really interesting, Pat. So obviously, you know, the the accident was very traumatic, very hard on me and my family. But a few months ago, someone asked me to.
::Naseem Rochette
You know.
::Naseem Rochette
Chart out the big moments in your life. The positive on top, the negative on the bottom. And it was interesting. I put the accident on the top because. Yeah. And I actually thought to myself, what should that what why did I put it there? And I've realized I've.
::Naseem Rochette
Learned.
::Naseem Rochette
So much and my life has become richer because of what I've learned and how I share now.
::Naseem Rochette
That.
::Naseem Rochette
I actually, in some ways feel like it was a magical accident.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
Isn't that.
::Naseem Rochette
Crazy?
::Naseem Rochette
No. You know, I can still hear the. My husband's screams and knowing that he was watching me die and.
::Naseem Rochette
He.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, he's a he's a really, you know, not only wonderful, but very kind of calm guy. You know, my friends sometimes say, like, you got to check his pulse. He's so chill. But it was, you know, it was very hard watching him, watching, watching me. But I think what was equally as hard is kind of raising the kids during those weeks where they didn't know if life was going to be the same, you know, and they didn't know if they were ever going to get their mom back.
::Naseem Rochette
So I think both of those things together, him having to navigate both of those things
::Naseem Rochette
was really, really hard. You know, luckily.
::Naseem Rochette
we.
::Naseem Rochette
Were all able to turn the narrative around into something happy, you know, and so.
::Naseem Rochette
It's.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, it's like when you hear about childbirth, you never remember how painful it is was because you're so happy about the child. I think we're so happy that things turned out okay.
::Naseem Rochette
That.
::Naseem Rochette
Some of the wounds don't feel as painful as, you know, we think they might.
::Naseem Rochette
But I will say that, you know, for him,
::Naseem Rochette
he just still there's, you know, there's anger at the lack of, you know, he watched the driver make the bad decisions. You know, he he can't forgive,
::Naseem Rochette
the way I can. But he also, you know what what also happened and so we were married at the time.
::Naseem Rochette
We were married maybe 15 years. We're almost 25 now,
::Naseem Rochette
I, you know, at that point in the marriage would always say like, honey, why am I doing everything? Like I'm juggling the kids, I'm working, and I need you to do this, and why am I doing it all?
::Naseem Rochette
But, you know.
::Naseem Rochette
It actually, it was it was wonderful because then I couldn't do it. And he was stepping up and doing it. And what I realized is that I always wanted it done my way and on my timeline, and I had never given him the opportunity to do things.
::Naseem Rochette
You know, and so it actually really helped our marriage in some way, because I had to realize that I was really kind of part of the problem. I was always saying he wasn't doing things, but, you know, some of it was with me not letting him.
::Naseem Rochette
so you can get my book on Amazon, you know, it's paperback. The hardcover actually has a little, workbook in the back to find your unbreakable and, or you can do an audible and it's me narrating if you want to hear it. If you want to find me, you can go to Nasim rochette.com. And if that's too hard to spell, you can go to life.
::Naseem Rochette
Unbreakable.com.
::Naseem Rochette
Oh.
::Naseem Rochette
book is called. I forgot to mention what the book is called. The book is the unexpected benefits of being run over.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah.
::Naseem Rochette
All right.
::Naseem Rochette
Before college, I trained as a chef in Paris. I learned to ride a bike in my 20s at Burning Man. I got my first tattoo at 44, in a Florida strip mall.
::Naseem Rochette
It is not, That's why I.
::Naseem Rochette
Can barely boil water.
::Naseem Rochette
Food is not one of them.
::Naseem Rochette
my first nanny used to say the kids were always skinnier on Monday because I only fed them with love.
::Naseem Rochette
No, I.
::Naseem Rochette
And I learned, my husband, we were at Burning Man, and he brought me a little Barbie bike and taught me, you know, to ride my bike on the playa.
::Naseem Rochette
I did.
::Naseem Rochette
And now I know. Now I really enjoy riding. I've done, like, you know, a 100 mile bike ride now.
::Naseem Rochette
Yes, I had one wanted. Actually, this is really funny. So I almost got a tattoo when I was in high school, but the tattoo parlor didn't take credit cards.
::Naseem Rochette
So it didn't happen. And then.
::Naseem Rochette
Yeah, exactly. And then so in my 40s, you know, I was really, you know, the first tattoo was a big deal. And I had been researching, you know, which tattoo artist and what I was going to get. And then my kids see, our family went on vacation to in Florida. And, you know, my husband sees a billboard for a tattoo parlor.
::Naseem Rochette
He's like, mom should get her tattoo there. And then the kid's really cute. Mom, get the tattoo here. And so, you know, all my grand plans flew out the window because I. And we made it a family event and, actually, all week in preparation for the tattoo, because I was so scared of needles, they would jab me with the toothpick.
::Naseem Rochette
They called it the tattoo.
::Naseem Rochette
Well,
::Naseem Rochette
But tattoo was not nearly as painful, and that came up beautifully.
::Naseem Rochette
I know, and you know, I'll say that I woke up the next morning and thought, oh my gosh, what did I do? But I actually love it.
::Naseem Rochette
Thank you. Pat.
::Host
an incredible story of turning tragedy into hope. Not same story. Reminds us that while we can't always choose what happens to us, we can choose how we respond. If this conversation should encourage you, don't forget to like, follow and subscribe. See you next time. No gray areas. Podcast.
