Someone once told me that life is merely a series of wrecks. You get up, shake off the gravel, fix your helmet, and hope the following turn doesn’t kill you. That seems correct.
Motocross racing, of all things, has a way of distilling that truth. The dirt, the noise, the bruises. You’d think it’s just about speed and machines, but the track teaches more about living than most boardrooms or classrooms ever could. And here’s the kicker, it’s the same wisdom that threads Kimi•isms: Wit, Wisdom & Word F*ckery, Kimi Cole’s new book. The pages have the same energy: messy, unpredictable, a touch scary, and full of lessons that will help you when life throws you into the mud.
The First Gate Drop: Risk Is the Ticket In
Motocross doesn’t begin when you twist the throttle. It starts at the gate, that moment of silence before the drop when the world holds its breath. It’s terrifying. And it’s addictive.
Most people want the track without the risk: the clean lap, the applause, none of the broken bones. But life doesn’t work that way. You don’t get the thrill without the fear. You don’t find out what you’re capable of until you risk the fall.
Kimi knows this well. She writes about risk not as a concept but as something lived: stepping onto a professional track before she was “ready,” stepping into a new identity after decades of hiding. Risk is never theoretical. It’s your pulse in your throat. It’s your stomach flipping. It’s the people around you saying, “Don’t do it, you’ll never pull that off,” and twisting the throttle anyway.
Falling Isn’t Failure
Motocross guarantees one thing: you’re going to crash. Not if. When.
I still remember watching a rider eat dirt so spectacularly the crowd gasped like they’d all swallowed the same rock at once. He didn’t move for a beat. Then, slowly and deliberately, he got up, dusted himself off, waved, and limped back to his bike. By the next lap, he was back on the track. Maybe not winning, but not finished either.
Life feels like that. Projects collapse. Relationships skid out, careers nosedive. And yet… here you are, still standing. The book carries that same mantra: falling isn’t failing. One reviewer said it best: “Every time I thought I couldn’t survive the worst, I did.”
Kimi doesn’t glamorize it. She knows the hurt, the broken ribs, and the bruised ego. But she also knows the story isn’t in the crash, it’s in the recovery. That’s where resilience is built.
The Long Recovery, The Short Memory
You can’t ride if you can’t recover. Every racer learns this. The body heals, but it takes grit and patience. A crash on Sunday may mean weeks of bruises and physical therapy. And yet, most riders have notoriously short memories. Ask them about the wipeout, and they’ll grin and change the subject to the next race.
There’s wisdom there for the rest of us. We all carry wreckage of failed jobs, friendships gone sideways, that dumb risk we wish we hadn’t taken. But staying down isn’t an option. Recovery is slower than we want, sure, but what matters is the return.
The book echoes this rhythm. A failed race. An identity imposed upon you by others. And then, a stronger, sharper, less sorry comeback. People have dubbed it “a reminder that setbacks aren’t the end, they’re just pit stops.” That’s a way of thinking worth emulating.
Living with Adrenaline
Let’s talk about adrenaline. That electric hum under your skin when the gate drops. Most of us chase it in safer ways: caffeine, deadlines, maybe a little risk in love or business. But motocross hands it to you raw.
Here’s the thing, though adrenaline isn’t just about thrill. It’s about focus. When you’re flying down a dirt track at full throttle, there’s no room for yesterday’s worries or tomorrow’s bills. You are entirely, intensely alive in that moment.
Imagine living like that, even off the bike, and paying attention and being present. That’s the gift adrenaline offers if you learn to use it not as an escape, but as fuel.
Kimi translates that same pulse into her writing. Quick jabs of humor, sharp turns into reflection, and sudden accelerations into hope. The fragments in her book feel like laps on a track: messy, fast, but somehow all leading forward.
Why This Matters Beyond the Track
Maybe you’ve never touched a dirt bike. Doesn’t matter. The lessons scale.
- Risk: Take the job, start the project, make the call you’ve been avoiding.
- Fall: Expect the crash. Learn how to land without losing your sense of self.
- Recover: Rest when you need to, but get back on the track. Always.
- Adrenaline: Find the thing that wakes you up and chase it with intention.
Motocross is just a metaphor, but it’s a damn good one. Because of the world we live in? Pure chaos. Politics unraveling, technology sprinting ahead, personal lives stretched thin. You don’t survive chaos by sitting still. You survive by learning to ride it.
What Readers Are Saying
Don’t just take my word for it. Readers of Kimi•isms: Wit, Wisdom & Word F*ckery are already connecting the dots:
- “Anne Lamott meets Fran Lebowitz, with motocross grease under her nails.”
- “It reads like coffee with a brutally honest friend who makes you laugh even as they dismantle your assumptions.”
- “The least preachy self-help I’ve ever encountered.”
The comments make it clear that this book isn’t neat and polished. It’s rough. It’s a person. That’s what makes it worth it.
Takeaway for Everyday Chaos
So, what do motocross and everyday life have in common? More than you think. Both demand risk. Both guarantee crashes. Both reward those who get up, again and again, and ride into the chaos with grit and humor.
That’s the philosophy humming under Kimi•isms: Wit, Wisdom & Word F*ckery. It’s not a book of answers, it’s a book of laps. Circling back to gratitude, humor, resilience, and hope. Over and over. Until the chaos feels less like punishment and more like the track you were meant to ride.
Ready to Ride?
Here’s the part where I don’t tell you what to do, but I will ask: what track are you sitting at the gate of right now? What risk are you stalling on because you’re afraid of the crash?
If you need a nudge, a laugh, a reminder that falling isn’t failing, grab Kimi•isms: Wit, Wisdom & Word F*ckery. Please keep it on the nightstand, the coffee table, and the backpack you take everywhere. Dog-ear the pages. Please read it before a hard day.
Because chaos isn’t going anywhere. But you? You’ve still got laps to run.