I’m a guitarist who has been a recording artist as well as a touring session guitarist for many years....I make all kinds of videos...some instructional, some strictly for entertainment...I may also add some reaction videos to the mix as well.
YO, thanks for making the video, Michael, and I agree with you--take a break, Ren, come back to it when you can.... Easier said than done, since I'm not in his shoes "wanna be me, ya? grass isn't greener...", just wish him the best for a healthy recovery. (Saying that, I remember when he was talking about going to Canada for the first go-round, I was thinking "Jenny's Tale" and everything before that release would be enough to keep me musically busy--picking it and other things out on guitar after decades of not playing at all--while he spends 2023 in Calgary getting treatment. Little did I know he had almost all of Sick Boi album and videos prime and waiting for release through that period. I figured he really wanted to have the same amount of new music ready to go before this time around, but it's really looking like not getting as much of that accomplished is even more of a load of Troubles So Hard.) ... Time to put on "Power" or a happy song to get me in a better frame of mind about it, and it's not even me that's going through it--just wishing him well, if that counts for anything. Good vibes to ya Ren.
Yo Michael . We went through this with Ren by way of his music and interviews etc. once before ,but now its in real time and somehow the harder for it.😒😟Glad to see you again!
Thanks Mike for reviewing these posts regarding REN’s health situation. I’m sure heading back to Canada for months of even more aggressive treatment is the last thing he wants to do. Luckily he has such a deep back catalogue but I know telling him not to try to put out new music and videos, that we can all wait for new content, goes against his nature. Such a frustrating situation!
I had been asking myself why Ren started wearing a hat....just doesn't seem like a fashion choice he would make. During his live performance of Money Game 2, you could tell that his face had thinned out quite a bit when they zoomed in on him doing certain vocals. He also said that his skin had been affected, so I guess I have my answer. Agoraphobia is a bitch, as is anxiety and panic disorder. I have, and do, suffered from all three. I continue to pray for a speedy recovery for my favorite artist. However, if the recovery is not so speedy, that is secondary to a full recovery. Lord, give this young man strength, both physically and emotionally. 🙏
Yo - The one thing everyone always says is Ren fans are committed... so hopefully Ren will know if he needs to step back, blow of some of the self-imposed deadlines and just deal with his health, we aren't going anywhere. There are so many new reactors since Kujo that there will be plenty to keep us occupied while we wait. Maybe we'll even increase the Renegade pool a bit.
I have agraphobia the same as what u thought some people say it that way it's a scarey thing mentally I was Shor in the face and it is so mindblowing u relive your biggest Fears over and over
" And I got older and I learnt to relax " Your words Ren, take some time out buddy, work stuff can wait, as people have said, your health is the most important thing. ❤ BTW to all non Brits, A+E is Accident and Emergency ( Emergency Room ) 🙏
I hate that he said "I failed" in regard to his treatment. No. You failed nothing. The treatment failed you. Period. The dedication that you have to your art, your friends, and your family, and also to fighting for your life despite the difficulties/setbacks, is absolutely to your credit. It must be so hard to walk the line between resting,(likely with your mind racing with ideas, things you wish you could be doing, frustrated, and afraid you may not have enough time to see them all birthed into the world), and doing during the times when you feel up to it (how can you waste this time when you have it and are well enough to make the best possible, most productive use of it). It's hard to imagine. Don't ever push yourself into the mindset of failing something that is completely out of your control. It must be hard to be in a positive mindset and likely you are hearing a lot of "think positive" platitudes, but sometimes you need to have those moments of despair and rage so that it can be released from your body. Wishing you all the best.
Also what happened was his eye started to flare up again from when he hurt it a bit ago and if a symptom is swollen lymph nodes, probably makes it more difficult to sing. He just literally probably couldn't perform like he wanted, and had to get antibiotics and rest until it eases up.
Yo Mike, hugs to you for your beautiful and genuine concern for Ren who has found his way into all our lives and made us feel special! Praying he has more strength, patience and endurance to continue the journey with health! I hope he continues to create music to soothe his soul, but also pace himself! Renegades will be here throughout! ❤❤❤
Yo! Thanks for your continued support of Ren. I think we all know what happens when we overextend/push ourselves past the limits and exhaust our mind and body. I do...and it takes me several days to function normally afterwards. And I do not have ME or any autoimmune condition. Ren was trying to do what he did in 2022 prior to going to Canada for his first round of treatments... which is prepare a load of work that he can release while out of commission in Canada. As we know, it work very well previously. He was constantly releasing something knew each month. Grew his fanbase exponentially and had his 1st number one album. But...if you look at those videos, like Hi Ren... he definitely looks very thin and pale and was, im sure pushing himself past his limits then. So, its good advice for him to just rely on the large catalog of work hes already put out there... and rest, get his treatments and focus on his health. We all love him and want the best for him most of all. ❤
Nice post, Michael! We are all feeling devastated by this news. We have deep concern for Ren, the person vs Ren, the musician. We hope he is able to set this disappointment aside and deal with his health. His life has become so much more complicated since his success, and I hope things will work out. He has good friends, and a team he’s built around him. Let us hope they can keep things well until REN’s safe return.
I worry that this occurring just as he was getting more attention (just like the first time he got sick lining up with the possibility of all his dreams coming true) will have an effect on his mental stamina. I think it will take twice as much effort to keep the hope up. Hopefully, he is able to lean on the knowledge that he has made it through these things before alongside of the care of those close to him and the love of the fans in order to keep that light ever before his eyes. I also hope that he is able to learn a way to pace himself more slowly. I know how hard that will be for him since he wants to take advantage of every moment when he is feeling okay (partially because he doesn't know when he will be able to manage it again). I pray for him to have peace in this time of enforced restfulness. For some reason, "Why does he write like he's running out of time?" (Hamilton) races through my thoughts often when I think about Ren. Although, I understand the why. Oh, and yo.
Yo Michael, this indeed is sad news and you pointed out some interesting things about the way he worded some of his writings. He used the words self imposed in reference to his work related deadlines. All of these things he has spoken about in the past. I believe , as he has also mentioned in the past , that on top of everything else he is suffering from a form of PTSD related to all those years in his bedroom. Also his moment of being signed by a record label, and then finding himself so unwell that he couldn't get through a live show , and inevitably was unable to fulfill his contract. Perhaps he is manic , and that feeling of ( and when I die I will rise in the music i left behind ) is seeping back into his thoughts, conscious or unconsciously. Of course I am just speculating. And of course I am wishing him peace in his mind , and body . It is comforting to know that he has people who care for him with him .❤
I do not believe Ren's future is in jeopardy in any way. He has delt with this half his life, has been through worse and is now in hands of people who can help him take a break when needed. He may be used to doing most things himself, but I think this just shows he knows he needs this right now and it's OK. I hope Ren can take a form of comfort from his 1st treatment because look at everything he accomplished after! If anyone will find a way to continue doing what he loves, it will be Ren. I have faith in him and his team and just pray his recovery can be a fast one. He is worth the wait anyway, so I don't even care if it takes a year. Get better Ren! 🙏 Edit: I also do believe Ren ment agoraphobia, and just happened to forget the a 😊
Mike Watch his Sky Arts performance. My thought as I watched it was "Well done for finishing..... What's wrong?" His breathing was "off" I thought he looked like he might keel over at one point. . I was only slightly surprised when he announced the relapse.... ☹️
I'm really relieved he has real friends with him that hes known for a long time. They'll keep an eye just because they care rather than seeing him as a cash cow. I hope he gets on top of it soon
offering a very sad yo. Hell, I was worried about how much he was throwing himself into even before he left Canada - (he mentioned on at least a couple of occasions that he'd put certain phases of his treatment at the clinic on hold/pushed them off so he could do a project etc... he did Halftime, Troubles, wrote and recorded the chapters of reading, recorded his parts of Pain Salesman, recorded Baggage *and* filmed it with Webby, and god knows what else between the release of the Sick Boi album and the end of his treatment in Calgary) - and yeah, I've only been more and more concerned with every new indication he's been in an intensely creative/productive phase since leaving Canada. Even before his recent announcement that the tests indicated the Bartonella was still present, it seemed like he was going from 0 - 100 (while still dealing with permanent damage that is NOT easy to cope with) very very fast. He didn't "ease" back into life; he jumped straight into the main channel of a rushing river. Also, he's had Covid at least 3 times now. The acute illness may seem like "just a cold" for "most people" but its downstream effects are not "just a cold" even for healthy people, and he's an immunocompromised person with additional health stresses. Of course this is all just a fan "filling in" an awful lot of details in her brain; what would I know about what's going on in his life/what the dr at the Calgary clinic might be advising him was do-able, or legit to put off, etc... I can only imagine how excited he was to be "free" to live his creative life, and even having the money to realize his creative dreams. But anyway. Sure hope he'll recover his previous baseline after this, and figure out what the balance is. "And the more intensely that the light shone, the darker the shadow it cast," and all... he's gotta be careful about how brightly he lets himself burn. Because he's not well, and he'll never *be* well, even if a "healthy" Ren in an alternate universe could stand up to the levels of stress he's dealing with (which I'm not sure is reasonable to think would be possible anyway).
What you wrote just breaks my heart and reminds me of my sister, who passed away at the age of 36 from Lupus. She had remissions where she felt healthy enough to work and do the things she loved, (to live again) and then she would crash. Stress is always a connection that can trigger illness in anyone but more so those who are already battling illness. It also can't be easy to pace oneself when so much of their youthful years are being stifled by illness. My sister was like Ren, so much to catch up on and do and we could never guess that her illness would take her so young. What brought tears to my eyes, remembering my beautiful sister and thinking of Ren is when you wrote what Ren said, "And the more intensely the light shone, the darker the shadow it cast"! Life feels so unfair sometimes when such BRIGHT lights in this world are dimmed or overcast by the darkness of illness. 😔💔 🙏 for Ren ❤
@@brasstacks7181 I'm so sorry you lost your sister so long before her time. I wish her life wasn't a lesson that now gives you insights to how stress affects people with serious chronic illness.🫂💔
Think it is typo. Agoraphobia fits with anxiety. Yep he is out of hospital and I agree rest and regain health and balance in body mind and spirit. The music feeds and yet the push tocreate..balance lost forawhile.
Agoraphobia is fear of leaving the home or somewhere safe, I suffer from it. I wont even leave the home for food shopping, going for a walk, will cancel appointments, unless urgent and only then will I go if my husband comes with me. Ren has a milder version, if he doesn't need to leave the home for something important he wont, but I guess with a bit of persuasion or discipline he can work through it and leave the home. Discipline is important to work through this, as he and his friends will be telling him its going to be fine, nothing will happen etc. however he will probably have anxiety. Its our brains silly way of thinking it needs to keep us safe, when it actually hinders us from living. Its so easy to succumb to Agoraphobia if you say to yourself, meh I don't need to, cant be bothered. Its raining, I feel in my gut something bad will happen, Using every excuse you can find not to leave the home. This is my experience but mine is severe and I don't have Ren's determination, discipline and strength. I am sending lots of positive thoughts his way.
I know what agoraphobia is…he had written agrophobia which I assumed was a typo but wasn’t sure if it was maybe a different thing. That aside, your insights did help understand. Thank you. ❤️
As someone who has dealt with many of the same issues as Ren, I also saw the changes in his wording and the rushed nature of it, letting me think things were getting rough. I myself notice the signs of when my own shit is going off the rails. He says in Animal Flow that he gets sick when he's stressed, and we all know the stress he was under. Thank you for making me feel like I wasn't just reaching. You, as a songwriter, would notice his change is phrasing and the internal tempo of his thought process. ❤
Not much more to say Mike… this is breaking all of our hearts… Ren has become such an integral part of our lives these few years. It’s so much more than the music… we all think of him as a friend, a brother etc.. we have grown to love him which honestly was not hard at all.. I have loved a lot of music throughput the years, but have never been as invested emotionally in someone like I have Ren… he truly is special and we all pray or what ever good intentions we have put them out there for him… we love yo Ren… thanks Mike always… 🫶🏻🌻🫶🏻
When you've so much potential and want to achieve so much, everything opening up for you and have lost so much time to illness already it must be very hard not to overdo things trying to make up for lost time. Ren said himself he knew there had been some burnout and started reigning in the targets but pushed himself a bit too far this time. Even without the underlying infection and unresolved vulnerabilities a person could run too fast and hit the same roadblocks. But when you're driven it's easy to try to power through minor burnout after minor burnout again and again until you get taken out by a health episode. Many of us have done it. As others have said, what sets him apart is that his music is not fickle - and growing "fan base" is not a fleeting one. He needs to believe that affords him time industry-backed artists are often denied... and to have faith he can once again turn adversity into positivity. Which I am sure he will. ❤ Gutted for him nonetheless.
since those from the UK indicate Agoraphobia is a US spelling, therefore from a US ers viewpoint, I am guessing he means Agoraphobia, not the fear of sexual abuse. Although he does have alot of renagades hot for him....joke folks. He knows the fan base includes alot of warm women and he gets a kick out of it I am sure.
No disrespect meant. But as someone who is chronically ill and was misdiagnosed with Bipolar for years, I am not too fond of the term manic, in this case. Yes, people make spontaneous decisions and appear hyperactive when manic, but the choices Ren has made to push himself and everything, are pretty normal and understandable from my perspective. I have also done similar, it’s hard not to push yourself too hard when your body is preventing you from doing what you love but you feel it’s POSSIBLE to do it even if it might not be a good idea. In my experience, people with mania often start making less sense or think in a very grandiose way, so I really don’t think he is manic. I know no matter what, us renegades will support him. Sending everyone reading this some love ❤
I didn’t mean it disrespectfully. I’m also not a doctor so take my opinion with a grain of salt…maybe there’s a better word but I don’t think he has quite been himself and no wonder with the gigs and law situation.
Presenter over used the word "manic," but like most ppl, probably has no clinical understanding of the manic state. We forgive him, as he obviously loves Ren.
He did hint in one of his IG stories a while back, about avoiding the stress by adding more things to do to avoid/ignore it, and joked that it’s all fine while twitching. I thought at the time ‘many a true word is said in jest’, and was probably heading for something.
