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Renee Maxine Haas

Writer and speaker on surrender, presence, and courage in uncertainty

How I Got HEre

I started my career in tech as a web developer, building a life organized around stability, achievement, and long-term planning. For a long time, I was oriented toward a clear version of success that felt both structured and predictable.

A painting of two women seated outdoors, dressed in early 20th-century fashion. One woman is wearing a black dress and a large black hat, and the other is in a white dress with a wide-brimmed white hat decorated with feathers. In the background, a man in a light-colored suit and hat stands near an ornate black wrought iron fence, with trees and a park-like setting behind them.

Over time, that way of living began to shift. What once felt certain started to feel less sustainable, and I found myself moving through a period where the future was no longer something I could easily map out or control.

A painting of a dinner scene with several people, including a woman with clown makeup, a woman with her back to the viewer, and others sitting at tables, under hanging lanterns.

That led me to leave my job and step away from my career path, eventually traveling the world for two years across 50 countries and five continents.

A man with white hair and a surprised expression, wearing a dark hat and brown coat, with his hand raised in front of him.

That experience became a turning point in how I relate to uncertainty, control, and direction. It opened up a different way of being with life that is less focused on planning outcomes and more rooted in presence, trust, and responsiveness to what is actually unfolding.

A woman with brown hair in a braid wearing a wide-brimmed hat, a dark coat, a light sweater, and pants, holding a walking stick, standing on green grass with mountains and a cloudy sky in the background, painted in an impressionist style.

“I should work in tech for job security and because I like computers.”

— 13-year-old me

where I am Now

Today, my work explores themes of surrender, presence, and going with the flow of life rather than resisting it.

I am currently writing a memoir about this journey.

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Alongside that, I host a podcast called the effing audacity.

It’s an exploration of courage and authenticity, born from my travels, and expanded through conversations with people navigating their own thresholds of change. I speak with guests sharing personal transformations, as well as researchers, psychologists, and even astrologers, all circling the same question in different ways:

What does it actually mean to live authentically, and have the courage to act from that place?

If you’re here, you’re likely interested in that question too.

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Two cups of coffee with latte art, placed on a rustic wooden table alongside a book and a small camera.

Memoir

When two years of solo travel led to the transformation from control to surrender, planning to presence, rigid concepts of identity to embracing the evolving self.

Discover the Story
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podcast

Vulnerable stories of courage, self‑discovery, travel, and personal growth, inspiring those to step out of the comfort zone and into the authentic lives they were meant to live.

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