photo credit: jesse.millan

Awareness (or rather lack of it) makes the difference between success and failure.

When we go about our lives, our level of awareness is absolutely crucial. If you are not in the moment then you are out of it, and that could be the difference between success or failure, or even life or death.

All it takes is one second lost in thought and everything changes. Your awareness has to be maintained when it counts, trained like a muscle and given rest when not needed. The good news is that the more you practice awareness, the more aware you become.

A biking trip to remember

I was recently reacquainted with the value of awareness, when one evening I was cycling home after being out training. Usually after I have been exercising, I tend to feel relaxed and at ease with the world, and this comes out in the way that I cycle.

I was cycling down an unfamiliar, steep road and because it was dark, I couldn’t really see where I was going. Before I knew what was about to happen, I was heading straight for a curb without enough room to brake! I must have hit the curb at around 25 mph and as you can imagine, I went straight over the handle bars. Luckily, managing to fall gracefully, I landed on the cold black tarmac with only localised damage to my right elbow.

I spent the next week with many hours of lost sleep, due to even the slightest movement aggravating the pain of my open wound.

Not being in the moment created weeks of pain and irritation for me.

I didn’t get on my bike again until 4 days later, and I could tell my confidence was shot. I was trying almost too hard now to be traffic aware, and as I turned my head to check for oncoming cars, I cycled into a wall. Luckily this time around, I was only going about 5 mph! Despite this set back, I continued on my journey and my confidence slowly returned to its prior state.

This experience taught me about the importance of knowing what is going on around you. What happened next though, really shocked my system.

The next week to the day, I was on my bike again (on my way to training this time) and having regained my confidence, I was taking care to be more aware.

I came to my third set of traffic lights and turned to cross the road. Suddenly, behind me I heard an almighty crunch!

There had been a cyclist only moments ago, parked in front of me – Now he was underneath a bus! I turned around as fast as I could making my way to where he was. Hopefully, he was alright.

Arriving at his side, I discovered that thankfully… he was. He got out from underneath the front of the bus, and I could see that he was not physically harmed, though I distinctively remember the look on his face. This certainly wasn’t an experience he was likely to forget for a long long time…The front wheel of his bike was completely crushed under the might of the double decker.

The bus driver leaves his vehicle and storms towards us swearing blind at the cyclist, adament that the biker was to blame for the accident. The cyclist was practically oblivious to the drivers presence, his face as white as a fresh linen sheet!

Lessons in awareness

Now, each of these linked events taught me a vital lesson upon reflection.

1. Safety takes precedence over personal gain

The bus driver was clearly not aware of his actions, even after the incident had happened, he was still only interested in his daily thoughts which were on the safety of his employment instead of those around him. Most likely he was thinking about something similar when the accident actually happened. Instead of shouting at the cyclist, ensuring his health and wellbeing would have been more worthy.

2. Know when and when not to be vigilant.

The cyclist hadn’t been looking at what was going on around him. I can imagine that his thoughts were probably on getting home, having a nice meal and a shower. I have been like this many times too. Until these experiences, I would regularly travel around on my bike wearing headphones and sometimes not even holding on to the handlebars. I can only have been heading for my accident.

Likewise, in my own case I hit that curb because I too was wrapped up in my own thought patterns. I was sat on my bike not focusing on my external senses, and so I was no longer in the moment – Not a good place to be cycling down a hill in the dark!

Since these events, I have learned to pay far more attention to my surroundings.

You never know what is going on around you until you look.