Note: Let me to take you with me in slow motion!
I crashed my son’s bike!
The Fall.
It was 8am on one Christmas morning when everyone else was still in bed, either sleeping off a hungover or sleeping in as normal human behaviour dictates. My husband and I are early risers. Regardless of the day, we are up at 6am and out of bed by 7am.
Today, I grabbed the chance to ride with Ariel who typically rides with our 14-year old on Sundays. I am a runner, so biking is something I have yet to pick up seriously, and I thought 2014 is it.
Being my first time in a long time, the bloke decided to take an easy route around our suburb’s numerous bike trails.
There was this one downhill turn into a bike trail. The 45 degree turn was tricky with a pole in the middle of it. I tried to avoid hitting the pole, and I forgot to make a wide circular turn in order to easily clear it. I am such a bike noob. Or perhaps I was not thinking. Yes, that’s it, really. I completely switched off.
I felt the bike skid under me, the rear wheel falling off the pavement. I fell into the bushes. Somehow my fall was in slow motion, like it was a mindful fall. Is that even possible? It did happen to me. I managed to follow my fall. In other words, I did not fight nor resist it. I fell into it. Let’s repeat that. I flowed into my fall. How did I do that? I consciously rolled into a ball. I protected my wrist by not landing on them. I also pushed my head down, landing headlong, using my helmet to protect my bare face and mouth.
My long sleeved gym jumper from Aldi protected my arms which I used to break my fall. In that split second, I knew not to land on my wrists! My leggings which went past my knees protected me from scratches. The bike itself did not fall on me, nor did my leg get caught up under the wheels. So no scrapes, just some bruising on my left knee and right thigh, plus my ego was bruised a bit.
My fall as a life metaphor.
Is it possible to enter a situation or event in life, and act things out mindfully? Let’s say… falling in love, or a job interview, or a dinner party you abhor, or buying a new house or stocks or any investment for the first time. Relationships. Family get-togethers. Business ventures. A marathon. A comeback concert. The list is endless.
We can go through all of the above deliberately, can we not? So that we are not just mindlessly going along with the current, but we are actually planning and thinking through how we are landing and reacting. If the event is happening at 100kph, then auto-pilot kicks in, and all of our life experiences to date (the helmet, the long sleeves, the long leggings etc) will help cushion any falls aka hurt/pain.
Things will flow into place.
The core objective of course is to come out of the event unscathed and whole as you entered it. Perhaps gain a learning here and there and grow in the process. But not critically get hurt, nor figuratively die in the process.
And we come out at the other end, a bit bruised but smarter, taller and Full of Life!
PS. Watch out for more bike stories and learnings, soon!
Elmer says
As in life, learn from your mistakes…get up when you fall.