Yesterday, Julian Stodd shared the idea of cultural strength being like fabric which is used and mended. This made me think about how I might describe self-awareness.
It’s a bit like a scooter, with rear view mirrors.
We’ve all heard that reflection is a good way to increase self-awareness. It’s a good way to create time to think about others and reflect on their behaviour too, so we spot when their behaviour is out of character and they aren’t feeling great.
Imagine a 60s style ‘mods’ moped, adorned with lots of mirrors, for a minute. To be the best, self-aware version of yourself, you need to have a scooter just like that. But remember – the mirrors can’t be so heavy as to make you unbalanced and unable to be agile and responsive, and they can’t be obtrusive and obscure your view. They also shouldn’t bump into others and knock people down!! They need to be just in the right place to be helpful, increasing your view of the environment, helping you consider people moving faster and slower, people moving in front and behind you and giving you fair warning to swerve and avoid those without any self-awareness at all. But remember not to look back so frequently that it impairs your ability to safely and purposely move forward
You’ll already know I’m a petrol head so I quite like the idea of a self-awareness scooter helping me get by!