Life lessons from life’s lemons

by | Feb 3, 2022

Is the beginning of December too early to review defining moments from 2021? Hopefully not.

One evening in September, I was involved in a hit and run car crash. The driver of the other car was caught trying to flee the scene, and was arrested and charged. Basically, he was driving strongly under the influence, at speed, in heavy fog. What could possibly go wrong? Well, he ploughed into a car on the wrong side of the road with myself and my Aunt in it! Luckily, and somewhat miraculously, all four people involved in the crash were uninjured, while both cars were completely written off, and I’m here to tell the tale.

Other than some post-traumatic stress that had me fairly shook for the next few weeks, I was fine, but I felt the need to do a bit of soul searching to figure out if there were any lessons or insights that might influence my life stemming from this incident. I came away with 2 big ones;

1.    Avoid driving in fog at all costs.
2.    Live life like it could be over in a flash!

Before the crash, I was hesitant to post anything on social media, especially here on LinkedIn for fear of judgment. I would overthink everything and post nothing. Now, I’m completely cured of this affliction. My new guiding questions about my LinkedIn posts to keep on track are:

1.    Will what I share add value?
2.    Is it interesting, educational or inspiring?
3.    If I was to die today, would I be happy to have shared this message?

While I wouldn’t wish a car crash on anyone to help them overcome their fear of speaking up or challenge with finding their voice, I hope this message inspires others to be less afraid of judgement and more motivated by what they have to share and the value they can add to someone’s work life or life in general.

Curious to hear if you had any life defining moments or insights worth sharing from 2021 so far?

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