Lucky Escape
From time to time, life throws one a bit of a curve ball so to speak and I think this one is worth noting, as it definitely made an impact and left an impression.
Recently, I was hit by a truck …. quite literally. Granted it was a small truck, “only” a three tonner. I was stationary on the highway offramp, waiting for the robot (traffic light if you are not South African) to change, along with everyone else who had stopped. I looked in the rear-view mirror and noted that a truck, was approaching, I checked again a few moments later and realised it was still approaching at highway speeds and not slowing down.
Allegedly its brakes had failed, or …. they were not used. At this point, a significant impact was inevitable.
My car was smashed (pummelled), at a significant speed, propelling my car from the left lane into the barrier in the righthand lane. As I had left a sufficiently large gap/space to the vehicle in front of me, I did not collide with that vehicle. The vehicle that had been in front of me, was then hit by the truck. The truck had more than enough momentum to crash into one vehicle, smash it out of the way and continued on to hit a second vehicle.
This was like being in one of those bumper cars, except this was not an amusement ride, or as I had been propelled from a stationary position, one of those toy cars that is flung forward by a spring-loaded (or similar) mechanism.
I will not provide any more details of the accident, as that is for the insurance companies to investigate and resolve.
Of course, I was extremely grateful and lucky to appear relatively unscathed at that point. I had quite a bump to the head, a small cut, a few bruises and strains. It was difficult to tell if it knocked any sense 🙂 into me or made me any “saner”, only time will tell.
Was this a life altering event …. maybe, maybe not. It was a lucky escape, whilst it was not lucky to be smashed into, to escape serious injury was extremely fortunate. Any number of variables worked out in my favour, not least of all modern German engineering. Whilst the airbags did not deploy as it was a rear end collision, the safety cell and crumple zones did their job. A big thank-you to #Audi, my mobile German office had done its job and sacrificed itself to save me.
Perhaps this is the time to be philosophical and reflect. Though on reflection, I will not go down that path on this platform, not at this point in time. I think one take away from this accident is as follows:
If you have a business idea and have been wondering if you should give it a go, or you have been meaning to contact someone for ages or you have been attempting to get that proposal 100% perfect …. sometimes you must wait, however in most instances the best time is now. The perfect timing is normally easy to determine, that time is Now. I would have preferred a figurative reminder or push, not such a literal one to high-light the below point.
Don’t Wait, Do it Now.
#Mental Wealth
This article is published without prejudice. E&OE.