Self-un(die)awareness

Were it not for my most amazing wife I am fairly certain that I would leave the house a little on the unfinished side every single day of the week except Sundays. On Sundays we often leave the house as a family which takes about 15 times longer than getting ready to leave alone, giving me a far greater opportunity to sort my self out.

No matter how many times she reminds me to 'check myself' before I walk out the door of a morning, these are some of the common mistakes I can assure you I will make:

1) I won't be able to find my keys

2) I won't be able to find my wallet

3) I will find my lunch, but I won't remember to take it with me

4) My collar will be half up

5) My fly will be half down

6) My shirt tags will be hanging out

7) My shirt wont be tucked in (properly)

Self-awareness is an important personal attribute. Some people have it in limitless doses where others seem to have it severely limited. Self-awareness is not just about being aware of how you look, it is about being aware of how you act and how you act could be the difference between life and death. So that makes it an attribute well worth developing.

Cognitive thinkers are usually very self-aware as they pay attention, can apply logic and reason to act appropriately in any situation, they have a functional working memory capable of processing long and short term memories at a good speed and they have good visual and auditory processing power. 

How can any of this mean the difference between life and death you ask? On arriving in Paris from Australia, a self-aware person capable of cognitive thought will approach a busy street, look to their right, step out onto the road and nearly get run over by a bus: The will only do this once. Me on the other hand: well I am really not sure how I survived 5 months in France. Like a goldfish, I stepped out in front of cars on a regular basis.

I think that the reason why I am so self-un-aware is that my mind is simply too clogged by my own imagination. I'm an ideas man. When I was younger and at work I was always imagining new and interesting ways to do the most mundane of tasks. Through university there were so many creative opportunities in experimental research that every day was a winding road begging to be negotiated by creative and adaptive thinking. As a consultant with Animal Plant Mineral I am forever percolating novel ways to solve complex problems for my clients. I just simply do not have the brain space to process all that I need to process to be fully aware of myself and what I am doing. And this last Sunday morning was no different.

I rose early (before 5 as I do most everyday) and commenced writing. I am working on a killer story line for a documentary that I am hoping will a) get picked up by a network and b) will feature renowned wildlife photographer Shannon Wild. At 7 am I decided it was not too early to wake the kids so I proceeded to make quite a lot of noise in Thing 2's bedroom which were painting.

At about 8:30 my lovely wife came in with a cup of coffee. About 90 minutes after I had first scaled the step ladder to commence painting she pointed out that I was in my underpants. Not boxers but budgies, or tighty-whities or crime fighters; whatever you wan to call them.

Photo taken from waist height.
Yes, that is the neighbours living room and the blinds are open!

So I must apologise to my poor neighbours for my severe lack of self-awareness. This poor family are now visually scarred and emotionally damaged from what they had to endure for nearly 90 minutes. They must have felt as if they were trapped in the story line of Clock Work Orange. I promise that, in the future, I will be more self-aware; if not to save myself, then to reduce the emotional and mental impact I have on those around me..