I am no stranger to falling.
I have fallen in some of the best places; in front of Macys while rushing to pick up something that I needed in a hurry (scraped knee); in the street near my house while walking my new active puppy (stitches around my lip); in Egypt hurrying to a pyramid (don’t ask). And there are more.
What the common thread to each of these falls was that I was hurrying and not paying attention to where I was walking.
Last week, I discovered a new threat for falling. I walked down the street on one of those glorious bright days (no sunglasses) to meet my friend in a restaurant. When I walked into the restaurant, I thought I could see her waving at me from a table so I walked toward the back to the raised level where the tables are. But the fact was that my eyes had not adjusted from the sunlight to the dark interior, and although I could see one step up which is light wood, I could not see the second step which was covered in dark carpeting. I tripped on that step and fell forward, breaking the fall with my knee and hands. Fortunately, no real harm was done except to my pride.
The lesson of the story is this: allow enough time for your eyes to adjust to a new light level, whether you are going from light to dark, or the opposite. It could save you from an unpleasant fall.