WRITING|CREATIVE WRITING|PHILOSOPHY

Intellect or Instinct?

Why the modern self improvement movement ignores human nature

Instinct played a part, but in the end it was my rational brain that made me trade an English language manual for a pair of handlebars Photo by Josh Nuttall on Unsplash

It was the middle of December 2019. I was teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) for both Working Men’s College, in Camden, and Education First, in Waterloo. Life was good. Covid was still a rumour. My wages weren’t high but they were enough to pay my rent and have a social life.

One day I came across an opportunity for people who wanted to become cycling instructors. I’d been a cyclist since an early age, had led a Cycle Club at the last primary at which I’d been employed, and was a cycling advocate.

The price to pay wasn’t low. But something told me that this one other string to my bow would come in handy. I completed the in-person training in four days. My online assignments took a little longer but by the end of January 2020 I was a provisionally qualified cycling instructor.

Oh, life! Unpredictable life! In the event it was the cycling gig that paid my rent from the beginning of lockdown onwards.

Was it my gut that had saved me? Or had reason had a hand in my fate as well?

There’s a trendy view nowadays that one’s authenticity is better expressed through an instinctive interaction…