Are You “Aware of your surroundings”
By Chris Savage – August 2026
I was recently reading through the quarterly IIAR magazine “The Natural Refrigeration Review”, which has been rebranded from the “Condenser” magazine. As usual there are many great articles concerning natural refrigeration.
One article in particular caught my attention. The article is in the Lessons Learned section of the magazine and was written by Kem Russell. I would suggest that you take the opportunity to read it, so I won’t go into a lot of detail on the article itself. Here is a link to the IIAR webpage where you can find the magazine, and you will find the article on page 20.
In the article, Kem shares a story which highlights the importance of being aware of your surroundings. And that this awareness needs to come from every sense that we have. Not only the primary 5 senses; sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste, but all the other internal senses, like balance, temperature, etc. All too often, as Kem mentions, we can become immune to certain sensory input and as a result, we miss things that could be very important.
When I was a young engineer, just out of college and working in my first engineering position. I remember a comment from the companies VP of engineering saying, “question everything”. I tried my hardest to take this to heart and apply it in everything that I do. And to this day, 30 some years later, I am still working on it, and I still think about it. To me, this is another suggestion to be aware of your surroundings. Because to question, you need to be aware.
In general, being aware of your surroundings is a good life lesson. It doesn’t matter if you are at work, at play, providing service to others, or simply chilling out. The more aware you are in all situations, the better you will be able to navigate that situation and stay safe. And navigation is all about finding a good, safe path forward. We all know that there are many paths forward. Some are good, some are not so good. Awareness will absolutely help to make sure you are on a good path.
So, take a minute to read Kem’s article and think about how aware you are of your surroundings. And when you become aware of a situation where Carlson & Stewart Refrigeration can help, give us a call. And remember, question everything!