Train Your Brain

Self-defense is not about fighting your way out of a bad situation. Most situations can be avoided by awareness. Be prepared! One-way to do this is to do what I call Train you Brain. You do this by putting yourself in bad situations and then getting yourself out. For example, you’re getting out of the car and walking to your front door when it’s dark outside. Someone jumps out of the neighbor’s bushes and approaches you. (They didn’t jump out of yours because you keep them trimmed so people can’t hide in them.) What do you do now? Get back in the car? Run to the house? Run to a neighbor’s house? Call 911? Call your mama? Scream? I don’t know the answer to this question. Only you do. Figure out what you might do. And it will depend on the situation. Is it raining? Are you wearing spiked heels? Are you carrying groceries? Is the outside light on at your house? All these things might make your answer different. You might throw the groceries or your purse in his face, start screaming and run for a neighbor. Or, if you have the keys to your house in your hand and ready to use, start screaming, run to the house and unlock the door. Or, if you are not completely out of the car yet, get back in and run him over! But… if you think about these things AHEAD of time, then you will be prepared if you ever have to actually use your trained brain. You do this sort of scenario with all aspects of your individual lifestyle. Put yourself in situations and then work yourself out of them and give yourself a couple of options. Once you do that, go back and take that same guy coming out of the neighbor’s bushes and give him a knife and see if your answers change.

Be Safe and Be Aware!