This is a guest Blog submitted by Owner and Founder of Safe4Life Personal Safety Programs
Safe4Life has presented on stage at many Fabulous at 50 Tradeshow events over the year. Lorna has been part of the Fab@50 community for many years.
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These are the Cornerstones of the Safe4Life Personal Safety Program – if you can commit these to memory, you will be able to forever protect yourself.
Key 1: Be Aware
- In public, notice where you are standing and how you are standing
- Show confidence, make eye contact, constantly look around your environment, watch your reflection in store windows to establish who may be in your immediate vicinity.
- Notice how you are feeling if you are standing beside someone
- If you are uncomfortable, trust your instinct and find another place to stand.
- If you are female, sit beside women on a bus or train
- Park your car deliberately – under a light, in a place that can be easily located, make a mental note to remember where you parked it
- Be purposeful when returning to your vehicle, refrain from texting, have your keys in your hand as you walk, head up, and walk with confidence.
- Be aware of others
- Look at them – It tells them that you are confident and that you notice they are there. An attacker does not want to be noticed, so if he thinks you can identify him, he will likely leave you alone.
- Trust your instinct – even if you cannot prove it…it is never wrong
- Our bodies know when we are not safe. Feel the signs of fear and respond by leaving the area or the situation. Do not minimize this primal response to fear.
Key 2: Establish Boundaries
- Have a clear bottom line and be willing to defend it
- Your personal bubble is about the length of your arm. When you allow people to enter inside your bubble, you need to ensure that you welcome them there.
- If you are uncomfortable or feel at risk, you need to defend your space.
- Be prepared to leave the situation or let the other person know that they are too close.
- If they try to talk you out of it, that is your clear sign that you could be in danger.
- Establish your bottom line or boundary before you leave the safety of your home or work
- Make sure that you are solid with what you are prepared to accept from someone who may challenge your boundary or your space.
- Listen to your gut, and respond from the perspective of self care and NOT by worrying about what others will think!
- Be mindful that perpetrators are often someone that we know or have met before and keeping those clear boundaries can be difficult
- All too often, we put ourselves in danger in an attempt to not be perceived as rude.
- Be rude if need be – and be safe!
Key 3: Have a Safety Plan
- Close your eyes and think about the fire drills you or your children had in school, or in your place of work
- This is a Safety Plan!
- Even though you have been out of school for many years, you can still recall the fire drills.
- You may never have had a fire in your school or place of work, but you had a plan in place in case there ever was one.
- A Personal Safety Plan works in exactly the same way!
- You must know what to do and be willing to do it, in order to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.
- Self defense and personal safety training isn’t meant to scare people…in the same way a fire drill is not intended to instill fear. Rather it is to prepare you in case you are ever in the scary or vulnerable situation – you already know what to do.
- Your safety plan always needs to include screaming/yelling, fighting back, running for help and breathing to engage your brain. Visualize it, talk about it, commit to it!
Key 4: Have Confidence and Gain Skills
- Regardless of your age, size, or gender, believe that you are strong and capable, because you are.
- Walk with your head held high, shoulders back, with intention so that you look less like a victim.
- Acknowledge people so that they know you “see” them.
- Be prepared to confront an offender
- If you see something that seems strange or worrisome, tell someone
- If it seems strange because it is! Talk with your colleagues, friends and family about the issues relating to personal safety and self defense.
- Keep the conversation going!!
- Practice and rehearse the self defense moves and educate yourself with more information
Click here for the Original Blog on the Safe4Life Website.