Fight or Flight? Which Would You Do?
What is Situational Awareness and how would I react?
How prepared are you to react properly in a dangerous situation?
Do you stand and fight or retreat the situation? I am not here to judge either response, my question is hypothetical. If a hostile threat is near you, what do you do? Most people just don’t know themselves well enough to know. I honestly do not know how I would react in a dangerous situation. Would my fight or flight response kick in and I would run automatically? It depends.
Let’s take a situation that is becoming fairly common nowadays; a crowded grocery store, church, or outdoor activity. Are you situationally aware of your surroundings? Are you aware of the people around you, what are they doing? Does anyone stand out as strange or out of place? Do you know your exits out of the crowd? What is the current threat? This could be an active shooter, or someone intending harm in another way. What do you think you’d do?
Situational Awareness has three cores.
Perception - How do you size up the area? What do you see? Observe your surroundings and access them. What exactly do you perceive is going on? Follow your gut instincts. If I can make a point about anything in this article, that would be number one, instinct is key.
Comprehension - Though you may observe and perceive, you must comprehend what is going on. When we are scared we tend to lost our minds or get clouded over. Watch your heart rate and breathing, and really evaluate the situation.
Projection - As you perceive and comprehend the area, what does your head tell you to do? Is it better to take cover, then run when you are able or stand and fight because you are in too much danger to stay? Only you can size this up per the situation.
Constant vigilance when you are out is a must. I never sit in a restaraunt with my back to the door. I always sit facing the front door for obvious reasons. I am going to a small concert in July and though I do not like crowds of people, I will go to this. You can be sure I will know my exits and ways to get out of the venue. I also will be paying attention to the pulse of the crowd, staying off my phone and trusting my instincts. I don’t like crowds anyway, they make me nervous.
Lastly, follow the OODA Loop. The military uses this for its soldiers. It stands for observe, orient, decide and act. I think it’s self explanatory, but in other words, be aware of your surroundings, watch body language and act when appropriate.
How do you think you’d fair in a scary situation? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you to my two newest paid subscribers. I truly appreciate your support. I have a special going on right now, just $5 with 20% off until the end of the month. I am dabbling in learning to podcast which I share with my paid crowd. Thanks again and stay aware out there.
Prepper-girl
