LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!!!

By Tristan Kealy

In these modern times with people living very busy lives, so many different things going on at any given moment. So many worries and decisions to be processed, that time and thought to your own personal safety can be put to the side, if not forgotten at all.

It is a fallacy to think that we can be operating at a heightened state of awareness and vigilance at all times, ludicrous to even suggest the idea. With the human brain barely able to focus on a given topic without distraction for barely longer than 10 minutes at a time. The expectation that we can remain in a total state of awareness throughout our journeys and tasks that we are required to perform over a day is an impossibility!

So, where am I going with this?

​In living our lives, we are required to interact with people, travel distances, navigate through urban environments and various other locations, and in doing so use different methods and modes of transport. These people, places, and various types of locations as well as the types of transportation and the places that we embark and disembark can be well known to us, have reasonable familiarity, or be completely unknown to us at all. How we feel about our own personal safety and those of our loved ones will naturally feel completely different depending on where we are, who we are with or interacting with, time of day, how well lit it is, the amount of other people in the area, how confined the space is, exit strategies, etc. We feel a lot more comfortable and relaxed talking to our friends across a table in a restaurant than we do exiting that same restaurant on our own at night and having to make it back to our car in one piece. We naturally have a different state of awareness at different times.

​After considering this information we can start to see through the lens of a predator’s eye and how they will have thoroughly considered all these factors as well. What is the best location for them to carry out a premeditated attack? Where are people at there most isolated and vulnerable? How quickly can I achieve my task with little to no chance of interruptions? How easy is my escape root? Etc.

Location is a top consideration in the mind’s eye of any predator when planning their attack!

This is why we cover “levels of awareness” in our Women’s Self Defence seminars, where and when we should consciously switch on. You simply can’t be switched on all the time but we will give you strategies and knowledge about why and when you should and why “Location” is a prime consideration.