Mental Preparation for Personal Protection

There are hundreds of personal protection products on this site. So how do you choose what is right for you?  It is very tempting to believe that one or two products are all you need to protect yourself in any situation but that would be false.  The truth is that you most likely need multiple to products to match various scenarios. Unless you have done extensive research and already know exactly what you need, you should first consider developing a personal protection plan. A comprehensive personal protection plan should consist of three components:

Mental preparation – This involves cultivating awareness and following one’s intuition to detect threats and avoid them as well as the use of psychology to diffuse potentially violent confrontations. It is also necessary to accurately assess your strengths and weaknesses and learn how to control fear so that there will be no hesitation in doing what is necessary to repel an attacker, even if that means seriously injuring or killing anyone who would harm you.

 Physical preparation – Although athleticism in not an absolute necessity for effective self-defense it would be beneficial to develop and maintain at least a  basic level of physical fitness because that will greatly aid in the execution of self-defense maneuvers. Regular practice of various self-defense techniques which are designed to compensate for lower strength levels of a defender relative to an attacker in a manner as realistic as possible is essential.

Weapons – Weapons should be thought of as an extension of the body and their use should only be considered after completing the proper mental and physical preparation. The most commonly known weapons for self-defense are guns, knives, and clubs (batons). However, technological advancements have created a new class of “less than lethal” weapons such as stun guns, pepper sprays and Taser brand electro-shock guns. They are  designed to temporarily debilitate an attacker and have exploded in popularity. It is also important to know how to use common objects as improvised weapons. For example, something as simple as a pen could be used to thwart an attacker by thrusting it into vulnerable areas of his body.

This site offers products many types of personal protection weapons which I will discuss in later articles.  For mental preparation I recommend two books. I have read them myself  and I have used some of the recommended personal protection methods successfully in actual confrontations. I highly recommend them.